How to play online casinos

This is a guide to teach gamblers how to play online casinos. For years we have brought you the best down-to-earth casino and gambling guides, but it appears we have overlooked one of the most important - namely "how to play online casinos". Below you will have the necessary steps to begin playing the online casino of your choice.

How to play online casinos - Step 1: Find the online casino
To many, this may appear to be a trivial step, but actually is one of the most important decisions you will make in your quest to entertain yourself gambling on the web. Many people make the mistake to simply do a search for online casino and pick the first one that they come across. But just like everything on the internet these days, there is no guarantee that just because a casino is online it means it's not a scam or a rogue casino just in for the short term profit. Thousands of players world-wide have been forever burnt by such casinos, stemming from the fact they have overlooked this important step.

So how can you spot a good and honest online casino from the rogue ones? The truth is that you can't. Since there is no template for an online casino, players, especially those new to online gambling, have no idea what to look for. And since the internet as a whole is not regulated by some authority it's easy for someone somewhere on the globe to create a "fake" online gambling website and lure unsuspected people. But despair not - this is why we are here. In our decade-long presence on the internet we have played literally hundreds of online casinos, keep close eye on the gambling forums and blogs for any rogue casinos and have created the list of the best online casinos on the web, which you can check by following the link. That page will give you only the top casinos currently operating online, where one can play without worries. We cannot stress enough the importance of choosing to play online casino on that list versus going alone to find online casino by yourself.

How to play online casinos - Step 2: Download the casino
This step is somewhat optional, since all online casinos today offer two versions of their gambling software. The first one is a web-version, i.e. Flash online casino, which one can play without the need to download the online casino. This one is great for a quick spin of the wheels or to play when you are away from your home computer which has the download version of the online casino you've chosen to play. But we recommend one goes with the full version of the online casino by downloading the software. The download version of the online casino offers the full array of casino games made available by the company and gives the customer the chance to experience the online casino in its full glory - graphics, sounds, all games and slots, etc. Downloading the casino is very simple - as soon as you visit the gambling website you'd be prompted to download the casino and if you are not - simply navigate to the "download" section of the website and follow the instructions to download the gambling software.

How to play online casinos - Step 3: Install the online casino
Very simple step, as the name suggests - once you have downloaded the online casino simply install it as you would any other application, double click on the installation file and follow the instructions. Keep in mind that depending on your internet connection, it may take a while for the casino to be installed completely on your computer. This is because when you first download the online casino, only the basic files and a few popular games are downloaded, while the rest of the games will begin automatically to download on in the background once the online casino is installed. Since the casino software is pretty big, this is done in order for the player to save time and open an account and start playing popular games, such as blackjack and bonus slots, right away, while the variations of other games are being downloaded in the background. And if there is particular game you'd like to play right away, but that game has not been downloaded yet - you can always force the download of the game by simply selecting it. This will automatically stop other downloads and begin downloading that particular game.

How to play online casinos - Step 4: Open a casino account
Now that you have downloaded and installed the online casino as per our previous steps, it's time to open a player account with the casino. Again, two options are presented to the customer - the "fun play" account and the "real money" account. And this is one of the greatest feature of the online casinos - one can actually try the casino games for free before they commit to gambling with real money! If you opt to open a fun play account all you need is a name and email address, once you open the fun play account the casino will give you "fake money" (usually the equivalent of $2,000, but that depends on the casino) and you can use this newly acquired wealth to play almost all game offered by the online casino with the exception of those with progressive jackpot. This feature is something you would never find at the land-based casinos and it gives the player a chance to check out all casino games before deciding on playing for real money.

And if you decide that the games the casino offers are fun and entertaining to your taste - you can always switch your fun play account to real money account. Simply click on "play for real money" tab in the online casino and you will be redirected to a secure form where you can fill in your information. Which brings us to the next step:

How to play online casino - Step 5: Deposit money and get bonus
Once you have opened a real money account, it's time to deposit money and start gambling at the casino. Depending on one's country of residence, different depositing methods will be available. Still the most popular remains credit cards, but especially in the United States those transactions are becoming harder to complete, mainly due to the reluctance of the credit card companies to process payments from gambling websites. But many other options are still available, including the very popular ewallet solutions. With an ewallet a customer can deposit money to the ewallet using either a credit card or a deposit through their bank and in turn use the fund from the ewallet to fund their casino account. Which method to fund your casino account is best depends mostly on your personal preference. Withdrawing your winnings work the exact same way - choose the amount you would like to withdraw and the payment method you'd like to use to receive your money and wait for the confirmation email to arrive.

But with the initial funding of one's casino account comes the main reason online casinos are so popular these days, namely the free money bonus. Every online casino today offers a big bonus to everyone who opens a players account and deposits money for the first time, subsequent bonus offers follow every week. Keep in mind that depending on the online casino you've chosen to play at, the process of getting your bonus money will be different. Some online casinos will automatically credit your bonus once you make a deposit, while others would require you to enter a "promo code". To find out how this works with the casino you've chosen, check the information posted on the gambling website's "promotions" section. There you'll get information not only on the sign up bonus, but on the future offers, as well. Also keep in mind that many casinos offer special bonus for particular payment methods, yet another way to get some free money.

How to play online casinos - Step 6: Choose the game and start playing
Once you've completed the five previous steps comes the fun part - playing at the online casino. One can find all the casino games available at the lobby section of the online casino. The games will be likely divided by type - slots, table games, video poker, specialty and progressive. Choosing any of those sections will open up a submenu with the games available to play (or download, if you have not downloaded all of them yet). Each game will come with information, where you can learn the game, see the payout tables, etc.

So here we have the six main step for playing online casino. As one can see, it's quite simple and you are facing much less hustle than if you decide to go to the local land-based casino. Feel free to brows our website for more guides and tips on gambling on the internet and playing at the online casinos. And as usual, your comments and questions are always appreciated.

Published on 07/23/2010