The page explains the factors our team looks at when reviewing online casinos and making recommendations.
As a starting point, we only review online casinos that have a valid gambling license. If this prerequisite isn’t met immediately, then we simply don’t bother to go any further and move onto the next candidate. Player safety is always our number #1 priority. Apart from that, we look for a good variety of popular games and bonuses for players to enjoy.
The following sections of this guide provide a more in-depth explanation of the various factors that we look at. We hope you find this to be educational and useful when doing your own casino selections.
Are Online Casinos Illegal in India?
Before moving onto the evaluation criteria, we have been approached by worried players asking us whether playing online casinos in India is illegal – and we totally understand if you are also having these concerns. So let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room.
Gambling in India is heavily restricted so it is not surprising that many people generally consider online casinos to be illegal in India, but it’s actually a grey area. The current gambling laws in India only apply to land-based casinos. The laws were initially referred to as the Public Gambling Act, 1867. This law regulates land-based casinos and does not apply to online gambling. Therefore, if the casino operator is based overseas, it cannot be judged by Indian law and will not lead to arrest. This means that players in India can play casino online without fear of being prosecuted.
Indian players should only play games of online casinos that are licensed and legally operated abroad. It is also worth pointing out that there are many reputable European online casinos (some even listed on the stock exchange) that have been expanding their Indian-speaking customer support teams to meet the growing popularity among Indian players. If it was prohibited to play on online casinos in India, then these heavily regulated European online casinos would probably avoid offering their services to Indian players due to risk of heavy fines.
How To Choose A Safe Online Casino?
It is not an easy task to choose an online casino. The following is a list of the most important factors that our team look for when recommending online casinos for this website.
A Valid Gambling License (from a respected jurisdiction)
I will repeat this like a parrot throughout all of my guides: always play at online casinos that have a valid gambling license!
Casinos can be licensed from many jurisdictions and certain jurisdictions are better than others. The strongest gambling licenses are usually those obtained within the European Union (e.g. Malta). The UK and Gibraltar are also highly rated because of the stringent compliance requirements that they impose on casinos.
Having a license from a reputable jurisdiction is important because it ensures that the casino is complying with stringent security and safety standards to ensure player safety and security.
And just because an online casino says it has a license (on its website) does not mean that it is really the truth. Rest assured that before any casino is published on our website, our team will do extensive checks to ensure that a valid gambling license is in place.
If you have some time on your hands, you can also check whether an online casino has a valid license. This can be done by visiting the website of the various regulatory agencies. All regulatory agencies will have a public website that will allow you to check whether a valid gambling license is in place.
Software Security
As mentioned above, online casinos use the services of third-party gaming software providers so always check that the online casino games are developed by a reputable software provider to avoid becoming victim of illegal tampering of odds, which could happen if the online game that you are playing has been developed by an unknown software developer.
Examples of trusted software providers include Playtech, Microgaming, NETENT, Amaya and Evolution Gaming. There are many more reliable game software companies that we will identify and discuss on a separate page.
It is also worth pointing out that any respectable gaming software provider will never agree to do business with a casino that does not pass their own due diligence. Therefore knowing that a casino providers games from popular game software providers adds an extra layer of monitoring and protection for you.
Third Party Audit
There are the institutions that regularly audit online casino games to ensure their safety and fairness towards players. However, auditing is not always mandatory. Certain game licenses require online casino operators to perform a third-party audits, whereas other licenses do not.
From a player’s perspective, online casinos that are regularly audited for safety and fairness are more credible, but at the same time just because an online casino is not audited doesn’t necessarily mean that it is fraudulent. Well-known third-party organizations include eCOGRA (Ecogra), TST (Technical Systems Testing), and GLI.eCOGRA is a UK independent company that has been testing gambling games since 2003. The eCOGRA certification empowers operators to offer slots, poker, and other entertainment.
GLI is a test organization that appeared 25 years ago and is still one of the best in the industry. They provide testing and certification services for casino games and are respected by the regulatory authorities of the 500 jurisdictions (domestic and international) that are affiliated with onshore and online casinos, as well as lottery providers around the world. In 2010, TST (Testing Technical Systems) became part of GLI. The organization has been active since 1993 with offices in London, Vancouver, Macau and Manila.
Deposit and Withdrawal Methods
Online casinos will usually try to be as convenient as possible and offer a range of payment methods .
The most common options are Visa, MasterCard, Bank Transfer, and PayPal but there are many other methods too including crypto currencies.
The process of depositing or withdrawing winnings from your online casino account is usually very simple. In most cases, the only issue you may encounter is deciding which payment method to use for deposits and withdrawals.
However, the thing that players should understand is that deposit and withdrawal policies will differ significantly between online casinos. Each casino operator will have its own rules for payments, including deposit and withdrawal limits, verification procedures, accepted currencies, fees and processing timeframes.
Withdrawing what you may have won while betting online is usually as easy as making a deposit, but unfortunately the process of withdrawing is not always instantaneous. This is because online casinos have to confirm the request to make sure the player who is withdrawing is eligible for the cashout. This small delay allows gambling operators to send the right amount to the right person, preventing money laundering, identity theft, and other fraudulent activity.
In most cases, withdrawals will take 1-10 business days. However, certain casinos may offer instant withdrawal options.
Withdrawals are typically made in the same manner that the player used to make the deposit. Therefore, if you used your Visa card to fund your online casino account, the online casino will by default offer the option to withdraw your winnings on the same Visa card.
Also, to prevent fraud, many online casinos will require confirmation when submitting the first withdrawal request. In some cases, the player will be emailed a confirmation code and will need to enter the code in their respective fields in order to proceed with the cashout request.
In general, it’s always a good idea to check the casino’s terms and conditions at the bottom of the website to also see whether charges apply to deposits and withdrawals.
Types of Online Casino Games
Most players will choose an online casino based on the variety of games that are available.
The most popular casino games in India are as follows:
Slot Machine
Slot games have come a long way from early fruit machines, and the transition from classic fruit slot machines to virtual online slots continues to grow. Players can enjoy a variety of slot options, from video slots, 3D slots and progressive slots to pachislot slots designed to mirror the most popular pachinko machines.
Black Jack
Blackjack is one of the most popular casino games in India and its mostly a game of mathematical aptitude. Although easy to learn, true success requires experience, strategy and know-how. There are different types of blackjack games online. The classic version of the game is the most popular with the main purpose to create a hand as close as possible to 21, but not over.
Roulette
Roulette is very easy to comprehend and fun. As you probably already know, there are different types of roulette games. European roulette, French roulette and American roulette are the most popular. We prefer European roulette over American roulette since the odds of winning are better. In order to make big money in roulette, players must understand the probabilities of different outcomes.
Poker
Poker is a 100% skill game. Professional poker players win long-term by consistently making mathematically good decisions. Like most online casino games, there are different types of poker, but the most popular is by far Texas Hold’em.
In addition to the above, online casinos will often have many other types of fun games, including live Monopoly, which is one of our favourite. You should really try it!
Customer Support
Every respectable European online casino targeting Indian players will have a support service to help answer any questions or difficulties they may get into. Email support, as well as 24/7 live chat, are the most common forms of customer support although certain online casinos may go a step further and even provide a phone number.
Casino Bonus, Free Spins and Other Promotions
Online casinos are able to provide players with attractive bonuses and free spins.
Casinos offer bonuses in the form of real money to incentivise new players to sign up, but it is important to read and understand the terms and conditions as well as the wagering requirements because not all bonuses are the same.
There are many different types of bonuses. Certain bonuses may be more modest in size with low wagering conditions to encourage new players to sign up and play games whereas other bonuses could be really large although also have high wagering requirements to encourage loyalty towards the casino.
Most bonuses cannot be withdrawn until the wagering requirements have been completed. The wagering requirements are usually explained in the bonus terms and conditions but for the sake of providing an example, let’s say you receive a $60 bonus from an online casino. At first you may say that it feels good to receive ‘ free money’ , but if the wagering condition is 50 times, you will usually not be allowed to withdraw that $60 bonus money until you have bet 50 x 60 = $3000. This means that if you place bets of $1 at a time, you will need to play 3000 times at an online casino for the bonus money of $60 to be withdrawn.
Online casinos will also offer free spins, which allow you to play and win money as if it were real money. But there are also wagering requirements for free spins as well. For example, If an online casino gives you 20 free spins with a wagering requirement of 50 times, and during whilst using your free spins you win $20, you would need to play $1000 (50 x $20) before you can actually become eligible to withdraw $20 bonus money.
Again, I reiterate, always check the terms and conditions for each casino bonus because they vary significantly across different casinos. Certain casinos will allow you to withdraw the bonus money instantly, whereas others won’t. And these conditions will often change and become more favourable during certain periods throughout the year when online casinos offer promotions!
This is why Top Online Casino India was created after all, to inform our users when these special promotions arise. Could you imagine how long it would take you to go through every casino to understand whether wagering conditions have changed or whether a special promotion is currently being offered?
We hope you found this page to be educational. Always play casino games responsibly!
Mobile Casino
Every respectable online casino must have an optimised mobile app that doesn’t compromise the quality of the gameplay and the experience.