Although internet betting offers greater convenience to the customer it does need to be treated with some caution. The internet is a highly competitive business environment and many businesses have been trading for a relatively short time. A number of sites have gone bust owing customers money. Betting on the internet is a relatively new phenomenon and there is a lack of control and legal framework to deal with some problems that may arise. There are also a number of scam sites that have failed to payout to customers. Be extremely cautious of betting with unregulated sites in foreign jurisdictions. If a site goes bust, it will be virtually impossible for you to get your money back.

UK companies
UK betting exchange operators are expected to abide by the code of practice for betting exchanges. This provides a framework for a safe and fair betting environment.
It includes the following provisions:
•    that the funds of betting exchange customers be ringfenced from the operator’s funds so that they are segregated at all times
•    there must always be a reserve fund to clear all accounts at any time
•    they must adhere to the betting dispute resolution decisions of an external arbitrator, e.g. IBAS (Independent Betting Arbitration Service).

There are safeguards to allow you to control the amount that you bet. This includes daily/weekly deposit limits that you can decide in advance. They also have self-exclusion schemes that allow you to opt out on request allowing you to have your account closed for six months.

Common scams

Fraudulent sites
It is extremely easy to set up a fraudulent site. These sites will typically copy the page designs of established legitimate sites. They will contain the logos of legitimate companies showing  that their software has been audited or that they are a member of a trade association. They may show excellent reviews from certain sources. However, if you deposit money with the site, you will receive no payout. The site may be on the internet for only a short time before it is closed down, but if it appears to be a legitimate company a lot of people can be conned in that time. Don’t forget - casinos can write their own reviews and post them all over the internet. Some casinos have even been known to set up fake watchdog organizations and to write themselves excellent reviews.

Payment problems
Failure to pay is common. A site appears to be legitimate, so you deposit money with it and start playing. You then cash out but no money is sent to you. A site that fails to pay may then start bombarding you with mail in the name of a different company. They already know that you are a gambler and will try to induce you into depositing money with offers of huge bonuses. There are some sites that payout but only after a very long time. They hold on to your money, thereby earning themselves interest.

Prize scams
The internet is rife with prize and lottery scams. For example, you may be contacted and told that you have won £1 million in a lottery and that the money is being held for you. You will be given some reason why you have to pay, for example, £100 or more in order to receive your payout. If you pay this money, you will not receive your £1 million payout. Before playing a lottery online, you should thoroughly check out the company to ensure that they are legitimate. Fraud Watch International lists over 380 lottery scams on its website.

Identity theft
Identity theft is where someone gets hold of your personal details and uses them fraudulently to acquire money and goods in your name. You may receive an email telling you that you have won money. To process your claim, you may be asked to send a copy of your driving licence and bank or credit card details. You should also be cautious about giving your credit card details to legitimate on line firms with lax security as here it is possible for your credit card details to be stolen.

Unfair software
The software used by the site may be unfair. It may give it a bias that allows it to win the majority of the time. For example, you may be tempted to play roulette. You decide to tryout a free game at a site. It appears to be easy to win with the free version. You then tryout the game for money but quickly lose. Chances are the free game is rigged to make it appear easy to win and the money game is rigged to make sure you lose more frequently.

Spam
You may open an account with a site and find that your email address has been sold to spammers.

Customer service
Often scam sites will publish customer service contact numbers and an email address appearing to offer 24-hour support. However, if you try to contact them, there will be no answer. Alternatively, a site may be in English but if you have a dispute and phone customer service, the operator speaks a foreign language and no one is available who can speak English. This means that you will have great difficulty getting your dispute resolved.  Always test the customer service before registering with a casino, this is a very good test to see if they are good or not and is one of the ways we use to judge a casino or poker room which we list.

Phishing
Phishing is a method used to obtain a player’s password to their on line betting account. What generally happens is that the victim will get an email claiming to be from customer support. It will give some spurious reason why the customer needs to contact them. The victim will be directed to a web page where it will be necessary to type in his user name and password. The cheater then has the information needed to log on to the victim’s account, bet with the money in the account and withdraw winnings.