5 Tips for Assessing if an Online Casino is Right for You
Online casinos are more popular than ever, especially in South Africa, where anyone over the age of 18 can sign up to a legally permitted iGaming site (e.g., an online sportsbook, a dedicated poker site, an online casino, or bingo & lottery site) to place bets from their Wi-Fi/internet-connected PC or mobile device.
However, not all brands can be trusted, which is why you should always stop and think about whether the site you are considering joining is safe or not. With that said, here are five essential tips for assessing if an online casino is right for you.
What are the five tell-tale signs I have found a safe online casino worth joining in 2025?
If you live in South Africa and want to bet online, you can now find hundreds of sites, but some of them must be avoided at all costs because they don’t have the proper licenses. When assessing an online casino, the five tell-tale signs to look out for that reveal if it’s safe are the following:
- Licensing and regulation – the only safe sites in South African that can be trusted are ones that hold a license to operate from the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator (MER), such as the globally renowned 10Bet (https://www.10bet.co.za/) website – SA’s number one iGaming site. Avoid playing on sites that aren’t licensed here
- Reviews, ratings, and player feedback – only play on sites with positive reviews from the experts, high ratings/ranking positions, and excellent player feedback. Avoid playing on sites that have negative reviews, low ratings/ranking positions, and poor player feedback
- Payout speeds and banking options – the safest SA casino sites, such as 10bet, will always specifically cater to the South African market by accepting a decent number of popular SA online payment methods, and they will allow you to deposit, play, and withdraw in your own local South African currency of ZAR (Rand). A top site like this will also process near-instant deposits and superfast withdrawals
- Software and games – when assessing the games, make sure they have a healthy selection of at least 1,000 to 2,000 different computer-generated and live dealer games to choose from. More important, ensure those games are supplied to the casino by market-leading (top-tier) content providers like Red Tiger, Pragmatic Play, Booming Games, Spinomenal, Spribe, and Yggdrasil, to name a few
- Bonuses and promotions – a trustworthy site will have plenty of lucrative bonuses and promotions that fully registered members can sink their teeth into, and, more importantly, they will come with fair/realistic terms and conditions and medium to low wagering requirements (which are sometimes referred to as rollover, turnover or playthrough requirements)
To sum up, when assessing which online casinos might be worth your time, ensure everything is above board by conducting simple background checks and due diligence.
You also want to make sure that they have top-notch cybersecurity measures, including things like 128-bit or higher cryptographic encryption certificates and advanced firewalls to protect your account, money, and personal details.
The other good sign you have found yourself a trustworthy online casino is that it may also be endorsed by famous celebrities, or it will be the official betting partner or principal partner of notable sports teams.
For example, Bafana Bafana (the South African men’s national football team) chose 10Bet as their official betting partner, and South Africa’s very own Lamontville Golden Arrows also made them their official betting partner. The official brand ambassador for this world-class iGaming brand is South Africa’s very own icon and living legend, Theophilus ‘Doctor’ Khumalo.
The final sign to look out for is that the operator will run an honest day-to-day operation. It will fully comply with AML (international Anti-Money Laundering policies), and it will have excellent data protection and privacy policies in place.
Final thoughts
As you can see, there’s lots to consider before signing up to the first online casino that you randomly stumble upon. The best thing to do is to research a site before joining, or stick to the well-known brands like 10bet, which specifically cater to the South African market in several ways.
The one last thing that we mustn’t forget to mention before we go is responsible gambling. Top sites today will do their best to protect their registered members by actively promoting responsible gambling.
To ensure you always remain well within any initial spending budget that you decide to set for yourself, never borrow money to bet online, and never log in to play games in the real money mode while tired or intoxicated.
The safest way to mitigate risk is to set as many manual, safer gambling controls as possible to ensure you never exceed your budget. In other words, take frequent session breaks, only deposit what you can afford to lose, and never treat playing casino games as a job.
Last Updated on February 11, 2025