Choosing an Online Casino

Finding the right online casino is often just a matter of preference - what might be the best one for you may not be the one your next door neighbour would choose.

General Safety

However, anyone signing up to an internet gambling site should always check a few details to ensure that the company is trustworthy. Things to look out for are:

Supported by respected and well established casino portals.
Payouts certified by a major accounting firm.
A good reputation on the major gambling message boards.
Affiliated with a major land based casino.

You will find after making a search that there are many trustworthy casino sites, which you will have to narrow down in order to find the one that offers you exactly what you're looking for.

Games

The majority of casinos will offer a vast array of games. At the very least, they should offer Blackjack, Roulette and Craps, and most will also have online versions of Caribbean Stud, Video Poker and Slots.

Video poker is one of the most popular gambling games, and the best casinos may offer as many as 10-15 different games, some even offering multi-hand video poker.

However, this is an area that is totally dependant on your preferences, after all, there's no point signing up to a casino simply because it offers you the chance of playing some obscure game if all you want to do is play blackjack.

Promotions

Almost all online casinos offer promotions for joining or bonuses for additional spending. Some may give you money right away for signing up, whilst others may require you to make a deposit in order to receive a bonus, which is either a percentage of your deposit, or a fixed amount received for an exact deposit of so-many pounds.

For example, one casino might give you £5 free for downloading, and an additional £20 when you make your first deposit of £200 within three days. Another casino may offer you a bonus of 25% of the amount you deposit up to a certain limit.

For each site on your shortlist, find out the following:

What type of sign up promotion do they offer?
Do they offer bonuses on spending - if so, what is the maximum bonus amount, and how much must be deposited in order to receive it?
What other type of promotion do they offer? Happy hour bonus? Prize draws? Monthly bonuses?