This is the second part of our guide, which will introduce you to important things about online casino games and operators. See here part one. Take advantage!

3. Respected regulator
All online casinos are officially regulated by a country (or a territory with a special status - jurisdiction). Countries attract online casinos only if they have legislation that favors online gambling. Licenses are issued either by countries that want to regulate and collect taxes when their own residents gamble online (United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, etc.), or by jurisdictions that make money by allowing casinos to do business internationally (Malta, Curacao, Gibraltar, etc.).

If a casino categorically refuses to pay you your winnings, you can contact the regulatory body that issued the casino's license. It is in these cases that it becomes clear how important it is to choose a casino based on who issued the license. A good regulatory body always works independently for fair gambling. The body should objectively investigate and assess all official complaints. If a casino has seriously violated the rules, the regulator should revoke the casino’s license.

However, in the real world, there are quite a few regulators that do not even offer a contact form to file a complaint (Costa Rica, Panama, Anjouan, Seychelles). If your casino is licensed from one of these places, you have no real chance of changing their decision.

With other regulators, you may have a chance to get justice, but their approach will generally be quite passive. This applies for example to: Curacao and Gibraltar.

At the other end of the spectrum, we find the more respected licensing bodies such as Malta, Alderney and the Isle of Man. If a conflict arises with a casino that is licensed by one of them, you actually have a pretty good chance of getting justice.

4. Reasonable withdrawal limits and sufficient turnover in relation to the amounts you are playing for. Again, we can draw a parallel with insurance companies. Would you insure your house with an insurance company whose annual revenue is lower than the value of your house? Probably not. If your house burns down, the insurance company won’t have the money to pay out and you’d have to sue them. Then they’d go bankrupt and you could be out of pocket for your money.

The same goes for online casinos. If you win a large sum of money at a small casino, it could cause huge financial problems. Things like that increase the casino’s incentive to find loopholes so they can avoid paying out your winnings. In the worst case scenario, the casino risks going bankrupt.

It’s not necessarily about honesty or dishonesty – they just don’t have the money.

Some slot machines have such high variance that you can win up to 5,000 times your bet on a single spin. A simple dream cut, for example. So $300 could win you 1.5 million. Casinos don’t want to scare away wealthy customers, so they don’t like to put limits on the stakes in their games. More open and transparent casinos get around this problem by setting a maximum payout limit. If you see one, you know that the casino is struggling with revenue and that it could take years before a big win is paid out. Less responsible casinos avoid the problem altogether. They just hope that no one wins the big money.

Regardless, you should assess the financial capacity of your casino before you start playing. Always start from the best situation for you. If you play slot machines, you should make sure that the casino you choose has the financial strength to pay out a win of 5,000 times your maximum bet. If the casino doesn’t pay out when you finally win the big prize, it will almost certainly affect your mental well-being.

Also, be sure to check the withdrawal limits. It takes over 6 years to receive a $1,500,000 payout if you can only receive $20,000 per month. That's enough time for the casino to go bankrupt and avoid paying out the rest of your money.