Online casinos are what the name suggests, casinos which are available to play on the internet. You can play the exact same games as you would expect to find in a bricks and mortar casino.

You may expect to find similar odds that you would find at a land based casino; however, some online gaming sites claim better odds with their slot machines than bricks and mortar counterparts. Some publish their payout percentage audits on their own web sites, this is something you should definitely check out, if possible, when deciding on an online casino to join while you can chose the one with the highest payout percentage thus increasing your prospects of winning.

Online casinos can be split into three groups based on how the player can play their games. These groups are:

Web-based – Download-based – Live

Web-based Casinos enable the player to play the casino game of their choice directly on the web, without having to download any of the casinos software to their computer. The casino games tend to be delivered in Macromedia Flash, Java, or Macromedia Shockwave and will require your web browser to possess the relevant plug-in. The plug-ins are free to and easy install should you not already have them enabled on your web browser. Most browsers already have the plug-ins installed. Additionally, you will need a good bandwidth as the casino games are made up of sounds and animations requiring decent band-with to run properly.

Download-based Casinos require the player to download the on-line casinos software onto their computer in order for them to play the games. The online casino software connects directly to the online casinos provider and playing gambling allows the games to be played without the need of you using your web browser. The good thing about this is that the game-play runs faster as the software uses the graphics and sound programs from the casinos software, as apposed to it being run through your browser via the internet. Obviously the software will take just a little while to install itself on your computer and there is always the risk (as with downloading any software) that the online casino software contains malware and potentially infecting your computer.

Live-based Casinos can be new and allows the player to interact with games played in a real world Casino environment. The players can see, hear and interact with live dealers in casinos worldwide.

At online casinos you may expect to find the exact same games as you would find at a land-based casino. Popular games include:

Baccarat – Blackjack – Craps – Roulette – Slots machines – Poker – Texas Hold’ Em, 7 Card Stud, Omaha

Because of the fierce competition between Online Casinos all of them offer some type of sign-up bonus as a way to entice you to sign up to their website. Usually they will double your first deposit, for example; if you deposit $200, the Casino will also deposit $200 within your account, meaning you’ve got an overall total of $400 to gamble with.