Online Casinos: How to Play

IT'S EASY TO PLAY IN ONLINE CASINOS, WITH OR WITHOUT DOWNLOADING THE CASINO SOFTWARE!

When you click on a banner for an online casino, you'll arrive at the casino web site. This web site is where you can read about the casino’s Terms and Conditions, their current sign-up bonus and loyalty club, their toll-free support numbers and other contact info, and the games they offer.

This is also where you may choose between the “download” or “no-download” versions of the casino software that you actually play on. About half of all online players prefer not to download—either because they don’t want to take the time to download right now, or because they want to try out the casino before they start committing space on their hard drive to it.

Downloaded software is nice because it tends to have better graphics and run faster. The only problem is that, depending on the age of your computer and the browser you are using, you may occasionally (though only rarely these days) run into a problem with the download. If you use Internet Explorer, you should have no problem and if you do, Customer Support at the online casino can help. With less common browsers, if you run into a problem with the download, again just ask Customer Support for help.

If you’re on a 56K modem dial-up connection, it may take 20 to 30 minutes to download a casino’s software. This download time is much shorter with a DSL or satellite connection—usually only a minute or two. After you download the software, it will either open automatically for you to register and play, or you’ll have to click on the new casino icon on your desktop to finish installing it on your hard drive. This takes just a couple more minutes. In the reputable online casinos we recommend on our site, all of this should be pretty automatic and easy to do. Once it’s installed, the software can take up as much as 40MB on your hard drive. This should only be a problem if your computer is pretty ancient.

After downloading and installing the software, you will see a new icon for the casino on your desktop. Double click on that icon to go directly to the casino. Once the software starts, you may be asked whether you want to play for Real Money or for Play Money. Or, hit “Connect,” and you will be prompted to either log in or register a new account. Different online casinos work slightly differently, but all of them are designed to help you get to the games with little effort.

If you'd rather avoid a download, simply select the "No Download" link from the online casino's Web site, and you will be able to register and play with virtually no effort. To get an idea what playing no-download software is like, try the games on our Play Online Slots Free, Play Table Games Free, or other Play Free pages. You will be playing on real Microgaming no-download casino software!

Exactly How Do You Get the Free Money?

Casino bonuses are literally free money, and can be very valuable to players. Sometimes the bonus offers are for money you can cash out, and sometimes you can’t cash the bonus out, but even then you can gamble with the bonus money and you can cash out the winnings you make on the bonus.

Don't underestimate the value of any bonus—whether cashable or for wagering only. Having a bonus to play on can double, triple or even quadruple your chance to win big.

Just think about it. Suppose you bring $100 to your local casino to play. You have a bad run on a slot machine, and an hour later, the money is gone. There's nothing to do but go home, right?

Now suppose that you are playing at an online casino, where you've been given additional free bonus money to play on. If your $100 dollars is lost during a rough patch, you still have the bonus money to play on. While you are playing on that free bonus money, you may well win! Those are winnings you would never have hit without that bonus money!

Although bonuses are free money, some come with some minor strings attached. Specifically, if you accept some bonuses, you may be required to give an online casino a specified amount of action on their tables or slots in order to cash out your bonus or winnings. This action is called the playthrough or wagering requirement.

Also, sometimes certain games are excluded from play on this wagering requirement. Some online casinos don’t allow roulette, craps or baccarat for bonus play, and some prohibit blackjack, video poker, and occasionally other games. Usually a casino that excludes particular games is trying to encourage new players to sample some of their other games.

But don't worry, slot players. Slots are almost never excluded.

So be careful that you don’t play a prohibited game when you’re playing on a bonus, because sometimes this may void the bonus and your winnings on that play.

How do you find out the requirements for any particular bonus? By reading the casino’s “Terms and Conditions.”

Be sure to look for Promotional or Bonus Terms & Conditions, as well as the casino’s general Terms & Conditions. A lot of the terms are legal gobbledygook like the “fine print” you get when you buy a microwave oven, but do make sure you can live with a casino’s bonus Terms and Conditions before you deposit money or accept any bonus money from an online casino. Call support and ask if you're in doubt.

Remember, when you play at reputable online casinos that give players generous bonuses, you have more of a chance to win, no matter what else you do or don't do. Just take a moment and look, really look, at the valuable bonuses that you'll find offered on our Best Bonuses page. And all you have to do to get this money to play and win on is click on a link and follow the instructions to collect.


Is My Money Safe Online?

This is everyone's biggest question when they first start playing online, and it’s probably yours. You may feel like you’re taking a real chance depositing money with an Internet casino. You think: What if you go back the next day and the whole Web site is gone? Or, what if the Web site is there but your money is gone?

On top of that worry, you may be wondering whether the games are even fair. Does anyone ever win?

Well, let us give you some reassurance. There are online casinos that have been in business for ten years or more now, whose books are audited by major New York accounting firms, and that are multi-million-dollar operations whose reputations for honesty are as good as any of the casinos in Las Vegas or Monte Carlo or Macau.

We have been playing online ourselves for years, and we have been guiding players through online casino gambling for many years too. We have seen players cash out wins of tens of thousands of dollars, as well as scores of wins of lesser amounts.

And there are knowledgeable players, professional gamblers, who are playing a lot online. These players record their results and know from their statistics if any online casino software is cheating.

And indeed, some online casinos have tried to rip players off with dishonest software or by not paying winners or through other unethical practices. That's why, before you deposit your money in any online casino, go look at the casinos in our Dishonest Online Casinos list. We share information with other reputable hosts and webmasters and online players, and there’s a good reason why every casino is there too.

At the online casinos we recommend, however, you can feel safe. Gambling is always a risk, but your fate is in the hands of the cards, not crooks. The online casinos we recommend offer games dealt by honest software and run by honest people.