Ray “The Razor” Monohan – Last Updated on February 8, 2023 9:30 am
Online Casino Advice Guide From Cappers Picks
Frequently Asked Questions For Our Casino Staff
1. Is online gambling legal?
Every region throughout the world has different online gambling laws, and they change from time to time, so we can’t really answer that question. To be sure, you should contact your local legal representative to answer any of your questions.
2. Where are the Casinos and Sports Books located?
All Internet casinos are located outside the U.S. They are generally licensed in the country they are in and have to report to the local government (although to varying degrees depending on the country). Costa Rica, The UK, Canada, Antigua, Curacao, St. Kitts, Grenada, Dominican Republican, Gibraltar, Cook Islands are just a few places that license online casinos.
The reason these small countries allow online gambling operators to set up is because it can help boost their economy. Companies pay up to $100,000 to gain a gaming license in these countries, as well as paying ongoing taxes to the local government. Best Casino Ratings know which countries have the strictest fairness and reporting laws and take these facts into account in our ratings criteria.
3. How safe are Internet Casinos and Sports Books?
So far there have been very few problems with licensed casino payouts and deposit security. Many of the jurisdictions require that the licensee post bonds of cash or insurance as part of the license requirements.
Your personal security (including credit card details and other personal information) should also be guaranteed under license agreements. Most casinos and sports books use secure servers to conduct all of their transactions, and all information about you is held offline. Many also take out insurance against fraud.
Best Casino Ratings takes into account an Internet casino’s licensing and insurance requirements as part of our ratings criteria.
4. How fair are Internet Casinos?
Online casinos are fairer than many people realize. The “house” is happy making the normal profits of gambling. Indeed many of the casinos give better odds because they do not have the overhead of a land-based casino. However, all Internet casinos are not created equal.
In many of the countries, the computer programs must be submitted to the government for thorough checking of fairness toward the player, and the casino also has to be audited by one of the big six international accounting firms.
The most important part of an online casino is a specially designed program called the random number generator. This is the program that generates a sequence of numbers that correspond to various card types, dice throws, etc. A good random number generator is one that generates numbers that are evenly distributed and not correlated and remain completely unpredictable.
If a random number generator is evenly distributed and not correlated, each number will be hit approximately the same number of times after a large number of runs. If a random number generator is unpredictable, you will not be able to predict the next number in a series no matter how many previously generated numbers you have studied.
Best Casino Ratings looks at payout percentages, winnings and casino software utilized as part of our ratings criteria.
5. How does the software an Internet casino uses affect my chances of winning?
The casino software is the backbone of any Internet casino. There are five primary casino software providers to the online casino industry. It is our experience that in real time play, two of these providers have very poor reputations for fairness (i.e. the odds are not fair to the gambler) and any Internet casino using their software would never make our Top 10 list.
That is why we say……….Why gamble on the wrong website that could be a scam casino.
6. What are the pros and cons of Internet gambling?
There can be no debate that betting at online gambling games are a lot different than gambling in a physical casino. In some ways it is better and in some ways it is worse. Below are some pros and cons of online gambling compared to gambling in a “real” casino.
The Pros
- Online gambling is a competitive business and many casinos will offer a lot to get and keep your business. Many will offer sign-up bonuses to new customers, adding 10 to 50% of their initial deposit to their bankroll (see below for more on this subject). Some will randomly deposit money in customer accounts and others will give away vacations for specified levels of total money bet.
- The rules are usually better than in physical casinos.
- You don’t have to travel long distances. The casino is in your own home.
- You don’t have to suffer real casino annoyances.
- You don’t have to feel obligated to tip.
The Cons
- On some online casinos, you have to be patient about getting your money after you cash out. In addition to waiting periods on the casino end there are also delays on the credit card end. Debit cards are much faster taking only about 3 to 5 business days.
- Customer service can be spotty depending on where you play. Some places offer great service via e-mail and a toll-free number. Others take several days to reply to an e-mail, have no known telephone number, and generally seem like they just don’t want to be bothered aside from taking your money.
- The player has no power or authority to turn to in the event of a dispute. Usually in the player agreement it says the casino can make up the rules as they go and in the event of a dispute the casino’s word is final.
- If you play at a lot of places your credit/debit card statement will be a nightmare to balance. Transactions seldom indicate the name of the casino you played at but instead specify the merchant bank.
Our Best Casino Ratings definitely take into account things like customer service, dispute resolution policy and speed of payout in our Ranking System.
7. Do I have to pay taxes on my winnings?
Paying taxes on your winnings depends upon the jurisdiction in which you reside. Certain countries have strict privacy laws and the casinos will not have financial information disclosed to anyone. Your winnings are up to you to declare.
Best Casino Ratings believe strongly in a strict privacy policy and take this into account in our ratings criteria.
8. How does Our Best Casino Ratings evaluate and rank Internet casinos?
Our Best Casino Ratings have developed a proprietary system to evaluate online casinos and sports books. There are so many variables to consider, the average gambler does not take the time, nor in our opinion, should take the time to evaluate every online casino they are contemplating playing. That is where we come into play.
Our Best Casino Ratings system is based upon a complex system where all the factors that you would consider, plus many more, are considered and generate relative ratings of online casinos. The result, in our opinion, is the best online casino websites on the Internet.
9. How often are the casino reports updated?
Our Best Casino Reviews are a dynamic approach to casino evaluation and the ratings will change periodically as new information is input into the system.