Safeguarding Bettors Online – What Steps the Casinos Take?

Posted by Harry Kane on Tuesday, January 16, 2024

We all know that responsible gambling is a key tenant of the online casino and sports betting industry, with operators now required to take more responsibility for the safety of their players and the wider push to minimise gambling-related harm.

In addition to ensuring their customers gamble responsibly, brands must also provide a secure and regulated experience in which personal and financial data is kept safe at all times. But what threats must casinos protect against, and how do they keep their patrons safe at all times?

What are the Key Threats That Casinos Safeguard Against?

While it’s one thing to understand that casinos safeguard players online, most of us aren’t aware of the precise threats that they protect us from. So, it’s important to identify and understand the potential threats when wagering online, so that you can also assume agency for your own safety. Here are some of the most prominent threats:

1. Port Attacks: Often, the different services and software on a particular server may interact with each other, usually via specified openings that are referred to as “ports”. These ports must remain open for websites and online casinos to function effectively, so they may provide a vulnerability that could be vulnerable to hackers and cyber thieves. The main issue here is an incorrect setup or the use of default passwords, which must be modified to prevent hackers from accessing servers and the data included within.
2. DDoS Attacks: A ‘Distributed Denial of Service’ (DDoS) attack sees a hacker leverage computer or Wi-Fi network vulnerabilities to access a website. It can subsequently retrieve data and shutdown the site entirely, while it’s commonly associated with devices that are connected to unsecured public Wi-Fi networks. Such attacks are usually easy to spot once they’ve commenced, but they can be difficult to stop retrospectively due to the way in which they overwhelm servers.
3. Phishing Attacks: While this type of attack may be one of the oldest tricks in the cyberthief’s handbook, it remains an advanced social engineering tactic that solicits personal information from customers and online service users. Phishing attacks see hackers impersonate a legitimate business or service provider (such as a bank), in order to trick individuals into providing data such as their bank details or secure passwords. In the case of a casino, the attacker may send a fraudulent email featuring details of a ‘promotion’, while providing a link through which you’re encouraged to enter your credentials.

OK, So How Do Casinos Counter These Threats?

These are the most common types of online cyber-attack, but there are many more sophisticated techniques used by hackers to steal data and interrupt the services provided by operators. The good news is that casino brands are aware of each threat, and take a number of different steps to minimise them and safeguard players. These include:

Encryption and the Use of Trusted Payment Methods

Perhaps the single most important tool in an online casino’s armoury is encryption. More specifically, sites are required to use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption to safeguard logins, financial transactions and the deployment of your personal information. Typically, casinos use 128-bit SSL encryption as a minimum standard, with the same one adopted by banks and lenders.

In terms of safeguarding deposits and withdrawals, casinos also take care to use highly trusted payment methods. These include bank transfers and Visa debit transactions (which are inherently secure), encrypted payment wallets and even selected cryptocurrencies. The latter use cryptographic private keys to both decrypt and encrypt the details of individual transactions.

Data Protection Policies and Specific Privacy Policies

Whenever you visit an online casino, you’ll see that the most reputable operators tend to adopt thorough and comprehensive data protection policies. These are designed to simultaneously protect their customer’s data and comply with stringent data usage laws, especially in terms of how information is collated, stored and utilised by brands.

A key staple of this is privacy policies. Typically, online casinos and remote sportsbooks are synonymous with the most stringent privacy policies in the digital marketplace, while they’re usually incredibly transparent and easy to understand too. Privacy policy guidelines also remind you of your responsibilities when trying to keep your personal data safe.

Audits and Licensing

Online casinos often rely on reputable third parties to help safeguard their customers and create an optimal iGaming experience. For example, they’ll submit to regular audits by licensed testing brands, to ensure that their games’ library is completely fair and underpinned by random number generator (RNG) software. They’ll also test the published RTP rates for transparency and accuracy.

Of course, reputable casinos must also be licensed to operate within specific jurisdictions by recognised regulators. In the UK, it’s the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) that assumes responsibility for licensing and regulating operators, and accreditation from this type of body provides a crucial layer of protection at all times.

The Last Word

It’s also interesting to note that online casinos offer players access to numerous tools when they register for an account, so that they can take steps to protect themselves. For example, you may find that a casino offers “two-factor authentication” (2FA), which secures all logins by sending bespoke codes to a separate device (such as your mobile).

Then there’s responsible gambling tools, which include customisable deposit limits and so-called “time outs”. The former lets you manage your bankroll in a disciplined and practical manner, depending on how much and frequently you wager. The latter enables you to manage the length of your gaming sessions, while you can usually self-exclude for a period too.

Each of these tools afford you autonomy as a player, as they have a direct impact on your experience and safety when wagering online. The key is to make use of them and take full advantage, as this will supplement all the efforts taken by operators to safeguard your personal data and money.