Gaming is a booming industry worldwide. PC gaming is estimated to have a $37.4 billion annual revenue while console gaming ranks at $51.2 billion. Today’s biggest casino sign up bonus gaming segment is mobile gaming which is seeing $86.3 billion in annual revenues.
The 2020 pandemic had a positive impact on the gaming industry. While social distancing and sheltering at home, players have been spending more time indulging in their gaming adventures. This has resulted in a significantly higher number of new users. The market is expanding rapidly.
Recent reports indicate that the online casino market will continue to expand, even after COVID-19 lockdowns and quarantines end. Online gaming, including social gaming, free to play, real money and multiplayer gaming is enjoying a significant chunk of this growth. According to a report in Statista, "Revenue in the Online Games segment is projected to reach US$23,582m in 2021; Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of 7.4%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$31,328m by 2025.”
Safety
One of the main concerns confronting the online casino industry is the issue of safety. With players sending and receiving significant amounts of money online in deposits and withdrawals, the potential for scamming, phishing, hacking and other forms of invasive threats to your gaming and ebanking accounts should not be ignored.
There are a number of steps that a player can take to secure his/her privacy and online security when gambling online. Some of the most important include:
Trustworthy Casino Sites
Make sure that the online casino where you are playing is a certified casino that uses licensed software. There are a number of jurisdictions that license online casinos and casino software including Curacao, the Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, Antigua & Barbuda and Malta. These jurisdictions attest to the fact that casinos licensed by them comply with certified standards of fairness and safety. Once you have ascertained the casino’s reliability, you can be assured that the casino is using reliable software and adhering to international standards of fair and secure gaming.
Privacy Policy
Check out the casino’s privacy policies to make sure that they comply with your expectations. You want a casino that is committed to respecting your privacy and ensuring that the information that it collects – name, mailing address, email address, credit card information, etc. -- remains confidential and is not shared with any third party. You should be able to unsubscribe from any email list at any time, opt out of surveys, etc.
Most important for the purposes of the security of your account, you must check the privacy policy of the casino to ascertain that your account information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be shared with any third-party organization or company. Email addresses should not be shared for any purpose, either commercial or non-commercial.
Limits
Note the online casino's policies regarding assistance that it offers compulsive gamblers and gaming limits. Casino patrons can find themselves gambling above their budgeted bankroll. Alternately, some customers may find it difficult to impose limits on their wagers, even when betting impacts adversely on their daily lives. A responsible online casino will address these issues by allowing players to place betting limits and giving them the option to “opt out” (which means that the casino knows that they are not to be allowed to make any wagers for the time specified by the opt-out).
You should also make sure that the casino that you choose operates a responsive support line so that you can speak to a casino representative and find out which form of assistance will best suit your needs. You want to be able to finish your self-imposed exclusionary period in a manner that allows you to move forward with your gaming events in a calmer state of mind.
Ebanking
Make sure that the casino provides you with ebanking options that are safe, certified and insured.
Using digital banking options for online casino gambling demands caution. Your casino deposits are transferred to your casino account via your ebank and your earnings are deposited back into your ebank account after being withdrawn from your casino account. That can mean a lot of money is moving between your accounts so you want to do everything possible to make sure that your money is safe.
First, check the casino's banking page to choose the ebanking institution that you wish to use. If these ebanks are certified, they will be using encryption codes that protect all financial information via high-tech firewalls and secure data centers. If, on the ebank’s website, you see a seal that certifies that the ebank is authorized by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) you can rely on that ebank and, thus, the security of your online financial transactions.
Etc.
A number of general – but extremely important – rules to follow when playing at an online casino include:
- Never use a third party site or app to download casino software. Don't even click on a text link from someone that you don’t know. Even if the email purports to come from the casino itself, it may be a scam that would lead you to the third-party website where your personal information, including your banking information, could be compromised.
- Enter a casino website via a direct casino URL. Type that URL into your PC or mobile browser. Then you can move forward to log in and access your account. Alternately, download the casino app and enter the casino via the app.
- If you are playing on a device which others use or if you're playing on a public site, be sure to log out of your account when you’re finished playing
- Make sure that you are using a unique password for every site, including for your casino site and for the online banking site that you select. The two passwords should not be alike. Use passwords that have both capital and small letters, numbers and symbols. Never share those passwords with others.
Playing casino games online demands a basic level of caution and preparedness. If you do your part to secure your casino activities, you can enjoy safe and secure online gaming when playing online.
