Not a Casino? Still Online and Running

The Online Casinos That Can Operate as Long as They Say They Aren’t Actually Casinos

Last time, we took a deep dive into the hottest innovations shaping the online casino world – and pointed out a few that may already be on their way out. But today, we’re looking at something even more curious: online platforms that operate like casinos, but legally claim they aren’t. Sounds strange? It’s happening more often than you’d think.

Online Casinos have seen a rapid rise in growth and number of users in the last few years. And, this has been made possible due to the availability of cheaper internet and affordable smartphones in the country.

And, due to this sudden growth of online casinos, authorities had to quickly intervene with strict regulations to protect the players from any fraud and also to extract more taxes.

However, some online casino companies have found smooth loopholes to bypass all these strict legal compliances and avoid paying hefty taxes.

They achieve this by branding themselves as skill-based games rather than luck-based games. They smartly replace real money wagering by some cool virtual coins that can be bought only with real money.

However, they are still gambling platforms but they are not following the placed regulations. And, that obviously poses a great risk to their fair play and the financial interests of the players.

Legal Loopholes – How These Sites Avoid Gambling Regulations

To avoid gambling laws and regulations, many online casinos function in a grey area by branding themselves as skill-based platforms and not luck-based gambling ones.

The fact that they present and sell their services in such a deceptive way makes them legally immune to gambling laws because they are now not legally classified under gambling.

A traditional gambling platform can be classified using three markers. First, is the use of real money for wagering and betting. Secondly, the chances of victory are completely luck-based and are random.

Finally, there is a prize associated with the game that normally is a sum of money or other items. Any company that falls under all these three criteria is legally considered a gambling platform.

However, there are many loopholes in such classification of a gambling platform. Any online casino that wants to avoid gambling laws has to just tweak any of the three markers to avoid being legally classified as a gambling platform.

And, one of the most loopholes that is exploited by online casino platforms is by replacing the real-money wagering system with sweepstakes or virtual coins.

They create a system where a player cannot bet using real money. Instead, they have to first purchase the platform’s virtual currency and then use it to bet on the games.

Many times they also offer some free bonuses to new users in the form of virtual coins. It is done to portray as if the players do not require any real money to purchase those coins.

However, once the players run out of the received bonus they will have to use real money to purchase the virtual currency for playing any games further.

Another, loophole exploited by online casinos is by defining their games as skill-based and not luck-based. The online casinos state that the players need actual tactics and strategies to win the games and not just pure luck.

These are some of the most common ways that online casino companies use to bypass gambling laws and regulations.

Are Players Really Winning? Understanding Cashout Mechanics

The fact that many online casinos can bypass gambling laws and regulations by using various loopholes comes with a huge cost, especially to the players.

These online casinos pretend as if they are not attracting new players by offering huge prize amounts of money and the players are coming to their platforms just to enjoy playing the games.

However, everyone knows that the games are just one part of the piece and most players that join online casinos are here to win big prizes and not just play games.

And, even if some players get lucky and win huge amounts. Withdrawing the prize is very hectic and not smooth at all in such online casino sites.

It is because while in traditional gambling platforms, they are obliged to be transparent and quick in their withdrawals by law. Online casinos that bypass such laws using loopholes often make it harder for their players to withdraw any cash.

It is because such platforms use virtual coins instead of real money for wagering. And, if a player manages to win large amounts of these virtual coins, converting them to real money is a challenge.

Since these online casinos place various requirements like buying more coins or wagering certain amount of that cons first before the coins can be converted into real currency and withdrawn.

Some online casino sites also usually have a long duration of withdrawal time before a player can withdraw making it tougher for the player to withdraw in time.

Another deceptive technique used the online casinos is the sweepstakes prizing system where they offer certain items instead of real money to the players as prizes.

And, oftentimes times these items have less value than what they would have received in real cash. 

The Future of Online Gambling

More and more online casinos are now starting to use various loopholes in the existing system to bypass the gambling laws and exploit their players without any repercussions.

And, this poses a huge challenge to the regulatory bodies to detect and prevent such fraud and unsolicited activities from happening. 

It is now evident that the authorities are failing to tackle these issues and are very slowly fixing these system loopholes. 

Meanwhile, online casinos are highly proactive and are working tirelessly to find out more loopholes to exploit and profit from them.

The regulatory bodies are finding it tough to distinguish between actual skill-based games and the pretentious ones. Meanwhile, it is still not clear if using virtual currencies and not real money can be considered gambling or not.

And, even though it is true that some regions have imposed strict fines and punishments for online casinos using loopholes to stay in the grey area and avoid gambling regulations.

Online casinos are smart and often to newer loopholes to keep exploiting the system and stay in the grey area to function freely and without restrictions.

They have started using crypto as their payment method or are operating from regions with no regulations regarding online casinos.

Final Words

To foster a healthy and fair gambling environment for players, it is highly crucial for authorities to find more effective methods to curb these online casinos from operating without compliance with the laws.

It is also beneficial that the players are made aware of these practices and are advised to avoid such online casino platforms that use such deceptive measures to avoid regulations and laws.