With the US government choosing prohibition over regulation, most online casinos are based offshore. This makes for a dangerous situation for online gamblers, where it is sometimes difficult to tell which online casinos are safe. Naturally, not all casinos are bad but there are definitely some casinos that are run purely to cheat players. It won't take a deep search of the net to find stories of players denied payments, rigged games or even credit card theft. Cheating players is a bad long term business plan but luckily there are still plenty of honest casinos that understand its about building trust and long term relationships with players. As such, good casinos with nothing to hide have been opening their operations to be scrutinized by an independent third party to verify that the casino is safe, fair and reliable.
eCOGRA Casino Independently audited for fairness
This is where eCOGRA comes in. Established in 2002, eCOGRA is a non-profit organisation that independently audits online casinos. They check that the casino games are fair and random. eCOGRA does this by gaining access to the casino's full database of game results and then checks them using statistical analysis to make sure all the games are fair. The eCOGRA seal tells players that casino is running a truely random number generator and it is a fair game.
eCOGRA Casinos Real Percentage Payout Ratios
Every eCOGRA approved casino will publish its real percentage payout ratios, so you can know for sure how fair the casino is. This allows players to always play at the lowest edge online casinos. The real percentage payout ratios are broken down into slot games, table games, poker games and all games. The way to read it is, the higher the payout ratio, the lower the casino's house edge. Or put another way, the more money that the online casino gave back to the players. So an online casino with a slot games payout ratio of 98% is better than another online casino with a slot games payout ratio of 95%. The casino that paid 98% essentially paid $3 more dollars on every $100 than the 95% payout ratio casino. Sticking to the highest eCOGRA payout ratios will mean you get the best deal, more money stays in your pocket and the more chances for those big casino wins.
eCOGRA Player Dispute Resolution
Disputes will naturally arise but theres a limit to what you can do against a casino that is based off shore. This is where eCOGRA becomes the players friend. eCOGRA is the most effective player dispute mediation service out there. You can lodge a complaint against any eCOGRA approved casino and there will be an investigation. Essentially, you can use the power and weight of eCOGRA to help protect your interests.
eCOGRA Approved Casino Safe and Fair Seal
Its easy to make sure that you are playing at an eCOGRA approved online casino, just check that there is a Safe and Fair eCOGRA seal on their main homepage. It will look like this: -

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