How To Check The Legitimacy of Online Casinos in Singapore
4 min readSingapore has always been a quite conservative country when it comes to some things, and gambling is one of them. People in Singapore are not allowed to gamble at casinos or any form of online casino game for fun. Even if they do, there’s no such thing as a legal casino here. So how does this affect the average person?
The most obvious impact this has is that it drives people to look for online casinos in Singapore. But there’s a very big chance that they won’t find anything useful since they have been banned from being made.
In fact, any form of gambling can cause problems if not controlled or restrained well enough. That’s why the legal age limit for casinos in Singapore is set at 21 years old. This way, it’s a little harder for the young-ins to enter a casino and make a fool of themselves by spending more than they can afford there.
Having that said, you might think that online casinos in Singapore are 100% safe to join. That would be wrong, though, because there are still things you need to check just so that these online casinos are legit.
Here is a checklist on what you should look for before joining any online casino in Singapore:
Licensing
Check if the online casino is licensed by The Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA), which regulates the Remote Gambling Act, to ensure that you are playing at a legal and safe casino site.
You may also check for other reputable licenses issued by reputed gaming jurisdictions like Malta or Gibraltar. These licenses will assure you that the online casino follows strict rules and regulations, has passed all audits and complies with international anti-money laundering standards.
Company Background Check
Once you have checked that the casino is legally licensed, you can proceed to do a company background check. These days it’s easy and free to get someone’s full company profile and history by using certain search engines like Google or Hoovers.
You may try using the name of the owner of the online casino with their country abbreviation (for instance, use Mr John Smith instead of John Smith) to find more information about them.
As large groups own most online casinos, you may also try searching for the name of the group or holding company that owns the casino and see if you can find any negative reports about it.
You may also check if there is a press release available from the online casino’s official website or from other credible sources.
Trustworthy Reviews
You can find a number of reviews about an online casino in Singapore on the internet, but be aware that scammers create some fraudulent websites out there to lure you into signing up at their casino and give them a juicy referral fee. So be careful of who you trust.
A good way to check if a website is trustworthy is by seeing what other commenters say about it, and what past or current players have to say about the online casino’s service and games.
If you find a review on any blog, forum or website, then you can also try using Google search to check how reputable it is.
Reputable Affiliates
If an affiliate website is well-known and has been around for a while, you can be sure that they are not creating or setting up fake online casinos to make money by referring players to them. This means that if the affiliate recommends an online casino, then you may also trust it.
Check If It Has A Good Reputation
There are many ways to check if an online casino is legitimate in Singapore. One way is to check if it has a good reputation in the online gambling industry and among players in general by simply googling its name along with one or more of the following words:
- complaints
- scam
- payout
- rip off
- licence revoked
Does the site look professional?
When you decide to join an online casino, always check if they have a flashy or a clean-looking website. You should never be making transactions with a site that looks tacky or amateurish. This is because you will have to share sensitive information with them, so it’s best to go for casinos that have polished sites.
Additionally, if the design doesn’t look like it has been updated in a while, then better keep looking – your money and personal data will be at risk.
Takeaway
If all else fails and you simply cannot find any information about their licensing or regulation status online and reviews, do not hesitate to contact them for more information. If they are legitimate, they should have no issue answering these questions for you. If not, then you know to stay away and avoid playing at an online casino that is likely a scam.