Sports betting is one of the oldest forms of gambling in the world, and one of most lucrative too. People have enjoyed betting on the outcome of sporting events for thousands of years, and continue to do so today. With time, betting has evolved to become more complex than ever. With the advent of the internet, online sports betting is the most common form of betting. Many bookmakers offer Free Betting options to lure prospective gamblers.
We all know that the online world is not always safe. Cyber criminals lurk in every corner, waiting for a chance to target an unsuspecting victim. There have been incidents of gamblers losing their money to fraudsters, including horror stories of loss due to hackers exploiting some security loophole in the bookmaker’s online service.
Where Does You Online Money Sit?
The very first thing that you will have to do on a sports betting website is create an account. This is where you enter your personal and financial information. The next thing you have to do to actually start betting is deposit a sum of money into your account. This is done via a payment gateway and your money is electronically transferred from your bank account to this digital vault of the bookmaker. This is more like an e-wallet. Whatever you earn from gambling is also deposited into this e-wallet. You can withdraw money from your account into your bank account at any time.
Money stored online is usually held on servers that cannot be accessed by the average person. Such data is highly encrypted and would require a specific set of skills to breach and access. Cyber criminals constantly look for loopholes in this system to try and gain a backdoor access to user accounts of a bookmaker.
Is Your Money Safe?
The safety of your money boils down to how vigilant you are when gambling online. Any bookmaking website that is a legitimate business, and adheres to online standards of security, more or less guarantees the safety of your money. But there are also several illegal bookmakers running their own website. They give out fake information and even offer Free Betting with several bonuses to bring in people to sign up for an account and deposit money. As an online sports bettor, you need to vigilant about the bookmaker you choose to associate with. Always perform ample research on bookmakers, and find out if they are legally operating under the jurisdiction of the country you are in.
Some personal precautions you can take would be to use strong passwords for your account and maintain a good anti-virus program on the device you use to place online bets.
