Definition Of A Blacklisted Online Poker Room
When we look at exactly what can happen to lead to one of these poker sites to being blacklisted, they pretty much fall into one of two categories. First, it could be the case where the online poker rooms have taken advantage of their customers and players in some way. Secondly, it could be that one of these sites ends up running into trouble with a particular government or jurisdiction in 2023.
In the first case, this will normally not involve any of the top online poker sites. As mentioned above, there are even some blacklisted websites that formed specifically for the purpose of taking advantage of their players. It might also be a situation where the poker rooms start out with the right intention and then something happens and they start losing real money (or not making the amount they thought)...so they decide to cheat and act nefariously.
In the second case, this can take several different forms. The government of a country could change the law, so that online poker sites are effectively no longer able to operate, or at least not able to offer their services to residents within that particular country. This happened with the United States to several poker rooms in 2006. Websites might run into trouble from particular jurisdictions who maybe decide they want more money, or a license could be revoked. Poker sites that run afoul of governmental or regulating authorities would typically only be blacklisted within those countries or jurisdictions. However, an important area like the United States could have long lasting and far reaching effects if a poker site ends up on their blacklist.
Reasons For Blacklisting Online Poker Sites
Given the information above, you can probably already imagine at least a few of the reasons that could end up getting online poker sites blacklisted. When one of these poker rooms starts out by paying their players’ real cash very slowly or even not paying them at all, this is a BIG black mark and will lead to the particular site being blacklisted.
Another big reason for placing poker sites on a blacklist will be related to their software. If it just simply doesn't work, or works poorly, this is another huge problem and black mark. Sadly, this may or may not be intentional on the part of the site. There might be an issue with the technical aspects of the software, just as likely as it could be an issue of the operators playing fast and loose with players and their money.
This may also lead to problems related to the management of the various online poker sites. Of course, this can take a lot of different forms, but it all leads to poker rooms which just simply can't be trusted. Perhaps there are unethical actions being taken or maybe the operators are not very interested with running a functioning poker site.
Slow Payments & Blacklisting
A definition of slow payments is in order before we move onto to how this can cause online poker sites to slide down the slippery slope to being blacklisted. With most poker rooms, you are going to have a small delay whenever you put in a payout or withdrawal request. The length of this request will really depend on the type of payment option you are using. There is a very strict procedure that needs to be used when taking payouts back onto one of your credit or debit cards. This can take a few days to work out with online poker rooms.
If you are using other real money payment methods the time frame will differ. Something like a Western Union transfer should only take a few hours, possibly up to 24 hours if the poker room has a backlog. Anything more than this could be considered as slow paying.
Believe it or not, there have been all types of instances and reports of online poker sites taking long amounts of time to pay their players. There have been cases where ultimately blacklisted poker sites took two weeks to return money onto credit cards and debit cards. Or, places where checks took two to three months to go out to players. These instances would definitely be considered as slow pay situations. In other different instances, some poker rooms just simply refused to pay their players due to one reason or another.
Shady Or Poorly Working Software
Software can also be a big issue that leads online poker rooms onto a blacklist. In most cases, and especially with the best, top rated online poker sites, their software is fully functioning with tons of great features. It just simply works. But there are other poker sites that have software which is the opposite. In the best case scenario with these, the software is just poorly designed or simply wasn't tested enough and doesn't work.
In the other case, some of these online poker rooms understand they built the software with glitches or other issues in them. The more nefarious poker sites will actually use their software for playing against actual players. Depending on the specific glitches in their software, the operators may have partial or even full knowledge of the cards you are holding. That would clearly make it incredibly difficult for you to hold onto your real cash. This has happened many times before and has led to websites being blacklisted.
Poor Website Management
Having poor website management at various online poker sites can mean anything from very spotty customer service to the site crashing constantly and the software not working. These types of issues can be incredibly frustrating since it affects your ability to use the poker sites. Occasionally websites are simply not secure and they end up hacked or breached, this failure to secure player information has occurred at a number of blacklisted poker online sites.
Other Questionable Practices
Under other questionable practices, we can realistically list just about any other reason or condition under which online poker sites might end up being blacklisted. There have been times when the websites and operators have been involved in cheating scandals. Other times, owners have even been indicted in certain jurisdictions. In other cases, the websites simply make a lot of promises and then do not deliver.
Questionable practices come in just about all shapes and sizes. In a number of cases, these online poker sites stop paying their staff and affiliates in addition to their players. Of course, when poker rooms reach this point, they are unlikely to answer their phones or reply to emails. To make matters worse, these poker sites may even still accept player funds but in many cases they won't allow players to cash out at all, or engage in slow pay and many other practices discussed above.
Avoiding Blacklisted Poker Rooms
The easiest way to avoid these blacklisted rooms is to look into the reviews for the online poker rooms we have provided here at OnlinePokerSites.com. These are among the best poker websites that offer real money games in 2023.
Of course, you would need to always stay aware and do your research. Continue looking at the various poker forums and look for any signs that sites have started along the road to being blacklisted.
