How to Recognize Fake Slots in Online Casinos?

Fake or counterfeit slot machines are the only instance where your gambling experience could truly be ‘rigged’. While fake slots aren’t that common in the iGaming industry, every now and then they’ll appear on the market. Playing on pirated software is not only unethical but dangerous as well. The likeliness of a fake slot having its RTP tampered with is almost guaranteed.

Why Do Fake Slots Exist?

The answer is fairly obvious; it’s money. Normally, online casinos need to obtain the rights from the slot developers to feature their games on their websites. In order to do that, they of course need to pay fees to the developers. Games from respected developers such as Netent, Microgaming, BGaming, etc. are certified, tested, and heavily regulated. Their brand and image are trusted by casino players, which is what fake slots take advantage of.

Fake slots are cracked or just second-rate reproduction knock-offs that have nothing to do with the original. Not only is the site saving money by using free casino games that do not pay the respective developer, but they also have the ability to tamper with the odds. For unassuming or inexperienced players the difference is too small to recognize and by the time they take notice of any red flags their money is already gone.

Featuring fake slots is extremely tempting for online casinos and in some cases irresistible. Fake slots save and make more money for them than authentic slots ever could. All at the expense of innocent players.

What Are The Risks Of Playing Fake Slots?

Some of these fraudulent sites might lure you in with juicy and too good to be true welcome bonuses. Some will even admit to pirating games for money-saving purposes only. They’ll try to convince you that by using free slots, instead of paying the developers they would rather spend it on their players via promotions. 

These are of course just sweet lies fraudulent online casinos will tell you in order to get you to deposit. Online sites that respond to authority and bend rules to their own cannot be trusted! Not only do you risk playing with an unfair advantage, but you also expose yourself to many other risks when playing on unregulated online casinos.

• Rigged RTP%
• Even if you win they might not let you withdraw
• Your personal information such as credit card, SSN, or address could be exploited
• Game features other than RTP could be changed, such as bonus games, free spins, and certain symbol frequency

How To Spot Fake Casino Games?

For an experienced player, spotting a fake online slot is like second nature. Counterfeits are mostly developed to trap the beginners just starting out in iGaming. Whatever caliber of player you are, make sure to always check for these factors.

Step 1: Check For A Reputable Online Casino License

The fastest and most secure way to confirm the legitimacy of an online casino is through their license. In case the casino has no license at all it is strongly recommended you do not trust them with your money at all. A casino that possesses a gambling license from a major reputable regulator is almost always guaranteed to do right by the player. 

If you have the privilege of playing on such an online gambling site, fake and rigged slot games are almost out of the question. The gambling commissions have already reviewed their huge selection of hundreds of slots, so it really isn’t necessary to go through them one by one yourself.

On the other hand, if you happen to find out that your casino has a questionable certificate from an unknown regulator, make sure to check the slot you’re going to be playing with the next step. 

Step 2: Check For The Correct HTTP Server

The ultimate whistleblower of any fake or counterfeit slot is their HTTP server where they receive and respond from. Like said before, online slots are only rented out by online casinos from the game developers. This means the slot should always respond and receive information from the matching server of the developers’. 

You can easily check the HTTP server with virtually any browser you happen to be using. Simply use the ‘inspect’ feature by right-clicking on your slot and further selecting the ‘network’ tab. If you’re using Chrome you can use the shortcut F12.

Step 3: Match The Gaming Server To The Provider

The slot’s network should be exclusively responding to the original game’s server. Some servers do not have the matching domain of the provider as in the example above. In that case, you can easily verify by going to the provider’s website and seeing if their free online slots demo has the matching server using the same method.

Every casino provider features games on their website that you can play for free. This gives you the perfect opportunity to confirm or disprove your suspicion. If you’re for example playing a GameArt slot, simply find their free online casino games on gameart.net and launch them. 

Inspect the slot in the same way and look for the gaming server. The domain needs to match exactly to every single letter. For example, a rogue casino in 2016 based in Bosnia and Herzegovina registered its gaming domain as “casinomodul.com”. This was done to resemble NetEnt’s authentic “casinomodule.com” server and trick players into a feeling of safety.

List Of Authentic Gaming Servers Of Reputable Software Providers

Here is a quick list of compiled gaming servers that you can trust and their respective software providers.

If you have taken all of these precautions you should recognize fake slots in online casinos with ease. The main idea you should take from all of this is to stick to the best online casinos that have been licensed and long-established when you play real money games. 

By playing on regulated online gambling sites half if not all of the investigation is done for you. Instead of wasting time, you can spend it by enjoying your betting hobby. You could potentially save money on rogue casinos by playing their pirated free online slots but the risks outweigh the benefits. Not to mention that it’s highly unethical.