Ghana – Online Casinos & Gambling Regulations
The Republic of Ghana is located on the west coast of Africa with Togo, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast as its neighboring countries. It is one of the few countries on the west coast of Africa where it has been fairly stable politically for years and is, therefore, a lot safer than most countries in this part of Africa. Despite this, and the fact that Ghana is rich in natural resources and a large part of the country consists of fertile agricultural land, a considerable part of the population lives below the poverty line. Europeans first set foot in Ghana at the end of the 15th Century. During this period, the coast of Ghana and its neighboring countries was nicknamed the Gold Coast. The Dutch built their first trading posts there at the end of the 16th Century. From the beginning of the 20th Century, present-day Ghana came under British rule. Due to its strong European influence, therefore, Ghana is one of the few African countries where gambling is fully regulated and legal.
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If you are planning on playing at a land-based casino in Ghana you have to keep a few things in mind. Gambling is completely legal in the country and all casinos are properly regulated and safe. The major problem is that the vast majority of casinos are concentrated in two different cities – Kumasi and Accra. If you would like to gamble anywhere else, you barely have any options available to you. The legal age for gambling in the country is 18.
Online casinos are currently unregulated in the country but locals can legally play at foreign-based sites. This might change in the near future as new regulations are on their way but, for now, this is the situation. So, when picking an online casino, you should always go for properly licensed operators to guarantee fair gaming and an enjoyable, safe environment.
- Check the jurisdiction of the online casino
- Does the casino accept players from Ghana?
- Do you have access to the accepted payment methods?
- Is the casino properly licensed to ensure fair gaming?
- Remember that the legal age for gambling in Ghana is 18
You can check out our GoodLuckMate top lists and site reviews where we showcase the best online casinos for players from Ghana.
Gambling Regulation – Ghana Gaming Commission
As we said above, land-based gambling is fully legal and regulated in Ghana – and it is regulated by the Ghana Gaming Commission (GGC). Since the introduction of the Gaming Act 721 in 2006, all gambling in the country is monitored by the GGC. The only exception is the national lottery, which is overseen by the National Lottery Authority (NLA).
So far, online gambling is not regulated yet. But recently, in 2020, the Ghana Gaming Commission made a proposal to regulate online gambling in the country under the banner “The New Phase of Gaming Regulation”. Currently, the commission is examining the market closely to pinpoint potential gray areas in an effort to meet international standards. Experts assume that new policies and regulations will be introduced shortly. This would make Ghana one of the first African countries to fully regulate online gambling.
Localized Online Casinos
As Ghana hasn’t fully regulated online casinos yet, you will be forced to play at foreign-based casinos if you want to try your luck online. These websites are only rarely localized for the gambling market in Ghana. Since English is the official language in the country, this isn’t much of a problem, as you can just visit the international site of the online casino. There you can find lucrative welcome offers and other promotions that can also be claimed by players from Ghana. Almost all casinos offer English-speaking support via live chat and email. Which exact deposit and withdrawal methods are available varies from casino to casino. Generally, you’ll be able to fund your casino account via credit card, wire transfers, eWallets, and in some cases, voucher cards and several cryptocurrencies.
Gambling with Ghanaian cedi
Of course, all land-based casinos offer gambling in Ghanaian cedi. Poker tables in US dollars are also available in some cases. The majority of casinos are outfitted with ATMs where players can quickly withdraw some funds to play with. Currency exchange services are not offered in most establishments.
There is also a limited amount of foreign-based online casinos that are accepting Ghanaian cedi. While this is convenient it also has some downsides. Typically these casinos can’t compete with the bigger and more established online casino operators when it comes to game selection, bonus offers, and the general level of service. Hence it might be a good choice playing in a foreign currency to take advantage of numerous benefits. This could change in the future, once Ghana managed to establish its own regulatory framework to host online casinos directly in the country.
Dispute resolution – can I get help from a third party?
A gambling license is intended to protect players, and one of its main functions is to provide a mechanism for resolving disputes when they come up. If you have a dispute with a casino, and the casino is being unreasonable, the gambling authority will help you. For many licenses, this means you can contact the gambling authority to get help processing your withdrawals, claiming money the casino has debited from your account, or resolving other disputes that might arise. The likelihood that the gambling authority will help you in ways that are effective, however, depends on the procedures they have in place for this. This is yet another reason why choosing to play at a casino that has a safe license is important.
Getting help directly from the gambling authority is not always necessary, or even an option. A lot of regulators have now enforced third-party dispute resolution. This means casinos must have an agreement with an arbitrator who will look into disputes on the behalf of players from a particular casino. This ensures your dispute will be reviewed by an objective third party. All trusted online casinos have information about arbitration on their websites if they use this option, or they’ll have the contact information for the gambling authority you should consult. However, you should always try to resolve your issues with the casino first, and a lot of casinos have separate email addresses specifically for handling complaints.
Secure payments – can I trust a casino with my money?
If you’re worried about the security of the transactions you’re making at a casino, you should look for a logo with the acronym PCI DSS. This stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, and this is something the payment industry has created. If you see this logo, it means the casino can be trusted for safe money transactions since they follow all of the rules set by the payment industry. Information about this can also be found in an FAQ section on the casino’s website.
Another thing to look out for in terms of payments is where your money is kept while you play. Some gambling authorities, all of the best ones actually, regulate what the casino can do with your money while they are holding it. Your money shouldn’t go into a general bank account held by the casino; it should go into an account that is strictly for holding player funds. This means that as long as you have the money in your player account, it can’t be spent by the casino. Your deposit will be kept separate from the operating funds of the casino until your player account is empty, which will happen if you make a funds withdrawal or if you lose the money while playing.Fair gaming – do the games give me a fair chance to win?
The best known system tool for ensuring that a casino offers fair games is eCogra; however, there are other providers that also offer these kinds of systems. You want to make sure that the casino is using a certified third-party control system to ensure that the games of chance you’re playing are actually based on chance and not on other types of metrics. Rigged games are ones that have been set up to pay out less than they claim to or ones that give some players a greater chance of winning than others.
The eCogra logo can often be found in the footer of the casino’s website, but not all casinos choose to display it. If you can’t see this logo, go to the FAQs and see if you can find information about random number generators. If there are no FAQs on the site, check out their terms and conditions or contact the casino’s support and ask how they ensure their games are safe.
Encrypted website – how is my information kept safe?
An SSL-encrypted website should be mandatory for any casino, and very few casinos operate without this or similar safe encryption features. Always keep in mind that you are giving the casino quite a bit of sensitive information, including your payment details. When you’re uploading and sending documents to verify your identity, you want to make sure that no unauthorized third-party has access to them. Site security, therefore, doesn’t only include the website itself but also what the casino does on the backend. You should always look into a casino’s data security. You’ll normally find information about this in their terms and conditions and their privacy policy. If in doubt, contact their support and ask for more detailed information.
Most trustworthy casinos have information about site security in the website footer, so simply scroll down and look for the logo of a well-known security system.
Gambling license – can I play at a casino from my country?
The gambling license a casino operates under will have a big impact on your security. Not all licenses are equally safe for players for the simple reason that they are issued by different gambling authorities that work in different ways and have different rules. The rules and regulations may be quite similar, but the way they are enforced is a different story entirely. For example, if a casino doesn’t comply with the regulations, some gambling authorities may just issue a fine while others may revoke the casino’s license outright. How often gambling authorities show up for an unscheduled inspection or control will also vary.
The biggest differences between a safe, high quality gambling license and one that isn’t as good will usually show up in the areas of fair gaming, dispute resolution and the rules and systems for identifying and handling problem gamblers (responsible gambling). If your country of residence has its own gambling authority, playing at casinos that are licensed by them will be the safest option for you. Other international licenses that can be trusted are issued by the Malta Gambling Authority and the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority. Curacao eGaming is getting better at protecting players whereas licenses from Panama and Costa Rica, for instance, are considered less safe. The worst option is obviously a casino with no license whatsoever.
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