If there’s one thing we are all constantly vigilant about in today’s world, it’s online safety. More than ever, fraudsters and schemes have moved to the digital world, away from real-world scams and into the virtual space. How we protect ourselves against these threats is one of the most important things we need to ask ourselves.
Many of us would love to play cash games online, and one of the most popular in the U.K. is bingo. The popularity of the game has exploded with the advent of online bingo sites like these, but it’s always harder to know what’s safe and what isn’t with online bingo.
Let’s look at how to recognise a safe site from an unsafe one.
Licensing
The first and most important thing you need to look out for with an online bingo site is whether or not its licensed. The body that issues these licenses will differ depending on whether you live on the mainland or somewhere such as the Isle of Man.
They are all registered under the same Gambling Commission, though. If the bingo site you are looking at has been issued such a license, then you can be sure that the site is safe and trustworthy.
Issuing official license, and indeed requiring bingo sites to have such a license in order to operate, is the first line of defence for the player. There are always other things to consider, of course, but this is the first thing you should check. If it has no license, it isn’t a safe site to play.
Once you’ve seen that they are licensed, there are other details to check.
Security
While the Gambling Commission does its best to regulate online bingo sites, the fact is that this is a lot of work for them to do—they have issued licenses to around 350 different sites. So, once you know the site is licensed, you’ll then need to get an idea of the site’s security protocols.
How the site protects your data is the first and most important thing. Data breaches are overwhelmingly common today, with over 1,200 such incidents reported in 2021. You will be storing sensitive information on the bingo site, not just payment details but all your personal information as well.
2-factor-authentication is a must for any reliable site. This makes it more or less impossible for your account to be compromised. Look, also, at the history the site has of data breaches—if they have more than a few in recent years, they may be worth avoiding for the time being.
The banking and payment options, too, are important security matters. If a site only offers a couple of deposit and withdrawal methods, you may be on a less-than-trustworthy site. If not untrustworthy, such sites are certainly riskier.
Maximum and minimum withdrawals, too, are key. If the minimum withdrawal is very high, you may struggle to cash out for a while—putting your funds at risk the longer they are out of your hands.
Customer feedback
There are some really fundamental things like this that you need to establish right off the bat—issues of licensing and security that we’ve already discussed. Once you’ve seen that they’re getting all the basics right, the next best place to go is user reviews and feedback. See what other people are saying about the site.
If the reviews are dominated by complaints about withdrawals, deposits, claiming winnings or limited game options, then this is a good sign to steer clear. It’s often true that many more users will flock to review a site if they had a bad experience rather than a positive one. But if many of the reviews are commenting about the same issue, it’s probably a good sign the site is less than safe.
The biggest bingo sites will have literally thousands of reviews, mostly praising it. The greater the volume of positive reviews, the safer a site is likely to be.
How to know which sites are safe
So, as you can see, there are quite a few factors you need to take into account when choosing a new bingo site. While you can really never go wrong with the bigger and more popular sites, it’s completely natural to want to take advantage of all available offers from new and emerging sites.
That said, safety must always be your number one priority. You can’t always tell immediately if a site is a good place to have fun, if its games are functional and smooth, or if there’s a good chance to win—but you can tell quite quickly that it gets the basics of safety right. Everything else can come afterwards, once you’re sure you’re not putting your details or money at risk.
Exciting as we all know bingo games are, don’t rush into anything.