How do online casinos work?

Over the years we have provided online gamblers from all over the world with information on gambling and online casinos, but it appears we have missed one important point – namely how do online casinos work. We all know which the best online casinos are, the latest big bonus offers and how to play an online casino, but many people don’t even know how the online casinos work, In this article we will look into the actual process of online gambling at the casinos.

In order to understand how the online casinos work, we have to briefly outline the process of actually playing at the online casino, just in case you are new to online gambling. Of course, gambling at the online casinos is relatively easy – you download and install the online casino software, then open a player’s account, deposit money using the various methods available and start playing. But what does go on behind the scene?

First, we have to start with the casino software. The online casinos work much like any other program on your computer, but the best correlation is with the multiplayer video games. A software developer creates the actual online casino program – all the images, videos coding, databases and management, security, etc. and packages the product for the individual client. For example, RealTime Gaming (RTG) creates a custom copy of their software for Vegas Casino Online and a custom copy for Las Vegas USA online casino, either charging a fee for using the software or royalties. People working in the online gambling industry call those online casinos “RTG-based”, since they both use the gambling software developed by RTG and share the basics, with the majority of the games being the same at either online casino. The specific customization could be as little as the lobby of the online casino or as large as custom games and jackpots, i.e. something that you will not find at another RTG-based online casino.

This has its good and bad side. The bad is that almost all online casinos based on a particular software developer could be quite similar. The good is that if you don’t like how the online casino treats you as a customer or if you’d like to get a bigger bonus somewhere else – you can always change online casinos without having to go without your favorite games. Of course, online casinos using different software developers will be completely different in both looks and in the casino games they offer. For example, Go Casino, which uses the Vegas Tech software, has nothing in common with Las Vegas USA online casino, which, as already mentioned, uses RTG gaming software. So the very basic of how online casinos work start not with the actual casino, but with the gambling software developer.

Now that we have the casino software down, the next step in “how do online casinos work” is the interaction between the casino and the player. Once you have decided which online casino you’ll play, you have to download and install the casino software on your computer. One does so by downloading the online casino application from the casino’s website and installing as it would any other program. Many people don’t realize it, but when you do so, you only install the user interface of the online casino. Look at the online casino program on your computer as just a pipeline for interaction between the player and the casino – the rest of the casino software , transactions and user information is all stored on the casino’s servers, rather than on your computer. That’s why one always needs an internet connection to play at the online casinos. So every time you spin the reels at a video slot, you simply send information to the online casino’s servers, the information is then processed and the result is send back to you.

This is probably the best place to shed light on one of the most important features of online gambling at casinos, the one that makes it both fun and keeps the casinos honest – the Random Number Generator (RNG). This small program is incorporated in every online casino by the software developer with the sole purpose of, you guessed it, generating numbers at random. This is what gives the player his or her chance at the big bucks – if the number that was randomly generated matches the one needed for winning the jackpot, the player wins the jackpot, for example. To easily illustrate this, let’s say that a player spins the reels on a 3-reel video slot machine. The request is send back to the online casino servers, where the RNG generates a number (always between 0 and 1). If that number falls between 0 and 0.3 the player gets 3 bars and doubles the wager made. Of course the whole process is much more complex than this, but the example above is sufficient to illustrate how the online casinos work.

The company that runs the actual online casino can change and customize a hew aspects of the casino software – bonus offers, look of the casino lobby and some games, etc., but it can never change the RNG. Since the casino software developer works with many different online gambling companies, it strives to keep its reputation untarnished, thus preventing the online casino operator from manipulating the random number generator in anyway, keeping the online casinos honest along the way. Of course, there are many rogue online casinos, which simply won’t pay your winnings, but that’s why we have created our best online casinos list – to help players avoid landing at one of those bad casinos.

And now that we have covered the random number generator, the rest of “how online casinos work” is just management. Once the players have amassed winnings, they can request a withdrawal of the money by using the cashier section of the online casino. A special department at the casinos is assigned the processing of payments to the players and after your withdrawal request has been received and approved, the online casino cuts the player a check. As you can see, now that the magic has been revealed, the online casinos do work in a very simple way!

Published on 06/15/2010