Phone-free signups: why I walk away when a casino asks for an SMS code

Plenty of crypto casinos advertise that they do not ask for documents. Fewer mention that they want your phone number instead. I have hit this several times now: a quick signup form, no passport or selfie, and then a box asking for a mobile number and a six-digit code sent by text message.

I close the tab at that point. Here is why.

A phone number is an identity document in all but name. In most countries, including mine, a SIM card is registered to a real person. A casino that has my number has a direct link to who I am, held in a database I know nothing about. If that database leaks, my number ends up on lists that get sold to scammers and marketers. That has happened before at gambling sites, and the result is usually months of spam calls and phishing texts.

SMS is also a weak way to secure an account. SIM swap attacks are well documented. Someone convinces a mobile operator to move your number to their card, and every text code goes to them. If the casino uses SMS as its only second factor, my balance is as safe as my operator's call centre staff are careful. I would much rather use an authenticator app, which ties the login to a device I hold.

Then there is marketing. Every casino I gave my number to in the past sent promotional texts, even after I unsubscribed from emails. One kept texting me bonus offers for a year after I stopped playing.

So what do I look for instead? A signup with an email address, or just a username and password. A login protected by an authenticator app. A recovery process based on a backup code I store myself, or on the email I gave them. Some casinos let you sign in with a crypto wallet signature, which removes the email as well, and I have used that at a couple of sites without problems.

There are a few casinos that ask for a phone number only when you enable a particular feature, like SMS alerts. I am fine with that, as long as it stays optional and the site works without it.

I should be honest about the trade-off. A phone-free account is harder to recover if I lose my password and my backup codes. I treat that as my responsibility. I keep recovery codes in a password manager and on paper, and I never put large balances on any casino account anyway.

When I first went looking for sites that let me sign up without a phone, I used a list someone on a forum pointed me to and went through the signup form of each one myself. Most asked for an email and nothing more. Two asked for a phone number during registration, and I crossed them off.

It is a small check, but it says a lot about how much a casino wants to know about you. If the site skips ID but insists on a phone number, it is still collecting a key piece of personal data, and I would rather keep that to myself.

Published 4 November 2026.