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Blacklisted Poker Sites (2020)

With so many new online poker sites, it's hard to know which ones to trust.

Without proper regulation, disreputable sites can scam players and take their money.

We would never want that to happen to you, so our team of experts have compiled a blacklist, exposing the rogue sites you should avoid at all costs. Read our blacklist guide to find out:

What sites you should avoid
Reasons why websites get blacklisted
What you should look for when choosing a site

Why Poker Sites Get Blacklisted

To make it onto our blacklist, a poker site can feature many different problems.

From terrible payout times to non-existent customer support, we always want you to know what sites you should side-step.

The following are our top five blacklist factors:

Poor security and player protection
No licensing and independent auditing
Terrible customer support
Allegations of cheating
Late payment of players' winnings

NON-RECOMMENDED SITES August 2020

Not all poker rooms are made equal. In fact, some are downright shady. Some have operating issues, and some have financial woes. How do you know which is which?

Just as we maintain a whitelist of top rated sites, so we also keep a blacklist of sites we think you should avoid. Check out the sites we think you skip below:

STATUS	PROMOTION	Our Verdict
DEFUNCT	N/A	Rumors spread in late 2014 that this former Revolution Gaming site was having issues paying out players. While allegations grew that Lock still owed its mainly US-facing customers millions in cashouts (with some waiting a year for their money), the worst was confirmed in early 2015 when the online room folded. Despite holding a Curacao license, there was no indication the jurisdiction did anything to help out.
DEFUNCT	N/A	One of the Big Three of operators shut down in the US post-Black Friday, despite continuing to take American players' money, it emerged they too could no longer honor cashouts. The site had already had a huge scandal in 2007 when Absolute CEO Scott Tom was caught spying on opponents' hole cards at Absolute tables and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. Let's hope we never see a case like that again.
AVOID	$40,000 Monthly Freerolls	Accused in the past of embezzling players' funds, OddsPoker is still operating through its Antigua license, but that doesn't make it a safe place to play.
DEFUNCT	N/A	Once the brains behind a hugely popular US-facing poker site, players were left hanging after multiple cashout breaches, and the site was shut down.
DEFUNCT	N/A	The now-defunct site left US players owed a fortune. Add that to poor communication from the Customer Support team, and it made for a perfect storm for a rogue poker site.
AVOID	Krill Leaderboard	The bitcoin-only poker site that replaced the revolutionary SealsWithClubs has now made it onto our blacklist after founder Bryan Micon was arrested and charged with operating an unlicensed gambling site. Until it gets resolved, and SWCPoker finds a way to square things with the Nevada Gambling Board, it stays.
AVOID	Varies	Formerly known as Action Poker Network, the Chico network contains sites still operating in America. Meanwhile, the flagship Chico Poker room found itself on the wrong side of the authorities when it too was unable to honor cashouts post-Black Friday. It's still going, but as a small room it's flown under the radar. Although persistent problems with player payouts (especially in the US) were resolved, poor regulation in dodgy jurisdictions mean you should steer clear.
AVOID	$300 Weekly Freeroll	Speaking of the Chico Poker Network, skin PayNoRake.com has experienced lots of problems with late payments. Not only that, but after a fee-free first withdrawal, there's a $50 fee for subsequent withdrawals.
APPROACH WITH CAUTION	100% up to $1000	Although one of the biggest US-facing sites right now, this Merge network skin has had some erratic records with player payouts recently (August 2020) and it's wise to tread carefully. Not only that, but affiliates were informed that the program shut down in June 2015.
AVOID	Varies	Not putting the 'unique' into Uniq Poker Network, this tiny poker network has just two skins - BetUniq.com and UniqPokerNetwork.com - and has some of the poorest player pools around. It also 'boasts' a license from that not-entirely reliable jurisdiction of Curacao.

What You Should Look for When Choosing a Site

If you're an experienced gamer you can probably guess what sites are better than others.

But whether you're an avid gamer or a new player, we recommend always looking out for these key aspects when you're looking to gamble online.

The best online poker sites will all have the same features in common:

A valid gambling license
Certified and approved by eCOGRA or other testing agencies
Excellent bonuses and promotions to reward players
Dedicated and helpful customer support
Top quality software and encryption technology

Why Trust Us

We have your best interests at heart and we only want you signing up with the most reputable sites online.

Our team of experts have gone through and tested hundreds of sites to advise you on which ones to use and which ones to avoid.

When you play at the poker sites we recommend, you can be sure of the following:

Safe and secure playing
The best bonuses and promotions
A wide variety of deposit and withdrawal options
Fast and reliable payouts

With our expert review guide, you can choose a real money site that's safe to play at, has proper licensing and auditing in place and is guaranteed to help when there's a problem.

For safe and secure places to play, we recommend that you check out our list of trusted poker sites.

Blacklisted Poker Sites FAQ

A blacklisted website is a site which has several major problems in its functioning. The problems could be to do with the casinos' payouts, their treatment of personal and confidential information, their non-existent customer support, or their lack of licensing or auditing.

If a poker site has made our blacklist, it means it failed to meet our expectations. Blacklisted online casinos engage in unfair practices. They could take your money and give you nothing in return, be difficult in the way they function or steal your personal information.

Yes, you can. As long as you have not deposited money into your newly made account, you can always close it or just let it exist without any activity.

This is highly unlikely. You could take legal action against the website, though that is still quite complicated due to the ephemeral nature of online gaming and the Internet. In this situation it might be best to address the regulatory gaming organization of your country.

Reliable and trustworthy online poker sites have marks of external auditing on their main webpages. There are also thousands of excellent reviews online, so if you can't find the poker site of your choice in our review section, just look up the poker site online.