A Beginner’s Guide to Online Casinos
Playing in an online casino for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. With hundreds of online casinos, thousands of games, different gambling rules and regulations, varied bonuses and banking options, it’s easy to get confused where to start.
In this online casino guide we’ll cover everything, from playing in an online casino, understanding casino bonuses, various gaming options, to finding the best online casinos, and finally, gambling safely and responsibly.
Finding the Best Online Casino – Expert Tips and Advice
With thousands of existing online casino sites, and new ones cropping up every day, choosing the best casino online can be a tough task. However, by keeping the below things in mind you can have the best casino gaming experience online.
- Safety and Security – check if the online casino you choose enjoys a good reputation, and is licensed for your jurisdiction. The best casinos are licensed by reputed regulatory bodies such as the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).
- Game Variety – go through the casino’s game selection to ensure they have sufficient number and variety. Look out for well known gaming providers such as Microgaming, NetEnt, RTG, Pragmatic Play, Playtech, that offer high quality games with attractive rewards.
- Banking Options – see if the casino has payment methods you want to use, and that they are allowed in your jurisdiction for online gambling. Check if the casino processes the withdrawals quickly, or your winnings can be stuck with the casino for days or more.
- Customer Support – Prompt, 24/7 customer service is a must as online casinos cater to people in different time zones from all over the world.
- Mobile Casino Gaming – playing on-the-go is on the rise, and it’s important that the casino offers a fully-functional mobile website. It’s an added advantage if the casino has a mobile app for Apple and Android phones, since a good app offers a better gaming experience.
- Bonuses and Promotions – if you love playing with the best casino bonuses, then check if the casino offers regular bonuses and offers with fair terms and conditions.
Playing in an Online Casino
Once you have decided in which casino to play, it’s time to sign up with the casino and start playing your favorite casino games for real money. Here’s our step-by-step guide on how to go about it.
Sign Up / Open Your Casino Account
- Hit the Join or Sign Up button and create your login details by inputting the requested details, such as your desired casino user ID, password, your name, country of residence, email, phone etc. If your country is not listed in the registration form it means that the casino does not accept players from there.
- Most casinos offer new players a Welcome Bonus or Sign up Bonus while they’re registering. You may opt in to this bonus if you wish to. Do read the bonus’ terms and conditions before claiming so that you know how to enjoy its full benefits.
Fund your Casino Account and Play
Once your casino account is created and ready, the next step is to deposit some funds in the casino to start playing casino games for real money.
Depositing at the best online casinos is fast and easy. All top-rated casinos support varied payment options for deposits and withdrawals including credit/debit cards, ewallets such as Skrill, Neteller, ecoPayz, bank transfers, Interac e-Transfers, and instant vouchers. Casino deposits are instant, and you can be playing in minutes after funding your account.
Withdrawing Your Casino Winnings
The lady luck was on your side, and you hit the big won! What more could you ask for? How about enjoying all the money you’ve won, fast! Yes, getting your winnings as quickly as possible is definitely very important.
Depending on your casino and the banking method you choose for withdrawal, the money could be with you in as little as a few hours. For fast and safe withdrawals, ewallets and instant banking options such as Trustly and Interac are highly recommended. However, if the cashout is too big, the casino may choose to send the money through the traditional bank wire option.
The casinos do require KYC of their players before they send out a payment. This is usually a one-time process in which you have to provide your ID and address proof to the casino. These verification steps are necessary to comply with the anti-money laundering laws, and for fraud prevention.
Online Casino Game Types
All online casinos offer a core group of games such as slots, tables games, card games, and often, a miscellaneous games’ category that features games such as scratch cards, keno, craps, etc. Some casinos also offer a Live Casino section in which you can enjoy popular table games via a live internet feed. Let’s look at these popular casino games in greater detail.
Online Slots
While slots in offline casinos may not have much variety, online slots seem to be the opposite, with numerous themes, features, and variations.
The video slots or virtual slot machines are the most popular of online slots. Video slots have numerous reels and hundreds of paylines. They also boast of stunning graphics, superb animations, great sound effects, and different themes and stories. Online slots are usually themed on famous movies, popular storybooks, cartoons, fairytales, and many other popular genres.
The progressive jackpot slots, that pool the prize money from several casinos running the same game, are also the most sought-after slot games online. The reason? Well, these super-popular games offer multi-million dollar prizes, and who doesn’t like an instant, life-changing win. If you’re on the lookout for the best casino with progressive slot games, then look out for casinos which offer games from the masters of jackpot slots, such as, Microgaming, NetEnt, and Playtech.
Casino Table Games
If you’re a fan of traditional table games like blackjack and roulette, then you’ll be pleased to know that online casinos offer these classic games in many variations.
All casino sites have a table games section stacked with popular blackjack, roulette, baccarat, poker, bingo and other miscellaneous table games.
The popular Blackjack games online include Multi-Hand Blackjack, American Blackjack and Classic Blackjack. Roulette fans too can play from a number of Roulette options, such as the popular European Roulette, Lightning Roulette, and French Roulette.
Live Dealer Casino Games
If you’d like to get a feel of a real casino from the comfort of your home, then you’ll love the Live Casino option that’s available in many casinos. Live dealer games use real life dealers who play and interact with players in real-time. All the action is streamed live via internet straight from the casino studio to your computer or mobile device.
You can play many classic casino table games in a Live Casino, including, Live Roulette, Live Blackjack, Live Baccarat, Live Casino Hold’em and Live 3-Card Poker. Most of these classic games are offered in several flavors, so you literally have dozens of choices in live dealer games.
Online Bingo
If you’re into casino gaming, you must have heard of bingo too. This ever popular game of luck has not only thrived, but gone into overdrive with the introduction of online bingo. Today, online bingo lovers are spoilt for choice with hundreds of bingo sites and dozens of bingo games.
Bingo’s popularity is both due to its ease of play and the fun element of the game. To play bingo for real money you need to purchase bingo cards that has various numbers printed on them. A bingo caller calls out the numbers, and if you see a match, you dab or scratch away those numbers on your virtual card. The wins depend on the type of game you’re playing and its rules. For example, if you cover one line, or a specific pattern, you win a prize. The biggest rewards are usually for covering up your entire card in a full house.
Internet bingo comes in many variations, such as, 40, 50, 75, 80 and 90 ball bingo. Not only is bingo a fun game, but thanks to progressive bingo jackpots, it also comes with some serious rewards. Many top bingo sites also offer free online bingo games in which you can play free bingo without making any real money deposit.
Casino Bonuses
Bonuses are an integral part of online casinos. All casinos offer at least some type of bonuses to new, as well as their existing players. Casino bonuses come in many shapes and sizes. Let’s take a brief look at the most popular bonus types.
Welcome Bonus
This bonus is offered to new players just after they sign up with a casino and is a great way to increase your casino bankroll. It usually comes as a package in which players are offered free casino money after they make the first few qualifying deposits. More often than not, free spins on popular slots are clubbed with the welcome bonuses.
You can win real money using the welcome bonus if you fulfill the terms and conditions attached to the bonus. These terms relate to wagering requirements, time limits, game weightning, etc.
No Deposit Bonus
As their name says, you don’t need to deposit any real money in the casino to claim these bonuses. At the same time you can win real money from no deposit bonuses. Obviosly these kind of bonuses are in great demand as they are really free casino money.
Obviously casinos can’t afford to give free unlimited money to every casino player, and so, these bonuses do have certain restrictions. Firstly, no deposit bonuses are mostly offered to the new players of a casino, and the no deposit bonus amounts are small too. Then, there are other conditions, such as, the maximum win limit using that bonus, offer expiry dates, wagering or playthrough requirements, etc.
Still, a No Deposit Bonus is a good way to test out the real money casino games of a casino, with a chance to win some real cash for free.
Free Spins
Free Spins on online slots are always in great demand, especially when they are offered on new and popular slot games. The free spins can be a no-deposit bonus, meaning you can get them without having to pay for them. Or, they can be deposit free spins, for which you do need to make an initial qualifying deposit.
Whatever the type of free spins you claim, there will be some terms and conditions attached to any free spins offer. In order to win real money using free spins, you must fulfil these terms in a time bound manner.
