Here you will find ways to help guarantee that your online casino is 100% legitimate and offers you an actual chance to win money.

Online Casino Technology:
Even though there are thousands of online casinos there are only a few companies that write the online casino programs. These are the online casinos you want to risk your money, the other online casinos may be legitimate, but all the most reputable online casinos use these programs. You can find out who wrote the online casino software by checking out the website. If it is not mentioned on the homepage you can find it in the about us or the FAQ sections of the online casino site. If it is not mentioned on the site you can always send the casino an email asking them. If they do not reply you should not gamble your money there.

Judging a Casino by its Cover:
Online casinos and poker rooms bring in millions of dollars a year. If you go t a casinos website and the site itself looks cheap and poorly designed or if the different menus do not work properly if may be a sign that the casino is less then the best and maybe this is a fly by night operation and after you deposit your money with them they may disappear. This may just be a new online casino, and they do not have the money for a good web designer, but I recommend only playing in a well established online casino or poker rooms. This will ensure that the casino you play in will be honest and all you have to worry about is collusion and web hackers, but that is a different story completely.

Message Boards:
It is a good idea to investigate what other people think of the online casino you are thinking about depositing your money into. Message boards are a great place to do that. There are many online gambling related message boards where you will find any complaints about any casino. You will find complaints on all casinos both online and land based, sometimes when people lose money they will try to blame the casino or the other players because god forbid they may have just lost without cheating being involved.
If most of the postings about Joe's online casino then do not trust them with your money, and if most of the posts are good about Joe's online casino and poker room then you can feel safer about depositing money and gambling with them.

Web Search:
By just doing a simple web search for the online casinos name you can find out a lot of information on any online casino. You can find out the online casinos owner and you can find many user online casino reviews for that specific casino. Be aware of these reviewes many of them are written by employees of the casinos marketing department. You have to use your own judgment in determining which ones are real and which ones were written by professionals.

Collusion and Hacking:
Security is a major issue for online casinos and poker rooms. An online casino can be legitimate but still have shenanigans taking place. The casino can have their network hacked into and thieves can drain your account and sometimes you run into what is called collusion. This is when several friends will log on to the same online casino or poker room and will use other software to talk to each other to cheat the other players out of their money. Online casinos have special security programs that can locate people doing things like this and stop them before they can ruin your online gaming experience. Make sure you check about the online casinos security policies before you start playing there.

It has always been my experience to go with word of mouth. Ask around you probably know people who enjoy online gambling and they will be glade to tell you where they play.