7 Tips How to Keep Your Personal Information Safe while Gambling Online

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If there’s one thing that applies without exception across all types of online gambling, it’s the importance of keeping your personal information safe.  Whether looking to play Book of Dead slot for a few simple spins or spend several hours at your favourite virtual tables, you need to keep close tabs on your finances.

Ensuring you stick to your established budget is one thing, but it’s just as important to ensure nobody else gets their hands on your private data.

Thankfully, doing so doesn’t have to be much of a challenge. It’s more a matter of common sense than bogging yourself down with additional complications and relentless paranoia. Most people aren’t actually out to get you, but there’s a small contingency of unscrupulous souls out there looking to spoil things for everyone.

So, whether online slots are your thing or you’re more about the all-time casino classics, here are the seven most important guidelines you’ll hear for giving your personal information safe online:

Play exclusively at licensed casinos
Right off the bat, the simplest way of staying safe online is to do business exclusively with licensed and reputable casinos. In order to obtain a licence, an online casino business must demonstrate professionalism and prowess in a variety of areas. One of which being safety and security – particularly in relation to safe transactions and privacy protection.

Playing at a safe and secure online casino significantly reduces the risk of your personal information being stolen and/or used for illicit means. It’s still up to you to take sensible precautions, but an appropriately licensed casino will help ensure you stay safe.

Carefully consider your credentials
Ultimately, it’s your responsibility to choose log-in credentials that are suitably safe and secure. You’ll the have the opportunity to specify your own preferred username and password when opening your account. At which point, all of the usual rules apply with regard to assigning safe and secure credentials.

The username you choose isn’t particularly important, as it will be displayed publicly anyway. However, the password you choose should be more or less 100% impossible for anyone else to guess. Even so, you should still be looking at changing your password on a regular basis, just to be safe. Don’t use any of your personal data or related personal information (pets names, place of birth etc.) as passwords – make it as random and complicated as you can, though ensure you can remember it.

Be wary of prying eyes
This applies to any and every instance where somebody else could catch a glimpse of your login information. Under no circumstances is it advisable to write down your username or password – even temporarily. Things have a habit and going missing in the blink of an eye, at which point you’ve absolutely no idea who will get their hands on your information. 

In addition, you need to be even more careful when entering your personal data into online forms and login screens when out and about. Anybody within sight of your mobile device at the time could easily watch what you enter, replicate it on their mobile device and wreak havoc with your finances. Always remember that it takes just seconds to slip up and find yourself in a sticky situation.

Avoid public internet connections
It can be tempting to connect to unsecured public Wi-Fi to save your finite monthly data allowance. Unfortunately, doing so often proves to be a catastrophic error of judgment. All public, open and unsecured networks are every bit as unsecure as their name suggests. Any other person using the network at the time could potentially be monitoring (literally) everything you do online.

Open networks like these are a standard routine target for criminals, looking to quickly and easily get their hands on other people’s financial information.  Rather than giving them an easy ride, bite the bullet and use your own data – always avoid public internet connections when gambling online.

Using the right payment methods
The vast majority of payment methods accepted by licensed online casinos are safe enough. However, some are inherently considered safer than others, simply due to the policies and protocols of the providers behind them. For example, making payments using Visa, PayPal, MasterCard, Neteller and Skrill is considered exponentially safer than organising bank transfers. Some would also say that cryptocurrency like Bitcoin takes safety and security to an even higher level.

Where there’s a long list of options available, stick for the most tried, tested and trusted payment methods on the table. Even if your personal information and finances go astray, you’ll be covered by the robust safety and insurance policies of the payment provider.

Keep an eye on your accounts
Oftentimes, it’s not until way after a data security breach that the individual involved realises something has gone wrong. Rather than taking massive sums out of people’s accounts all at once, criminals often sneakily extract smaller sums on a regular basis that for some time go unnoticed.

This is why it is essential to keep a close eye on your accounts, scrutinising your statements on a regular basis for signs of suspicious activity.  f you detect anything even remotely out of the ordinary, it needs to be brought to the attention of your provider right away. 

Use VPNs with caution
Last but not least, there are two reasons why it’s important to approach online gaming via VPNs with caution. First and foremost, many VPNs (especially those that are free to use) don’t exactly take things to extremes when it comes to safety and security. Some of the better paid VPNs offer a decent level of protection, but free and cheap VPNs can’t always be trusted.

In addition, using a VPN to access a casino in a prohibited territory could cost you your account. If you contravene the terms and conditions of the casino, they could be well within their rights to close your account and withhold all monies.  The same also applies if authorities in your jurisdiction detect what you’ve been doing, at which point you can kiss goodbye to your bankroll in its entirety.

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