Player Rights

The UKGC (UK Gambling Commission) regulates the gambling market according to strict regulations and laws. Such regulations include the demand for fairness and openness of outcomes, certain players rights, data protection regarding any financial or personal information, as well as damage prevention. Irish players have the right to access mechanisms to prevent compulsive behaviour, going from timeouts to self-exclusion.

A contract is automatically signed between players and gambling platforms when the player makes a financial transaction. The gambling company is allowed to monitor your gambling habits under this contract.

Irish players are protected by the Consumer Law, safeguarding them from potential addiction to gambling. The Consumer Law also regulates contracts offered by bookies and online casinos. No clause should be dubious or provide an unfair advantage to the gambling company.

As for the fairness of results, gambling websites must ensure that their RNGs (Random Number Generators) are working adequately. RNGs must provide genuinely random and unbiased results to instant games, such as slots and table games. Such a system must be regularly tested for fairness by independent auditing bodies. The Consumer Law guarantees that no online gambling operator has an unfair advantage over players due to ambiguous contracts.

Under the Consumer Rights Act of 2015, contracts must have a straightforward language, leaving no space for different interpretations. A clear contractual language means that players will be fully informed of every aspect of the contract, enabling them to make decisions that better suit their needs and expectations.

No contract should have concealed parts or any part that could be unfairly advantageous to the operator. Every online casino is assessed and evaluated by competent authorities, which check their licences, fairness of software, and trustworthiness.

Auditors may conduct tests to attest to such qualities, checking for RNG’s algorithms, poker systems, live dealer technology, betting exchanges, pari-mutuel systems, lottery, etc.

Gambling platforms that complete such tests successfully receive a certificate of fairness. This certificate means that the device meets the minimum requirements for payout percentages and other licensing criteria.

Every game provider must promote responsible gaming habits on their website, raise awareness of the problem of gambling, and provide effective tools for self-restriction, temporarily or permanently. Game providers must also provide a “reality check” feature. This feature reminds players of the money and time spent in a casino.

Every casino must be transparent about its financial accounts and activities. Such transparency shows players that these casinos are indeed solid businesses. You will need to provide personal and financial information to join any gambling site. It is your right to protect your personal information from hackers and any other malicious actor. Moreover, such data cannot be traded, transmitted, or shared without your consent.  
Online gambling platforms must provide clear information to any Irish customer regarding their accounts and financial transactions. Every online gambling platform must detail how they handle your private information and protect your identity in its security section. Consequently, every legalised online gambling platform must apply security protocols to protect its customers’ personal information.

According to the General Data Protection Regulation, every online gambling platform is responsible for protecting its customers’ personal information, following the security standards established by current laws.

Every iGaming operator must be clear about what kind of personal data they collect from customers. Moreover, they should provide a reason and legal basis for doing so under the GDPR’s rules. iGaming operators must provide a portable copy of personal data collected upon the user’s request. Likewise, a customer can also request the complete deletion of any personal information.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption is the golden standard for data protection among financial institutions. We advise you to check whether your preferred casino operates with this system across all its pages, mainly for money transactions. Encrypted pages mean that no unauthorised party will have access to those pages or their content, keeping them protected from hackers and other malicious actors.

Every regulated iGaming operator in the UK must protect their customers’ funds according to the principles of funds segregation. Such principles state that every online gambling platform should keep the players’ funds separated from their regular business accounts. Funds segregation guarantees that players can still retrieve their funds if the company goes insolvent. Notice, though, that the UK government does not offer the same level of protection to money on online gambling accounts and money on bank accounts.

Moreover, online gambling platforms must have a dedicated section to the issue in their Terms & Conditions. In this section, online casinos and bookies must define how and to what extent they protect their customers’ money. This information is critical for players when choosing whether to stay or not with an online gambling operator.

There are three levels of security guaranteed by the UKGC towards customers’ funds. It’s up to the operator to choose which level of security to apply, although the operator must justify such a decision. Anyway, this information must be included in the operator’s T&C, according to the UKGC.

Online gamblers must know their rights to deal with disagreements and violations supported by law. Irish players must be fully aware of their rights and duties so they know what to expect from any online gambling operator. Furthermore, Irish players can be sure that every licensed online gambling operator is completely trustworthy.