What follows is a blacklist of all bookmakers you should avoid. Some of them are not legit, others are infamous for their questionable practices.

What are blacklisted bookmakers?

The online operators that we’ve put on this list are a scam or a fake, which is why we advise you to avoid them. Most of these websites show up on the internet for a brief period of time, accumulate a lot of registrations, and then close without notifying the players or returning their money.

In most cases, these operators have worked without any licence. That’s why it’s essential to choose regulated and legit bookmakers. Otherwise, players won’t have any level of protection and might get scammed.

The blacklisted bookmakers are also known as “shady” or suspicious sites. They’re infamous because their goal is to scam their customers. Most of the time, they delay payouts, disregard account verification, accept bets, but disregard profit distribution. It’s also possible to come across a bookmaker that has fake bonuses whose conditions can’t be met.

What are the signs of a bookmaker that’s not recommended?

Look out for the following warning signs that will help you recognise shady websites.

Location

Pay attention to where the bookie’s headquarters are located. In most cases, this will be the country issuing their licence. Needless to say, a missing company address is not a good sign.

Unrealistic bonuses

Some unreliable bookmakers tend to offer unrealistically high bonuses to their customers, just so they can lure them as new customers. The idea behind this is to make punters deposit a small amount of money in return for a much-higher bonus amount. However, in most cases, the bonus conditions are impossible to meet in the given timeframe.

Players’ complaints

Having a lot of negative comments on the internet is another sign that a given bookmaker will try to scam you. Keep in mind that such comments can be found for the licenced operators as well. However, if a particular company doesn’t have a licence and it has negative comments, it’s probably better to avoid it.

A change in the website’s address

Many of the fake online bookmakers are usually operated by the same people, who only change the name of the operator and make slight design changes. However, their goal is the same – to scam their customers.

Fake or outdated licence

Some online bookmakers indicate that they have a licence from a specific country. Bear in mind that reliable operators will have links to the regulator so that everyone can check if the licence is valid or not. The permits also come with a number and a date of issue. If a betting site is missing those details, you should stay away from it.

Bad customer support

All serious online bookmakers aim at providing their customers with the best customer support possible. So if you can’t get in touch with a representative of a given brand, it’s pretty likely that there is no customer support at all, which is another warning sign.

Websites that load slow

Thanks to the technological advancements, the bookmaker’s websites become easier to use. However, you can come across fake operators whose sites are slow and don’t load that fast.

Using unsafe connection

Another thing that may be an indication that an operator is not legit is the lack of an SSL certificate. It’s always a good idea to check whether this is available because your personal data might be jeopardized.

Why avoid blacklisted bookmakers?

After we’ve covered the main characteristics and signs that you can use to recognize fake betting websites, it’s time to focus on the consequences of signing up with them. In most cases, such operators use the same techniques in order to scam their customers. Here are the most common bad practices punters complain about.

• Refusal to pay out your profits
  The most common scenario: you open a new betting account, verify it, win money, and request a withdrawal. If that happens in a legit bookmaker, you will receive your money in a span of a few days. However, if that happens on any of the blacklisted operators, you won’t receive your money. It is possible that you’ll receive a message saying that the money is sent, but it won’t show up on your account. Another thing that they do is to refuse cashing out your winnings due to computer errors.
• They don’t accept specific types of bets
  Most fake online bookmakers have the tradition not to accept certain types of bets, without any particular reason. They will just send you a message saying that you can’t place a bet right now or that the market is blocked, or you will be able to place a bet, but only after staking more money.
• They cheat with the bonuses
  One of the most common scams among fake bookmakers is to offer unrealistically high bonuses. This is mostly done with the promotions for new players. The goal of these bookmakers is to lure the user into creating an account, make a deposit, and then receive the virtual bonus. However, from that moment on, it’s very unlikely for the bonus to be eligible for withdrawal or for the player to be able to withdraw their deposit.
• Closing accounts without any reason
  If you come across a fake bookmaker, you may end up in a situation where you will enter your login details just to find out that there is no such profile. This means that it got deleted, alongside everything that you had in it. In most cases, you won’t be able to create a new account using the same details, but then again, probably no one will make the same mistake twice.

What to do if we come across a bookmaker that is a scam?

If you’re unlucky and end up registering and playing on a betting site that happens to be fake, you can still do a few things.

• Try talking to customer support – contact the bookmaker’s customer support if it has one. Ask them what’s happening with your account and your money and urge them to pay out your balance immediately.
• Get into contact with the gambling commission – even though the scammy bookmaker won’t have a licence from the specific country, you can still try contacting this authority.
• Contact CPA (Consumer Protection Agency) – another way of dealing with your problem is by contacting the consumer protection agency. You can also raise a complaint to any of the specialized organizations for the gambling sector you can think of.
• Contact us – we are always here for you whenever you need help in this regard. We will try to help you resolve your issue or at least point you in the right direction.

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