I frequent a number of forums dedicated to the world of online gambling and am disturbed by a growing trend I've seen lately. Yesterday, at three different forums, I saw discussions started by people who were gambling at public computers. They were saying they did this for various reasons. One had a dead computer at home but still wanted to play poker. Another said they couldn't gamble where their wife could see them. The last didn't give a reason at all. All are in for a world of hurt if they continue to use public computers for their onine gambling activities.

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Any computer that you do not control has the potential for being infected with a virus, trojan or keylogger. Particularly at open internet cafes, it is common for hackers and thieves to install keylogger programs on all the computers that they can. These programs can copy any form you fill, including your log in information for the online casinso, and transmits it to the thief's computer. Now the thief has access to your account and can change your password or bank information in order to steal your money.

Most libraries and schools have software that may block your use of online casino sites but not all do. Just because you know a lot of the other people who use those computers, never assume that they are not dishonest. Even if someone doesn't change your information but simply gambles with the money in your account, that is still money that you will lose access to. Some online casino account profiles contain every piece of information needed to steal your identity. Not only could you lose your gambling winnings but soon you could start getting bills for things you never purchased or bad credit reports from the thief opening new credit cards using your information.

It's easy to avoid this situation. Always play from a computer that is completely under your control. Your computer should have good up-to-date security programs installed and always running including anti-virus software and malware blockers. Don't become a statistic in the rising rate of identity theft – do your online gambling only from your own computers.