by Philo Gabriel

Created on: October 13, 2009   Last Updated: February 28, 2010

Having been involved in one capacity or another in the sportsbetting industry for much of my adult life, including making a living betting with offshore sportsbooks for over a decade, I know the importance of choosing wisely and carefully when you pick an online sportsbook, casino, or poker room.

Though I could easily provide a list of such sites I consider legit, or direct you to good "watchdog" sites that discuss such matters, I hesitate to do so, because really you should not trust such a list from someone you do not know anyway.

This is not a merely theoretical concern. People who do provide such lists - I don't mean just specifically here at Helium, but on the Web in general - routinely are shills or crooks looking to collect affiliate fees, direct unsuspecting folks to dishonest proprietors, etc. This is a largely unregulated area of life. If you wouldn't trust such a list that you found in your e-mail inbox from Nigeria, you probably shouldn't trust it from elsewhere either.

My advice would be to Google something like "sportsbetting forums" or "online casino forums" and find places open to the public where people post about their experiences and give advice and reviews. Among other things, see what rating or "watchdog" sites they seem to think have the most credibility.

Of course you still have to tread very carefully. It's not like you can take everything posted in such forums at face value. But if you immerse yourself in that world and get a feel for a few such places, you'll probably get a sense that certain online gambling establishments consistently garner praise, while others are only praised by the occasional newbie with few posts who is quickly derided as a shill.

But let's say you're able that way to compile a list of a few online sportsbooks and casinos that seem to have good reputations. Next you'll want to do some searches on specifically those places.

So if, for instance, one is "Lucky Freddy's," try Googling a few things like "lucky freddy's scam," "lucky freddy's slow pay," "lucky freddy's problems," "lucky freddy's stiff," etc. Chances are, if they're a fly-by-night operation that's ripped people off, someone is talking about it somewhere.

Next, go to the website of any online gambling establishment you're considering, and call them as well. You're seeking information, and you're also seeing how they "feel" to you, what kind of vibes they give off.

Is their website sub-literate? Do you have to struggle to understand their phone personnel's

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