Blacklisted Casinos

Understanding “Blacklisting”

If you follow our site, you know we go to great lengths to only feature and promote legitimate online casinos. However, our good intentions can’t remove bad casino sites from the internet. In fact, many of these sites say out of jurisdictions that can properly police business practices. This makes it even harder to get accurate information about them.

You should perform some due diligence if you come across a casino not listed on our site. Check to see if the casino is licensed by a respectable entity like the UK Gambling Commission or Malta Gaming Authority. You might also look up its online reputation or try to see if it has any major complaints.

Some of the major red flags to look for include:

• Special offers that are too good to be true
• Lots of complaints regarding payouts
• Lack of customer service

Our Current List of Blacklisted Canadian Casino Sites

How We Determine Which Sites are Backlisted

Blacklisting casinos is intended to serve as a warning label for the online gambling community. We don’t want players to lose their money or identities to thieves running fraudulent sites. If a casino is on this list, you should avoid it at all costs. And rest assured, we do not add sites to this list without proper consideration and investigation.

Below are some of the criteria we consider when evaluating casinos for our list. Still, we also want to remind you that the best information out there comes from other players like you.

Lacking a License

Legitimate casinos are willing to go through a rigorous vetting process to acquire licenses that prove they’re trustworthy. In order to receive a license like this, they need to be transparent about their ownership, prove their financial strength, and undergo voluntary auditing of both their operations and games (a process which is done by accredited third-party companies).

Unlicensed online casinos purposely avoid getting licenses because they don’t want their operations put under scrutiny. In the end, they depend on you remaining unaware in order to make as much money as they can before players catch on.

Payout Issues

Blacklisted casinos aren’t in business to give you your money back. One of the ways they lure players in is by providing wholly unrealistic bonuses or promises of massive winning potential. Then, when you do go to make a withdrawal, out come the terms and conditions. Suddenly, you’re looking at 30 days processing times and huge transfer fees.

The goal? To keep your money in so they can use it for their nefarious ends. Ultimately, if you deposit cash with one of these casinos, you should assume you’re never going to see it again.

Unfair Games

Fly-by-night casinos love to use pirated games that are rigged in their favour. This is especially common with slots, but not rare when it comes to Blackjack, Roulette, and Craps. While you keep wagering and losing, you become more and more convinced that you’ll win. What you don’t know is that the game has been internally manipulated, so that can’t happen.

Licensed online casinos only use technology that has been certified for fairness and is constantly audited by third-party agencies such as eCogra and Gaming Labs International. This includes checking the games’ random number generators to ensure they’re impartial and, indeed, random. If there was any manipulation, it would show up immediately.

Unauthorized Software

The software created by legitimate gaming companies takes years and a huge financial investment to create. They also have to pay third-party auditing companies like eCogra to certify their games for fairness. So, when you see game providers like NetEnt, Yggdrasil, Microgaming, Pragmatic Play and Evolution Gaming on every site, you know they deserve to be there.

Outlaw operators use bootleg copies of these popular games and then remove all the RNG protections and fairness assertions. Unfortunately, telling the difference can be very difficult for new players. That is until they realize that payouts have been basically eliminated. But by then, they’ve already lost their money.

Bad Security and Weak Privacy Protection

Renegade casinos may talk about privacy, but they really couldn’t care less. In fact, sometimes they run a side hustle selling players’ private information. This can lead them to suffer identity theft, fraud, and other major financial problems. That’s why it’s so important to only provide financial and personal data to licensed casinos that use the proper end-to-end encryption technologies.

For instance, the EU has the strictest data protection laws in the world, and they’ve been adopted by many other countries. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA) is the Canadian equivalent. This helps guarantee that Canadians’ personal data need to be protected by any business that wants to operate in the country.

Misleading Bonuses

Unsafe casino operators know the best way to attract victims is to promise big winnings, frequent payouts, and more. They often use high-dollar bonuses or promotions to get you to sign up and make a deposit. If they even bother putting terms and conditions up, they’ll be vague, weak, or otherwise fraudulent.

Unclear Terms and Conditions

We always read the fine print, and we recommend you do too. Remember, terms and conditions cover important things like withdrawal limits, payout processing times, wagering requirements, and bonus details. So, if you come across a casino where the terms and conditions are vague, misleading, or seem out of place, it’s likely because the casino is trying to ensure they can keep as much of your money as possible should you decide to seek legal action. Of course, in some cases, the scam operators will just ignore the T&Cs they post anyway.

Bad Customer Service

We believe that the quality of a company’s customer service says a lot about it. In Canada, customers tend to have little patience for poor performance, which is why most companies that operate here spend a lot of time and money on Customer Relationship Management (CMR). We like to see real-time options like live chat as well as email and phone contact options.

Since outlaw operators only care about getting their hands on players’ money, their customer service is either terrible, limited, or nonexistent. They also tend to delay and defer support problems by providing weak excuses. They might refuse to return calls or pass you around from “manager” to “manager.” If you encounter poor customer service, it’s a huge red flag that you might be on a bad site.

Complicated Withdrawal Processes

The casinos we promote make their deposit and withdrawal processes as easy and straightforward as possible. So, if you encounter a withdrawal process that seems purposely misleading or difficult, chances are that’s very much on purpose. In general, online casinos embrace a standard set of rules governing withdrawals, so anything outside that is a red flag.

Other red flags include a lack of quality in the payment processing and a distinct lack of options when it comes to withdrawal methods. And if you come across payment providers that seem suspect, whatever you do, do NOT use them.

Reporting Fraudulent or Unsafe Casinos

If you’re a Canadian online casino player and you come across any of the irregularities listed above, you can contact Canada authorities directly if you wish. However, we also think it wise that you contact us and find other ways to inform potential victims of these unsafe practices.

What About Blacklisted Players?

Casinos around the world have been blacklisting players since the very beginning. As legitimate as the business is nowadays, there are always shady characters trying to make a quick buck. That said, the internet and the growth of online casinos have changed the dynamics of player blacklisting quite a bit. There are many reasons why someone might be prevented from accessing a casino’s services.

In recent years, many countries have adopted Responsible Gambling legislation to protect players who are underage or at risk. For instance, Belgium has a national player blacklist called the Excluded Persons Information System. This most bans players suspected of criminal activity, but players and their family members can also request exclusion.

In Canada, we recommend you visit the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC). Of course, we also have a dedicated Responsible Gambling page where players can find all sorts of helpful tools to limit their play or stop altogether.

Conclusion

Online gambling has literally exploded over the past ten years. Unfortunately, regulations and other safety-related legislation have not yet caught up with the surge in new sites and players. Until it does, outlaw casino operators will continue to try and take your money from you via illicit means. So, if you want to keep your money and your data safe, you need to keep an eye out for blacklisted casinos like those on this list.

And remember, all the casinos we feature here at CanadaCasinoNews boast licenses, high-end encryption technologies, and the sort of reliable customer service we like to see from any site. They also work with recognized game providers, so you can rest assured the random number generators aren’t working in the casino’s favor.