Do online casino players know their rights?

Online casinos they have become extremely popular in South South Africa. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of players have chosen to play at online casinos because they allow them to play whenever they want, regardless of location. It is also worth noting that participation rates in mobile games have also increased sharply due to the growing popularity of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices in the gambling sector.

Unfortunately, few online casino players are aware of their rights and obligations as such, nor do they know who they should turn to for addiction problems and other negative effects of gaming.

Your rights as an online casino player

The main regulatory body of the South South African gambling industry – the Ministry of Finance, has established certain rules according to which all gambling companies in the country are obliged to guarantee their players certain rights, including transparency and fairness of results, protection of player privacy and banking transactions as well as preventing gambling-related harm, such as individual deposit limits, withdrawal periods, or self-exclusion. When making a monetary transaction with a gambling company, players enter into an agreement with a specific operator.

Transparency and fairness of results

By " fairness of results” we mean that online casinos are required to make sure that the games they offer are run by random number generators (RNG) to make sure that the results in games where there is no croupier are completely random. All licensed and regulated online gambling operators submit their casinos to tests by the relevant authorities to ensure that their software is fair. Such checks are usually carried out by independent external auditors, such as testing of technical systems: Technical Systems Testing (TST), eCOGRA, iTechLabs .

Auditors perform a variety of test assessments, including game and calculation checks, RNG checks, live dealer and betting exchanges, poker system audits, lottery system evaluations. Online gambling operators who go through the evaluation process receive a special certificate and badge that show that their games are "fair". In addition, this means that the slot machines meet the minimum payout percentages that have been set according to the licensing requirements of the national gambling regulator.

Protecting player privacy and banking transactions

Online casinos must provide their customers with specific and detailed information regarding their accounts and money transactions. What players should pay attention to when browsing the operator's security section is a detailed explanation of how their identity is to be protected by the casino's security system. This is important because players are usually required to provide personal and bank account details in order to be able to make deposits and play at the online casino .

According to the new rules set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which were officially adopted on May 25, 2018, all online casinos must take appropriate technical and organizational measures to implement the main principles of data protection. Since iGaming operators are personal data processors, they are required to clearly disclose not only what customer data they collect, but also the legal basis and purpose of the data processing. According to the GDPR, customers of online casinos can ask the casino to provide them with a portable copy of all the data collected. They also have the right to request the casino to delete their data under certain circumstances.

When it comes to money transactions to and from online casinos, customers should make sure that the operator's website where they register has Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. Why is this important? If you use a standard connection that is not encrypted, the information contained in the client request is transmitted from one server to another on the network in plain text. This basically means that anyone who has access to one of these servers can potentially obtain the player's personal and banking details.

Reliable online casinos use a special cryptographic protocol known as SSL, which encrypts the connection between servers on the Internet so that no one can read it.

Online casino customers need to understand that money deposited with gambling companies is not protected by the South South African government in the same way as their personal bank accounts. This is why online casinos need to keep their customers ' money in a separate account. In addition, every online casino must make sure that it has a special section in its terms and conditions explaining whether customer funds are protected and, if so, what is the level of protection. This is important information that you should pay attention to before deciding whether you want to play with the chosen operator or not. In addition, the more money a player has in an online casino, the more carefully he should approach the level of protection provided by the operator.
Remember that in the event of a company going bankrupt, we have no guarantee of getting your money back.

Prevention of gambling-related harm

Online bookmakers and casinos must encourage local players to responsible gaming before they actually develop a problematic habit that interferes with their daily lives. There are several tools that help players get proper control over their online gambling activities.

Reality check

this is a feature that reminds players how much time they have spent playing at a given online casino. Players are asked to set up a reminder after logging in, having a choice of different periods of time, from just ten minutes to several hours.

The countdown begins as soon as a bet is placed. When the preferred time has elapsed, the program reminds the player to take a break. .

Individual deposit limits

they can also be set by players who want to play more responsibly. Depending on the operator, the player may be asked to set limits with which they feel comfortable at the end of the registration process.

People who skip this step when signing up can usually change their account settings later to adjust their daily, weekly, or monthly deposit limits. This useful tool prevents them from spending more than they could afford because they would not be able to initiate another deposit within the same day, week or month.

Account blocking tool

pauses the player's play for a shorter period, which usually lasts from 24 hours to six months, depending on the individual request of the player. Withdrawal periods are enforced in conjunction with an online casino that rejects real money bets from the player at a specific time. Betting operators will not lift these restrictions on demand – the player is forced to wait until the withdrawal period ends until he can play for Real Money in his account.

Self-exclusion

this is the last resort for players who have tried the above measures, but to no avail. The self-exclusion tool gives people who struggle with responsible gambling the option to close their accounts for at least six months or longer.

In case of self-exclusion, the gambling operator is obliged to close the relevant account and return the available balance to the player. The data of players who have excluded themselves are removed from the operator's marketing database so that players are not tempted by any promotional materials during the exclusion period. Players have the option to self-exclude themselves from a single casino as well as from multiple gambling sites at the same time

Legality of casino onine in South South Africa after the Gambling Act

It should be remembered that the rules related to gambling, change quite often, in South South Africa they have been tightened. Online casino players as well as operators need to be up to date with the latest regulations so as not to risk $amania laws. So be sure to choose proven online casinos, reviews and opinions about the chosen casino will help you in this. We also offer our website dedicated to regulation and legality casinos weg Gambling Act.