Online casinos are precisely what the name suggests, casinos which are available to play over the internet. You can play the 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; alternatively, some online gaming sites claim better odds with their slot machines than bricks and mortar counterparts. Some publish their payout percentage audits on their sites, this is something you should check out, if possible, when deciding on an online casino to join as you can chose the one with the highest payout percentage thus increasing your chances of winning.

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

Web-based – Download-based – Live

Web-based Casinos permit the player to play the casino game of their choice directly online, with no need to download any of the casinos software to their computer. The casino games are often delivered in Macromedia Flash, Java, or Macromedia Shockwave and may require your web browser to possess the relevant plug-in. The plug-ins are free to and easy install if you don’t already have them enabled on your web browser. Most browsers already possess the plug-ins installed. You shall also need a quality 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 internet casinos software onto their computer in order for them to play the games. The internet casino software connects directly to the online casinos service provider and allows the games to be played without the need of you using your web browser. The benefit from 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 over the internet. Obviously the software will take a little while to install itself on your computer and there’s always the risk (as with downloading any software) that the on-line casino software contains malware and potentially infecting your computer.

Live-based Casinos is comparatively new and allows the player to communicate with games played in a real world Casino environment. The players are able to see, hear and interact with live dealerships in casinos worldwide.

At online casinos you may expect to find the same games while 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 great online casino Casinos they all offer some type of sign-up bonus in order 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 likely deposit $200 within your account, meaning you have an overall total of $400 to gamble with.