About Online Casinos

Online casinos are one of the most popular forms of entertainment on the Internet. After gambling became available online, the numbers of players increased tenfold. This is due to its simplicity; to start playing, just select a site, register on it, and make your first deposit. In this article, we will talk in detail about online casinos for US players, about the gambling types, and also provide step-by-step instructions for creating an account and making a deposit.

What Is an Online Casino

Unlike land-based gambling venues, online casinos only organize gambling, but do not own any games. The website performs intermediary functions; you can find games from dozens and hundreds of different developers.

At the same time, the casino does not receive all the profit, but only its share, since it is divided between the casino and providers; another part of the income goes to pay taxes.

How Online Casinos Work

Speaking directly about online casinos, they act as gambling organizers. After you launch one of the games, a connection to the developers’ servers occurs, where the game process is controlled. That is, the main objective of an online casino site is to attract customers; the more of them, the higher the casino’s income.

All slots and other gambling titles are located on the providers’ servers, and neither the players nor the casino can influence their work to receive profit.

The benefit of a gambling website is ensured by the rules and mechanics of games. For example, slots have the RTP criterion which determines how much money from the total amount of investments players receive back in the form of payments. For example, with an RTP of 97%, users will only get back $970 for every $1,000, and the remaining $30 will be the casino and the provider’s profit.

In table games, the casino’s income is provided by the house edge; it is embedded in the rules and excludes the possibility of making bets with 50/50 chances. For example, roulette features the zero sector; when the ball stops on it, even bets on equal chances lose.

Online Casino Games Explained

A random number generator is at the heart of most casino games; this is a special algorithm that ensures unpredictable results. It is impossible to influence its work or predict what the rotation will be like or what cards will appear on the table, since the calculations last only a split second after the game starts.

The correct operation of the random number generator is a prerequisite for obtaining a license. Independent audit companies check the RNG and issue an appropriate certificate based on the analysis.

The random number generator works even in games with live dealers; however, you can reduce its influence on the result there. For example, it defines random payout multipliers and additional bonus features.

About Types of Online Casino Games

Online casino games meaning is difficult to overestimate, as this is exactly what you come to the gambling site for. The catalog of games may include thousands of games divided into dozens of categories in the largest online casinos.

Video Slots

When talking about online casino games, first of all, it is necessary to mention that slots are the most extensive and diverse gambling category. They can make up more than 90% of the casino catalog. Hundreds of providers create them, and each is trying to endow their games with unique sets of features and mechanics. This makes the game as diverse as possible, despite the general principles of slot machines.

The main advantage of this gambling category is the ease of entry for newbies. You will not need any special knowledge or skills; to start playing, just launch the slot and start making spins. The random number generator decides everything else; it determines which specific symbols, in what quantity, and in what places fall out on the reels.

Roulette

In roulette, your task is to place bets on numbers, their combinations, or various attributes, such as color. All bets are divided into inside and outside, depending on the location of the sectors with the corresponding outcomes on the table. After accepting bets a dealer spins the roulette wheel with a ball thrown into it. Then, the wheel stops and if the ball points to the number that matches your bet, you will receive prize money. Their sum varies from 1:1 to 35:1 depending on the riskiness of the forecast.

Roulette can be European, French and American. In American roulette, there are two zero sectors instead of one; this increases the house edge from 2.7 to 5.26%.

Blackjack

In blackjack, you have to beat the dealer; there are 2 winning ways:

• If you have more points than them (but no more than 21) when comparing hands.
• If the dealer scores more than 21 points.

At the beginning of the game, each participant gets two cards. You have both of them face down, and the dealer has one face up, which allows you to assess the potential strength of their hand and compare it with your own. Then each player can make their move: take an additional card, double the bet, split the pair, or stop. If you score more than 21 points, it will lead to an automatic loss, regardless of the dealer’s result.

Poker

This casino game is very different from what you might have seen in specialized poker rooms or land-based poker clubs. A large number of versions can also be available there, but only one opponent plays against you, or there can be none at all. The options are as follows:

• Game with an opponent. It can be a live dealer, if you play in the Live section, or a computer controlled by a random number generator. You compete for a pot formed from the required and additional bets. The player with a stronger combination wins it. There may also be prizes for collecting specific combinations.
• Game without an opponent. Most video poker versions work in this format. Your task is not to beat the dealer, but to collect the strongest possible combination. For each of them, a payment with a fixed coefficient is provided; a prime example is Jacks or Better.

Strategies that are applicable in full-fledged Texas Hold’em do not work in video poker slots. The exception is the strategies used for the heads-up format (1-on-1).

Games With Live Dealers

If you want to feel the atmosphere of a real land-based casino, or get closer to it, choose games with live dealers. There, a real person plays against you instead of a computer opponent, and the game is streamed live directly from the provider’s studio. You can watch the actions of the croupier and interact with them through the chat: communicate, ask questions, etc.

There is no demo mode in Live games. You can only place real money bets.

To play in the Live section, you need a stable and fast internet connection. Otherwise, the broadcast may freeze or slow down.

Keno

Keno is a popular lottery version where you have to choose numbers between 1 and 20 on an 80-number ticket. After that, the drawing starts; 20 winning numbers are determined. The more numbers you mark and the more matches there are, the larger the payout is.

Craps

This table game is similar to roulette; however, instead of a wheel with a ball, there is a table and a pair of six-sided dice. After bets are accepted, one of the players rolls the dice. If they add up to 2, 3, 7, 11, or 12 points, the round ends. Winning bets bring payouts, and the losing bets are removed from the table. The rest of the scores are the points, and the second round begins. The throws continue until the point or the seven fall out. You can also make additional bets.

Sic Bo

This table game uses three six-sided dice and you have to place bets on different roll outcomes: pairs, triples, all different, over or under, even or odd. The results of the round are summed up after each throw, and the amount of payments depends on how risky your bet was.

Caribbean Stud

Caribbean Stud is one of the most popular poker versions in online casinos. The game is played 1-on-1 against the dealer. You have to use 5 cards to collect the strongest possible combination. The distribution starts with making mandatory bets, after which you get your cards. If you want to continue, make the main bet, and the results are compared. If the dealer does not have any combination, you automatically win. The weakest combination in the Stud is the king and ace. If the dealer has a combination, a comparison takes place. The player with a stronger combination takes the pot. Additionally, you can receive prize money for collecting various combinations: straight, flush, and straight flush.

Pai Gow

This is a non-standard poker version in which you need to collect not one, but two combinations at once. To do this, you will have 7 cards at your disposal; you have to place 2 of them in the upper box and 5 in the lower one. In this case, the upper combination should be weaker than the lower one. After making your choice, your hands are compared with the dealer’s results. To win the pot, you need to collect 2 stronger combinations. If only one combination is stronger, a draw is declared.

Baccarat

If you want to know what online casino game offers the fastest and most dynamic gameplay, pay attention to baccarat. In this card game, you will not be directly involved in the process. Your main and only goal is to bet on one of the three outcomes: the victory of the Player, the victory of the Banker, or a Draw.

After that, both sides receive two cards; under certain conditions, a third card may be added. The hand with the most points wins; if the score is more than 9, 10 is subtracted from it.

Online Casinos Legitimacy

Gambling regulation in the United States occurs at the level of individual states. That means that the same activity can be legal in one part of the country and prohibited in another. Therefore, be sure to check the existing legislation in your state before registering at a casino, and also check with the support service.

To work in other countries, the gambling site can issue a so-called offshore license in one of the regulatory authorities, for example, Curacao, Kahnawake, Gibraltar, Maine, or the United Kingdom. The availability of this document speaks about online casino legitimacy and, as a result, reliability.

At the bottom of the site, there may be a validator with the logo of the regulatory commission, when clicked, a page with information about the license will open.

If the casino operates illegally, it is dangerous to register there. You risk losing your bankroll, and it will be impossible to protect your rights on an unregulated site.

Different Casino Types

All gambling sites work according to the same principles that we have described earlier. However, the specifics of their work, ways of accessing the functionality, and target audience may differ.

Online Casinos

These are gambling sites that are available through a browser on desktop PCs, tablets, and smartphones. In turn, they can accept fiat money bets or cryptocurrency bets. In the second case, the emphasis is on the holders of digital assets; the Cashier section supports Bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies, there are special gambling games in which you can only place bets using virtual tokens. However, all of them have a common feature; access to the functionality and gaming capabilities is provided through the web version, that is, through the browser.

Downloadable Apps

If you are used to playing on a smartphone, some sites provide full-fledged downloadable software for Android and iOS. To play, you need to download and install the app. After that, you can play any games directly on your smartphone.

The availability of a full-fledged mobile version through a separate app or an adaptive website design is one of the main criteria when choosing an online casino.

Variety of Casino Bonuses & Promotions

To better understand what an online casino is, you need to understand the main goals of these sites; their main task is to attract as many customers as possible. The gambling site’s income directly depends on the number of active customers; since the gambling organization is one of the forms of business, this is important for its owners. Given the ever-increasing competition, it becomes more and more difficult to attract customers every year. Therefore, casinos offer newbies and regular players all sorts of promotions.

Referral Program

This is not the most common type of bonus, which is not available in all online casinos. It lies in the fact that you can receive a small percentage of the spendings of those players who have registered on the site using your referral link. The more people you bring to the site, the higher your potential income is.

The main advantage of the referral program is that it has no upper limits on the amount of income, as well as no wagering requirements. If you are a blogger, if you have your own website or popular communities on social networks, you can try to attract referrals through them. You can also send a registration link to your friends, if there are those who are fond of gambling.

Cashback

Not every day, week, or month in the casino you will be successful; you will often lose, and you need to be ready for this from the very beginning. However, you can compensate for some of these losses if you sign up to a site where the cashback is valid. This type of bonus allows you to return part of the losses during unsuccessful periods; the site compensates for a certain percentage in the days, weeks, and months when the amount of losses exceeds all the winnings you received.

In most cases, you can only receive cashback if you lost more than you won, that is, you remained in the red.

Make sure to specify which online casino games are being included in the promotion and which of them are suitable for fulfilling the wagering requirement.

No Deposit & Deposit Bonuses

At the start and during the subsequent game, you can receive deposit and no deposit bonuses or various activities. The activation conditions and the content of specific promotions may differ depending on the promotion type and the specific casino.

In any case, you will not be able to immediately withdraw the received funds. To start with, you need to fulfill the wagering requirements; you have to make a certain turnover of bets within a limited period of time. The amount of turnover is determined by the wagering coefficient; this is a multiplier that can be applied to both the bonus and the deposit.

How to Start Playing at Online Casinos

Any adult user can gamble on the Internet, having provided that they are legal in their state. In most states, the minimum age for starting an account is 18; however, in some parts of the country this requirement is stricter. For example, only users over the age of 21 can play online casinos in the state of New York. If you meet this requirement, you need to follow a few steps to start playing.

Choose a Casino

The first and most important step is choosing a gambling site. The experience and emotions that you get when playing completely depend on how successful it will be. Give preference only to licensed sites that are legal in your state, pay attention to the number and variety of gambling titles, and consider online casino info explained. To find out which US casinos are the best, you can check out the ratings and reviews available on our website.

Create an Account

To start playing for money, you need to create an account. To do this, go to the casino website, press the button to register, and enter the required data in all empty fields. Be sure to use only reliable information, otherwise you will not be able to verify your account and your identity in the future.

You can have no more than one account on the gambling site. Re-registration is prohibited and will cause a ban.

Make a Deposit

If the casino does not offer you a no deposit bonus for registration, you need to make a deposit. To do this, go to the Cashier, select the Deposit tab, indicate the payment method, and enter the needed information in the empty fields: amount and credit card or eWallet details. Check the correctness of the specified information and confirm the transaction. After a few minutes, the money will arrive on the bankroll, and it will be possible to play using them.

Start Playing

Go to the catalog of gambling titles, study the description and definition of online casino games, and select one of them. After starting the game, you will only have to decide on the bet size.

Are Online Casinos Rigged

Some online casinos can be rigged; in this case, they are able to independently change the characteristics and payout percentage of slots, delay or cancel payments, and deceive you in other ways.

To save yourself from such a risk, choose only licensed sites approved by regulatory commissions. In this case, the possibility of fraud will be excluded, since any such violation quickly leads to the license cancellation.

Online Games vs. Traditional Casino Games

The indisputable advantage of traditional games in land-based gambling venues is the atmosphere. Being in a real casino will give you a lot of positive emotions and make the game more exciting. In all other aspects, online games are better for following reasons:

• There are many more of them.
• You don’t have to leave your house to play.
• There are no associated travel and accommodation costs.
• You can activate various bonuses, participate in tournaments.
• There are more flexible betting limits.

Online casinos are a more practical and convenient solution than brick-and-mortar gambling venues. If you just want to have fun on a weekend or after a working day, the choice is obvious.

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Pros & Cons of Online Casinos