Blacklisted Poker Sites - The Darker Side Of Online Entertainment

To maintain the integrity of the industry, licensing bodies and government agencies will outline blacklisted poker sites that players should avoid.

A blacklisted online poker room is a site that's contravened its licensing conditions in some way.

When this happens the site will have its licence removed and become stigmatised in the community and known as a site to be avoided.

To give you a greater insight into blacklisted poker sites and how you can avoid them, check out the following few passages of information on the subject.

What Is A Blacklisted Site?

A poker site can be blacklisted by breaking the rules that govern a particular online gambling jurisdiction. However, there are also other ways in which a site can be blacklisted, and that's not always through their own actions.

Failing Its Duties to Players

The main reason a site will have its licence revoked and become blacklisted is through a sustained history of failing its players. All online poker sites are expected to uphold certain standards as laid out by the licensing conditions. If proper security measures aren't in place, or basic operating standards haven't been implemented, a site can become blacklisted.

Poor Support and Payouts

Something as simple as providing inadequate customer support can earn a site a place on the blacklist. Perhaps their payouts have been slow, inaccurate, or non-existent. Worse, the Customer Service has been inadequate in helping out.

New Gaming Laws

In some situations it's possible for an online poker site or group of poker sites to be blacklisted because a country decides to outlaw the industry. The most notable example of this occurred in 2006 in the US.

After the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), all online poker sites in the US were suddenly blacklisted through no fault of their own.

After enacting a law that prevented online poker operators processing funds, iGaming was essentially rendered illegal in the US. This change essentially blacklisted a slew of online poker sites overnight. Fortunately, these rules are now changing. Some of the sites that were once blacklisted are slowly being able to re-enter the US, albeit in individual states only.

Essentially, your job as an online poker player is to make sure you are aware of an operator's history and reputation before deciding to make a deposit. This can be done by reading up about your chosen site before registering your details and making a deposit.

How Does A Site Get Blacklisted?

There are several ways an online poker site can become blacklisted:

• Operating in a jurisdiction without a valid gaming licence and appropriate security certificates.
• Failing to segregate and/or protect player funds in an adequate manner.
• Not implementing stringent ID checks and allowing players to create more than one account.
• Failing to protect player data and information.
• Not offering an adequate customer service.
• Advertising games to minors.
• Offering games and services for which it isn't licensed.
• Breaking any other terms of its licensing conditions.

As a community, online poker players are extremely adept at picking out faults with a site and alerting each other to said faults.

Basically, if an online poker site wrongs its players, word will quickly travel around the community and that will result in a mass exodus of players and, eventually, the inevitable closure of the site.

Blacklisted Poker Rooms in 2024

To ensure you're aware of the latest blacklisted poker sites, we constantly survey the industry and pick out the platforms that are deemed untrustworthy. Looking at announcements by licensing bodies, such as the UKGC, as well as the community's reaction to certain sites, we're able to highlight the platforms you should avoid at all costs.

Of course, there is no account for personal vigilance and we encourage to always check a site's credentials before you sign up. As a general rule, if a site doesn't have a valid gaming licence from a recognised gaming authority, you shouldn't register your details or make a deposit there.