Online casinos are what the name suggests, casinos that will be available to play over the internet. You can play the same games as you would anticipate to find in a bricks and mortar casino.

You can expect to find similar odds that you would find at a land based casino; conversely, some online gaming sites claim better odds with their slot online machines than bricks and mortar counterparts. Some publish their payout percentage audits on their websites, this is something you should check out, if possible, when deciding on an online casino to join when you can chose the one with the highest payout percentage thus increasing your prospects of winning.

Online casinos can be split into three groups according to how the player can play their games. These groups are:

Web-based — Download-based — Live

Web-based Casinos allow the player to play the casino game of their choice directly over the internet, without having to download any of the casinos software to their computer. The casino games are often delivered in Macromedia Flash, Java, or Macromedia Shockwave and will require your web browser to have the relevant plug-in. The plug-ins are free to and easy install in the event that you don’t already have them enabled on your web browser. Most browsers already have the plug-ins installed. Additionally you will need a good 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 on-line casinos software onto their computer in order for them to play the games. The online casino software connects directly to the internet casinos 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 on the web. Obviously the software will take a little while to install itself on your computer and there is always the risk (as with downloading any software) that the online casino software contains malware and potentially infecting your computer.

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

At online casinos you can anticipate to find the exact same games when 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