Online Banking Security

The snowballing popularity of online gambling seems unstoppable – in the UK alone, over four million online enthusiasts play every month, with the amount of money being staked rocketing by 566% since 2003. But as the sums of money passing hands swell, so do rumours of collusion, tales about delays in payouts and fears that players are increasingly attractive targets for crooks.

Understandable, perhaps, when you consider fraud costs the credit card industry over £500m a year (that’s £800 every minute), but do players really need to worry about signing on the virtual dotted line? We put these concerns to several major online casinos such as InterCasino.com, which invest heavily in ensuring their sites are safe and fair for players, and they’re adamant your money is safer than ever in their hands.

Addressing one of the biggest worries – that technology can be exploited to scam you – InterCasino’s spokesman Peter Marcus remarks, ‘There’s absolutely no chance that anyone can see your credit card numbers.

In safe hands

‘When it goes through the internet, it’s encrypted,’ explains Marcus. ‘In the same way that you can do your weekly shop of bread and milk, you’re similarly protected when you play. We use exactly the same technology.’

Keen to scotch rumours that online firms orchestrate games so that players lose, he says, ‘You don’t become large without being honest.’ InterCasino, for instance, is one of several big players employing Canadian IT firm Cryptologic to power its online casino and poker rooms. At the heart of the software lies a random-number generator. In poker there’s a virtual 52-card pack from which the generator ‘decides’ which card to pick.

In the spirit of total transparency, InterCasino employs renowned accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers to review its payouts and posts these on its website. The firm claims a 97%-98% payout and a quick look at its website (intercasino.co.uk) shows January’s review does indeed back this up, with an average payout of 97.04%.

But what about tales of casino winners either not getting paid or at least not for several months? It seems there’s truth in some of this even among major firms – certain sites do indeed make instalment payments over five or six months, depending on the size of the win. ‘The best advice is to always read the small print before signing up,’ said one casino source.

Even if they pay in a lump sum, much still depends on what sort of payment system they have – if it’s a reputable firm like NETeller.com, which partners with sites like PokerRoom and allows funds to be withdrawn from ATMs, payment can take just three working days. With InterCasino, for example, as well as using NETeller, cheques are raised in five or six days, while crediting your bank account takes around 24-48 hours.

However, the tighter security that players so desire is also sometimes an obstacle to instantaneous payment. Obligatory verification checks take time. Ensuring the person who put the money into an account is the person who takes the winnings out, that he or she is of legal age and, uniquely in the case of Cryptologic, that players enter the pin number they first got in the post when opening the account is all very reassuring but, industry insiders admit, can be frustrating when you’re desperate to get your hands on your fat paycheque.

Collusion collision

Then there’s the issue of collusion. Low prices and wide availability of home computers means it’s increasingly common to find more than one PC in a household connected to the internet. Set up different gaming accounts and it’s not hard to see why collusion is becoming a serious issue.

Imagine you’re busy playing a game of online poker with Big Bad Bob, The Chosen One and King Arthur – who’s to say all three aren’t best of friends, sitting in the same room and having the last laugh as they unceremoniously empty your pockets? But the net is closing in on such ‘collusionists’. Cutting edge bespoke software is already deployed to investigate suspicious behaviour, allowing firms to go back and scrutinise hands for evidence of foul play. Admittedly, it does beg the question as to how the hell, in a game as complex as poker, a computer could possibly know what’s going on? Sophisticated as the software is these days, the ‘human element’ is also still required.

Computers are at the coalface constantly, alerting collusion teams as to any strange patterns, but firms such as InterPoker employ skilled poker players to then investigate whether it really is collusion.

So, it seems the bottom line is this: reputable online gambling firms, more aware than anyone how important it is to safeguard your money and ensure you can play online fairly, are indeed in many cases ahead of the game – it’s just taking the rumour mill a while to catch up with them.