Online gambling is an activity enjoyed by millions of people around the world on a daily basis, so it should come as no surprise that some of these players may try to take the casinos for a ride. You might have heard about online casinos that can’t be trusted and how to avoid them, but what happens when you can’t trust the players?
With so many people engaging in online gambling activities, you are bound to come across a few bad apples, especially when it comes to abusing bonuses. From sign-up promos to free spins, online casinos often offer these types of promotions to attract new customers, increase brand awareness, and boost sales. However, they also attract fraudulent activity, which could lead to a significant loss in revenue.
While the majority of casino players are honest, a growing number of punters try to trick the system by signing up for a service multiple times using promotional offers in order to make a quick profit without having to follow the bonus’s rules.
Unfortunately, not all customers choose to be true to and follow the T&Cs they agree to – which includes avoiding such a practice and playing fair.
Find out how you can check whether bonus abuse is happening in your online casino here:
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What is Bonus Abuse?
While all forms of bonus abuse are considered unethical and can result in severe sanctions such as fines, confiscation of earnings, or even account bans, some methods carry a higher degree of illegality than others.
One of the most common methods, involves players hunting down no-deposit sign-up bonuses or other bonuses that do not require players to provide any financial information, is not usually conducted by criminal masterminds. Unfortunately, when it comes to bonus hunting, players just think they are being crafty and outsmarting the casino, forgetting that these unlawful acts can have serious repercussions.
More extreme forms of bonus abuse make use of more sophisticated methods such as fake IDs, stolen identities, VPNs, and online payment methods to create multiple accounts and claim rewards, bypassing the casino’s policies and KYC requirements. Fraudsters will then simply abandon the accounts they created and repeat the process again as long as they remain undetected.
Fingerprinting
Spotting online casino abuse can be challenging, but not impossible. One of the most effective ways to determine if any fraudulent activity is occurring is by using a technique called device fingerprinting. Device fingerprinting is used to identify and track devices based on their unique characteristics and attributes.
To build a device fingerprint, a wide range of data about a device is collected, ranging from its IP address to its operating system, to inform its unique “fingerprint”. While IP addresses are not unique to a device, they can provide valuable insights such as geographic location, proxy usage, or if a VPN is being implemented.
Device fingerprints will allow the casinos to track and recognize users’ journeys across different sessions, even if cookies are cleared or changed. As such, casinos will be able to flag any suspicious activity before it gets too far, such as multiple account creations, attempts to bypass security measures, or account takeovers.
Behavioral Patterns
Another way to determine if bonus abuse is occurring is to analyze player behavior and see if they are acting in an unusual way. This requires making use of a more sophisticated anti-fraud platform that is able to read human behavior and identify any suspicious patterns. This could mean taking note of players who consistently place maximum bets or frequently switch between minimum and maximum bets, as this may suggest they are attempting to quickly fulfil the wagering requirements or manipulate the outcomes.
Casinos also need to look out for players who exclusively seek out games with high volatility or a high return-to-player (RTP) rate to increase their odds of winning big within a short time frame. Players who consistently make small deposits to claim bonuses and then quickly request withdrawals should be on casinos’ radars, as this may be a sign that they are attempting to exploit bonus offers without genuine intent to play.
