Blacklisted Casinos: Avoid These Untrustworthy Casino Sites in the US

Currently, seven US states have legalized online casino gaming, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Connecticut, West Virginia, Delaware, and Rhode Island. In addition, reputable social and sweepstakes casinos are available in many additional states.  

Playing at online casinos will require you to provide your personal and, many times, financial information. So before providing your details to an online casino, you must know it is legitimate and safe.  

That’s why our gambling experts here at Casinos.com have joined forces to identify those rogue operators involved in unethical gambling practices. This blacklisted casino guide will arm you with the knowledge to avoid these untrustworthy sites, ensuring your online casino experience remains safe and fun. 

A blacklisted casino refers to any online casino that uses unethical practices and operates unfairly or illegally. Typically, these sites lack proper regulatory oversight in the US and are not regulated in one of the seven states that have legalized online casinos, putting players’ money, safety, and personal information at risk. These sites may also tilt games in their favor or outright refuse to payout. 

There are dozens of reasons why our experts might decide to add an online casino to our casino blacklist. We wanted to share these with you so you can confidently identify rogue operators in the future.

The responsibility for legalizing and regulating online casino gaming sits with each individual state, whereas every casino must hold a license from the local state’s authority, and you can only play at the casino whilst physically present within state lines. 

This means that the state’s gambling regulator (e.g., the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement or Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, etc.) will require licensed casinos to comply with the highest standards of safety, data security, privacy, and responsible gambling. 

Dodgy sites that don't carry the correct US licensing will try to trick players with licenses from outside the US. So, for example, a dodgy site with a Curaçao license will appear to have the correct credentials to operate, but the government of Curaçao (or anywhere else outside the US) has no jurisdiction in the United States. So, even though an online casino may look like it has a license, if it's not the correct license for your state, it's not a safe casino.  

If a real-money gambling site is operating without a valid US license, we automatically add it to our blacklisted online casino list due to the risk of cybersecurity threats such as identity theft and fraud.

When playing at unlicensed casinos, you may be susceptible to rigged and unfair games, so you may risk a chance of never winning. Fraudulent casinos do this by altering the RNGs (Random Number Generators) to manipulate game outcomes, hosting games from scam casino software companies, or running pirated versions of casino games. To stay safe, always check a casino’s RTP (Return To Player) rating and certifications from independent testing agencies like Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) and iTech Labs. Checking for approval seals from testing agencies isn't foolproof, though. Not all testing agencies are legit. And some dodgy casinos may display a seal for legit testing agencies they have no relationship with to imply approval they haven't earned. 

Untrustworthy online casinos often catch players out by falsely advertising promotions, failing to stick to bonus terms, and adding unfair rules and conditions. Sometimes, a rogue casino may even change its T&Cs in the middle of a dispute to avoid being caught out. It’s important to remember that a legitimate casino will only ever offer bonus offers with accessible, fair, and clear terms and conditions.

That said, even if an unlicensed casino has fair, clear terms and conditions, there is nobody to enforce those terms if you run into issues. You are not protected by state regulations, so the bonus terms are not worth much anyway.

Reputable online casinos recognize the importance of helpful and responsive customer support. They will usually offer a variety of support channels for players to pick from, including live chat, email, and phone. However, the same cannot be said for blacklisted casinos. These sites usually make it impossible to get in touch with anybody, routinely ignore players’ issues, or are very haphazard with their responses.    

A common issue with untrustworthy online casinos is their refusal to pay players their hard-earned winnings or stalling the payout process without an honest reason. We can understand the odd hiccup from time to time. However, if a casino has a long track record of withholding winnings or makes players jump through multiple hoops to get hold of their money, we automatically add it to our list of blacklisted online casinos. When money is involved, it’s just not worth the risk.

In very rare cases, we have removed a blacklisted casino from the list. While it takes a lot of time and money, some sites turn a new leaf and start offering an acceptable level of service and honesty to players. However, this is not something that just happens overnight, and you can rest assured that we undergo a thorough background and safety check before recommending any past blacklisted casinos to our readers.

Blacklisted online casinos are notorious for not honoring players’ payouts. Therefore, it is unlikely that you will ever receive your hard-earned winnings. Sure, some blacklisted casinos do eventually payout, but it can take months. If you don’t receive your winnings within a reasonable amount of time, you should make a complaint. Just make sure you don’t deposit any more of your hard-earned cash into a good-for-nothing casino. 

Let’s clarify some things. While some players might choose to play at unlicensed offshore casinos, we would never recommend them to anyone under any circumstances. This is because offshore sites have little or no regulatory oversight in the US – they’re pretty much free to do whatever they want. Plus, if something was to happen to you, you aren’t entitled to any protection. The same goes for offshore sites licensed in other countries. That is why we only ever recommend playing at licensed and regulated online casinos in the US. 

We work tirelessly to ensure no rogue operators slip through the net. We constantly scour the US gambling scene and regularly update our list of blacklisted online casinos whenever we find any operators implementing rogue practices. So, bookmark this page and keep checking back to ensure you’re aware of which sites to avoid.

Now that you know about our blacklisted casinos, why not check out our list of recommended sites instead? You can rest assured that we only ever recommend licensed and trustworthy iGaming sites that have passed our strict safety and security tests. Fair games, accessible bonuses, and secure banking options are just the start.  

Additionally, all the casino sites that we DO recommend are licensed and overseen by reputable US state gambling authorities, like the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) or the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP). This demonstrates their commitment to upholding strict standards for data protection and fair gaming. Ultimately, you’re in safe hands at our recommended casinos.

Play Safely Here: We recommend these safe casino sites

The casinos below are fully licensed to operate in the US. These casinos are regularly audited, work with licensed payment providers, and adhere to state regulations to ensure online security and fair play.