Nine checks, most under a minute each. A legitimate site can fail one of them for boring reasons. A fake usually fails three or more. Last revised 11 August 2026.
A footer badge proves nothing, since badges are images anyone can copy. Open the regulator's own register, Malta, Gibraltar, the UK, Curacao or wherever the site claims to be licensed, and search the operating company name. If the register entry does not list the exact domain you are on, treat the site as unlicensed no matter what the footer says.
Run a whois lookup. A casino claiming years of operation on a domain registered six weeks ago is lying about one of those two facts. Most fake sites we logged in 2026 were under 90 days old when players first reported them.
Fakes lean on lookalike spellings, a doubled letter, a swapped hyphen, a different ending such as .vip or .bet appended to a known brand. Type the brand name yourself rather than following a link from a group chat or a comment thread.
Legitimate operators show recognisable payment providers and the cashier runs on a secure page tied to the same brand. Fakes often route deposits to a personal crypto wallet address or an unrelated third party checkout. A deposit page that only accepts crypto sent to a raw wallet address is a strong signal on its own.
Fake sites either have no terms at all, copy another casino's terms with the wrong brand name left in, or bury a clause that lets them void winnings at their discretion. Search the terms page for the brand name. A mismatch means the text was stolen.
Send a question through live chat or email and ask something specific, such as which company holds the licence. Real support answers with a company name and licence number. Fakes stall, paste scripted greetings or push you to deposit first.
Seven, open a game and check the provider's name in the frame, since cloned sites often serve pirated game copies that crash or misreport balances. Eight, treat a 500 percent bonus with no wagering terms as bait, no licensed operator offers it. Nine, search the site name plus the word scam and read what other players hit in the last month.
Two or more failures, stop. Nothing a fake casino offers is worth a deposit you will never see again. If you have already paid, our reporting guide lists the routes that still help.