Online casinos are amazing places and one of the best inventions ever, albeit we have a slightly biased opinion on the matter. However, just like in land-based casinos, there is a huge list of things that can go wrong as a player, so we’re going to try and walk you through the four most common mistakes made by online casino players. If all goes well and you heed this information, you can avoid making the same mistakes and have nothing but an amazing time when you play at an online casino!

Ready? Let’s begin!

1. Registering with Fake Details

This might come as a shock to some people, but registering with fake details is a really common occurrence at online casinos. Many people are looking to remain anonymous as they might not want other people to know that they like to play at a casino. These range from people hiding it from partners, politically exposed individuals as well as your privacy-focused individuals. No matter how you cut it or what the excuse is, it’s a very bad thing to do and you could end up losing any money in your account and receiving a lifetime ban from that casino or group of casinos.

Online casinos take your privacy very seriously, and they will never expose your details to anyone – it’s against the law. Players can pick a nickname for public spaces at online casinos and can opt for screen names in live dealer games too, meaning your privacy is the number one focus. So, don’t be stupid and don’t risk losing your money. Just use your real information, we don’t care who you really are, we just need to do our bit to comply with the law.

2. Going Gung-Ho on Games Without Understanding Bonuses

Whenever you sign up at an online casino, there is a good chance you will get a welcome bonus. For example, here at BitStarz, we will give you €500/5BTC and 180 free spins across your first four deposits. Now, that all sounds well and good, but bonus money has a capped max bet of €5 per round. Not only this, but bonus money is used first, and then your own money. So, it’s well worth reading the bonus terms and conditions before you go gong-ho and dive head first into playing a game.

Bonuses are amazing and really enhance your play experience at online casinos, but they can hinder your experience too. An example of this is when you’re trying to compete in promotions. In a good deal of promotions, bonus money doesn’t count, so you need to get rid of it in order to progress through the levels or climb up leaderboards. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but generally bonus money doesn’t count. Make sure you’re fully aware of the risks before taking those bonuses.

3. Playing with Illegally Obtained Money

We would like to think this is common sense, but the sheer number of people that look to use online casinos as a place to launder their illegally obtained money is just breathtaking. Whether it’s from running drug operations, gun running, selling organs on the black market or good old-fashioned robbery, online casinos will find out. That’s right, as part of the know your customer (KYC) process, online casinos undertake anti-money laundering (AML) procedures. This means we follow the paper trail of the money to check for any dodgy sources. It’s standard practice in the online casino world, and you will get caught.

Over the years, some of the biggest drug lords and criminals have tried to launder money through online casinos, but they get caught every time, with their funds getting locked away for good and turned over to the cops. So, if you’ve got some dirty money and you’re looking to wash it, our advice to you is find another avenue. Online casinos know all about dirty money, and you probably don’t want to lose it either.

4. Not Checking Game Selection Before Registering

Online casinos all have a crazy amount of games ready for you to play, but it’s worth checking to see if the games you know and love are available in your region from your selected online casino. Certain online casinos have geo restrictions on some games and even entire countries, meaning if you’re in the wrong country you might not be able to play. Before you spend time creating an account and making a deposit, check to see if the games you enjoy are available, and if you travel a lot, available where you will be spending a lot of your time.

Using a VPN to access and play games is frowned upon, and most online casinos will know where you’re actually from based on your location when you create an account. This means games will be locked to your region, so using a VPN while logged in won’t change a thing. On the other hand, if you are away on holiday in a restricted region, your account will remember you and let you play – so it’s a double-edged sword.

There you have it, these are the top 4 common mistakes players make at online casinos. Did you make any of these when you first joined the online casino world? We know we sure did!