The online casino industry has taken the gambling world by storm. After growing slowly for several years with online poker and the first slot machine games, the last five years have seen online casinos hit the mainstream and explode. They are now one of the most lucrative sectors in the gambling industry as a whole.
One of the reasons that this growth shows no sign of stopping is that an increasing number of countries are steadily voting in favour of legalising online casinos. More players than ever can now legally access and enjoy online casinos.
Playing at online casinos in Ireland is an increasingly popular hobby. The industry is keeping up with demand and new online casinos are being launched all the time. Not every online casino is worth your time, however, so finding a legitimate site is important.
When you play at a good online casino, you can have a good time, but playing at a great online casino is obviously even better! Below we’ll lay out the top five features that make a great online casino.
Reputation
A name isn’t everything, but it certainly can count for something. In the online casino world, some of the biggest traditional land-based casino brands are represented and have strong reputations. However, it’s also an industry where small independent companies are able to shine.
The best way to verify an online casino’s reputation is to check on one or more casino review sites. Reading food and drink reviews or checking the reviews online before making a purchase has become a completely normal part of most people’s decision-making process. It makes sense then to check the reputation of an online casino before you make an account.
Thankfully, the success of the online casino industry has led to the birth of a thriving review industry as well. The best way to go about finding trustworthy reviews is to read the reviews for a number of different casinos on multiple sites and compare them.
In addition, with how popular online casinos are today, asking your friends and family where they play and if they have any recommendations is a great idea.
Variety of games
An online casino without a good variety of games doesn’t have much going for it. People go to online casinos to play games, so having a great game library is essential. Some online casinos will specialise in certain types of games, so that’s an important factor to consider as well.
The biggest number of casino games are online slot machine games. The leading online casinos will have anywhere from hundreds to even thousands of slot games. Besides checking for titles from quality game studios, it’s also good to check the average return to player rate (RTP) of the casino so that you can avoid playing games that are more frustrating than fun.
Alongside the slot machine games are classic casino table games. The most popular ones are blackjack, poker, roulette and baccarat. For players who really want the full casino experience, the best online casinos offer live versions of all these table games. These games feature a live dealer that is conducting the game in real time.
Some online casinos also offer games that you might not expect to see at a casino, such as bingo and keno. There are also interactive games inspired by top game shows too, which is a fun twist for daytime tv fans.
Payment methods
The best online casinos will offer their users a range of digital payment methods. Credit and debit cards are one of the leading payment methods, though many casinos do not accept more than Visa and Mastercard. Prepaid cards are another leading option. Digital wallets, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, are a convenient alternative to making a physical card payment. Many people prefer to use payment apps because they can compartmentalise their spending more easily that way. The leading payment apps are PayPal, Skrill and Neteller.
Most online casinos will offer more deposit methods than withdrawal methods. Make sure to check that your preferred method is accepted in both cases.
Cryptocurrency is most commonly accepted at crypto casinos. While many crypto casinos are just as good as a regular online casino, some do not offer the same variety of games. In exchange, they do generally offer anonymity and the security of the blockchain. What matters most to you will determine if this is a worthwhile trade-off.
Alongside the types of payment options available, it’s important to consider how long the average processing times are for each of the methods. There are some time constraints that are imposed by the method, but in general online payment methods should be able to be processed in a day.
Bonuses
Welcome bonuses are one of the top selling points for joining an online casino. Welcome bonuses are a way for an online casino to make itself stand out from the crowd and to attract new customers. The best online casinos will also offer loyalty programs as a bonus for returning customers.
There are a number of different bonuses that make up casino welcome bonuses. Free spins are one of the most common. Online casinos will offer free spins on top slot games so new players can give the games a try without any risk. Another popular bonus is deposit matching. This means that the first deposit a new player makes is matched by the online casino in credit. No deposit bonuses involve the online casino giving players credit to play with before they’ve even made a deposit. In some cases, a welcome bonus will be spread out across the first three deposits a player makes.
One thing to consider when evaluating online casino bonuses is the wagering requirement. The wagering requirement is how much a player must wager before any winnings from the bonus can be withdrawn. The best online casinos will have wagering requirements that are possible to meet. Others may set them so high with such a short time frame that players basically can’t collect any winnings. Checking the wagering requirements is a good way to make sure that a bonus that sounds too good to be true really is reasonable.
Customer support
You always hope that everything will go smoothly but you can’t totally ignore the possibility for things to go wrong. With online casinos, there are plenty of places where things can go wrong — even when the casino is completely legitimate. From bugs in games and glitches that prevent winnings being paid out to delays in deposits or withdrawals being processed, there are many times when you could need the help of customer support.
The leading online casinos have great customer support teams that can resolve issues in a timely and fair manner. They also make it easy to reach their customer support team. The leading methods include a dedicated phone line, email or a live chat feature. The best online casinos will offer more than one option.
The best way to find out if there are any issues with an online casino’s customer support before you create an account is to read reviews online.
