The Best Online Casinos 2020
Oct 27, 2019 Red Flush Casino offers 700+ online casino games and has been in business since 2008. They have online slots and table games including blackjack, poker, baccarat, and craps. They have online slots and table games including blackjack, poker, baccarat, and craps. Best Poker Sites. Our mission is to show you the most legitimate poker websites to play at. Additionally, we’ll guide you through different deposit and withdrawal methods (yes, we also tackle Bitcoin), as well as rate subscription poker training websites. In a nutshell, we want to guide you through the world of online poker safely.
On this page you will find:
About Online Casinos
It’s easy to get lost in the sea of options in the online casino world. The landscape is constantly changing, with sites opening and closing, making it difficult for even the most experienced gambler to stay on top of things. Our goal is to sort through all the clutter to find you the best games, the best customer service, and the best offers so that you get the most out of your casino experience. This website is an excellent source of information on whatever you are searching for in the online gambling industry. Every time you come to LegitCasinosOnline.com, you will find additional detailed information about new games, new casino software, big jackpot winners and, as always, we will bring you our rankings of the best online gambling sites on the internet.Our website uses a full array of information to compile a list of recommendations for our players. Each online casino we review gets a page dedicated to them where we give you all the information used to come up with our ratings. We are always updating the reviews when there is new information that may have an impact on their score.Real Money Casino Games
Finding the most legit online casinos is the first step, but what about making sure you are playing your best at the tables? You may know basic blackjack strategy, but what about the advanced techniques you have heard about? LegitCasinosOnline.com has enlisted experts in all the games you will find online in order to prepare you to place your bets with as much insight as those who play for a living.When it comes to gambling on the internet, you have multiple options. Most of our readers are here because they’re interested in playing real money casino games. That’s when you deposit your actual funds from the bank, a credit card, or other cryptocurrencies, e-wallet, or payment processor into an account at your favorite legit online casino website.
That cash can then be used to fund a wide range of exciting real money wagers, from classic card games to slot machines with hundreds of lines in play on every spin! You have all the variety in the world available at your fingertips, without even having to leave the house.
The games are played for real stakes, just like you would in a standard brick-and-mortar Las Vegas casino. And while that means that you can win real money, which can then be withdrawn and spent in real life, you could potentially lose real money too. There’s a risk versus reward factor that you must consider.
Whether you are looking to understand the rules of baccarat, the perfect Jacks or Better video poker strategy, or you want to learn about some games you see in the lobby that you have never tried before, our team of experts has you covered. You will find all the detailed information you need on every type of game available, all designed to give you the tools to be a successful player.Social Gaming vs. Real Money Gambling
Most legit online casinos will also let users try their games without real money on the line. This is often called “social gaming.” While it’s not nearly as exciting to play for no stakes, it’s a great way to get acquainted with a new game and learn the rules.
Social gaming is particularly useful when you’re learning the optimal strategy for a video poker variation or a card game like blackjack. Then, once you’re comfortable and know how to maximize your odds of winning, you can get back to playing for real money.
Play responsibly
Anytime you’re playing real money casino games online; it’s crucial that you gamble responsibly. If you’re not disciplined – or you just forget to pay attention – it’s possible to get caught up in the excitement of playing for real money and to start accidentally making bad decisions. But don’t worry, we’ll cover some essential tips to staying safe and avoiding problem gambling behaviors in a later section, further down this page.
Online Casino Sites by Region
Online gambling laws and regulations are unique to each individual country and jurisdiction. Since we’re introducing you to legit online casinos, you want to find an operator that services your region. That way, you can be comfortable that their licensed and regulated and that you aren’t breaking any laws to play.
Online Casinos in the USA
Free Online Casino Games
Online gambling laws in the United States can be a bit confusing, with 50 individual states acting as 50 unique jurisdictions. That said, gaming is gradually becoming more accepted across the country – 43 states now have some form of legal casino gaming. Additionally, US citizens may utilize offshore online casinos without breaking any federal laws.
Online Casinos in the UK
Gambling in the United Kingdom is both heavily regulated and widely available – both online and at land-based gaming establishments. Many of the most reputable legit online casinos in the world are headquartered in the UK, where gambling has been legal since 1961 – giving the industry time to grow and evolve over the decades.
Online Casinos in Canada
Canadians have lots of options when it comes to legit online casinos. Not only do the majority of international operators accept players from the country, but there are numerous websites serving citizens of Canada exclusively as well. Similar to the US, each of the country’s ten provinces and three territories has full autonomy over gambling laws, which is why some domains are only available in specific regions.
Online Casinos in Australia
Online casinos are immensely popular in Australia, and the laws are very player-friendly. You cannot be punished for accessing and gambling on offshore websites, so as long as you have a reliable provider – like the legit online casinos shared here – you’re good. The country also allows some operators to host their domains within Australia, but they may only offer their services to players beyond the nation’s borders.
Online Casinos in New Zealand
Players inNew Zealand may gamble online, freely, as long as the government fully regulates the website, or if the domain is hosted offshore. Since the most prominent gambling sites will be located overseas, it’s crucial to find a legit online casino that you can trust. Fortunately, we’ve discovered a selection of top-notch recommendations from which you may choose.
The online casino space is a crowded one, and it is made more complicated by trying to determine which casinos are best for your location. The process of finding a site that best suits your local needs can be very frustrating. Our casino breakdown by region will help you by focusing on the following aspects of each casino’s operations:Currencies
Most casinos are limited in the currency in which you see your balances in your account or at the tables. The most common of these are U.S. Dollars, British Pounds or Euros. In these cases, you are most likely having to convert your currency to the site’s default at the point of deposit, and this means using an exchange rate that the site manages. While this is usually pretty close to the actual rate, you may want to have a quick look to confirm how much you are losing in the conversion.There are plenty of sites that give you the options of both depositing and playing in your local currency. Our reviews include a comprehensive list of currencies each operator offers at the tables.Customer Service
We are hoping that you won’t need to reach out to a site too often, but if you do encounter a question or issue you can’t resolve yourself, being able to communicate with someone from the site becomes crucial. Along the lines of currencies, many of the casinos only offer customer service in one language. Check the review pages to see if a casino offers multiple languages, and you can simplify the client service process before it is ever needed.Legal Restrictions
The online casino regulatory climate is always changing, and the casino experts at this website are continually watching the news for updates on which countries are allowing or blocking online casino play. This is a moving target, so it helps to keep checking our news section for any major announcements. In the following pages we have broken down the best online gambling sites you can find based on your region:Finding The Right Casino
Ever since casinos started taking real money wagers online, there has been pressure to keep up with the changing technology. The best providers have worked to make sure that no matter what new device has been introduced, players can experience the best quality gaming experience.All of the providers shared on this website offer legit online casinos that are safe, reliable, and fair – but they’re not all the same. Once you get past the basic qualities required of an operator to pass our review process, finding the right internet-based gambling site for your individual needs is largely a matter of preference. In this section, we highlight a number of factors you may want to consider when choosing an online casino.
Big Name Casino or New Casino Operator
When you’re looking for an online casino, would you prefer to open an account with one of the big names in the industry or a new website? With the established operators, you know what to expect and have the benefit of reading years’ worth of reviews and experiences of other customers. A new casino operator won’t have the same track record or reputation, but they’ll often offer more lucrative deals and more favorable odds to attract players to their site.
Download VS Instant Play
Mobile Casinos or PC casinos
These days, the vast majority of legit online casinos are accessible from a wide variety of devices. However, there are still some that specialize in either the mobile gaming experience or the more traditional PC or laptop formats. Finding an online gambling site that suits your needs will depend on your playing habits. Are you planning on playing casino games when you’re out and about, or strictly when you’re on the computer?
Licensed or Unlicensed
Depending on your local gambling laws, you may have access to licensed or unlicensed online casinos – or both! In jurisdictions with gaming regulations, you’ll find licensed operations while offshore sites are typically unlicensed. However, there are many licensing jurisdictions that do a poor job of overseeing the industry and plenty of unlicensed offshore domains that offer the highest quality online casinos. It really comes down to each individual website itself, which is why our review process is so vital.
Welcome Bonus or No Bonus
Would the presence or absence of a welcome bonus be a deciding factor for you in choosing a legit online casino? Some gambling websites offer extremely generous bonuses that allow you to significantly grow your bankroll before ever making a bet. Others forego entry-level gifts but enroll users in better loyalty rewards programs. Do you want your bonus upfront, or can you wait for a potentially greater prize down the road?
Trustworthiness
No matter what delivery method you use for your online casino experience, knowing that you can trust the site that holds your deposit is critical to the overall enjoyment of playing your favorite games. This industry, like many others, has seen its share of scams, but when the faces of the owners are never seen, it is easy to see why players can have increased levels of anxiety.The team at LegitCasinosOnline.com is continuously monitoring online casino forums and scam websites to get the most recent complaints against casino operations. Casinos can be put on our blacklist if it is determined that there is some shady behavior taking place. Whether it is a game that doesn’t seem to be playing to its random number generator specifications or a slow paying operator, our goal is to protect our readers and to help the industry police itself in jurisdictions where there is no regulatory body.Mobile Casinos
Over the last 10 years, it is the mobile gaming space that has seen the most change. These days, almost everyone has a mobile device that is capable of playing games, and casino games are no different. Online casino software suppliers have been adding mobile-friendly titles at a rapid rate to give players as many options as possible to enjoy their sites on their phones and tablets.If you are planning to play casino games for real money on a mobile device, you are most likely going to be playing a browser-based platform. Depending on the jurisdiction of where you are located, you may find a casino that has an Android or iOS app available for download and play, which will give you excellent playing experience. Due to the restrictions of screen size and bandwidth speeds, you probably won’t see all the games a casino has to offer on their mobile platform.LegitCasinosOnline.com does extensive reviews of mobile-friendly casino sites and will give you all the details you need no matter if you are on a phone or tablet as well as what operating systems they support.Online casinos revolutionized gambling by bringing all of the best games and activities into the comfort of a players’ home. Mobile casinos have taken convenience to the next level by allowing you to gamble from anywhere.
As long as you have a smartphone or tablet and an internet connection, you have access to a broader range of table games, video poker, and slot machines than Vegas could ever hope to squeeze onto one of their casino floors – all at your fingertips!
The best mobile casinos are usually designed to work on a specific device or operating system, and come in the form of a downloadable app.
iPhone Mobile Casinos
iPhones initially burst onto the scene in 2007, changing the cellular phone industry forever. Apple has maintained its position at the forefront of the smartphone marketplace ever since.iPhone mobile casinos come in the form of downloadable apps and are designed specifically for Apple’s iOS mobile operating system. In almost all cases, you may download the online casino app for free.
Android Mobile Casinos
The Android operating system was designed by Google and is Apple’s primary competitor in the mobile device market. While Apple devices and software are proprietary, you will find the Android operating system powering phones and tablets for a range of companies, including Samsung, Motorola, and Nexus. Android mobile casinos can be downloaded in the form of an application – most of which are found in the Google Play store.
Windows Mobile Casinos
Windows mobile devices aren’t as popular as Apple and Android phones and tablets, but they present a unique advantage for gamblers. Unlike the others, Windows smartphones are HTML5 compatible, allowing you to access and operate your favorite online casino in the device’s internet browser, just as you would a traditional computer. You won’t need a dedicated mobile casino app.
World’s Best Casino software providers
Most gaming websites don’t create their own internet casino games. Instead, they lease the gambling software from a handful of major international corporations. That’s why you’ll often encounter the same slot themes and video poker variations across different sites. You’re likely to find the following software companies powering your favorite legit online casinos.
Playtech
Playtech was founded in 1999 and has since earned a reputation for designing visually pleasing games with high-quality graphics and features. They’re also innovators in the live-dealer marketplace, in which their software allows you to be dealt real cards by a real-life dealer remotely, via streaming.
Microgaming
Microgaming is credited with inventing the first true online casino software when the company was established in 1994. Websites that use Microgaming often offer a massive selection of hundreds of games, which are typically provided in Flash or HTML5 – making them compatible with a variety of platforms.
Realtime Gaming
Realtime Gaming was founded in 1998 in Atlanta, Georgia. RTG has an excellent reputation for offering high-quality software. You’ll particularly enjoy their traditional table games, which the company has coded to mirror the real-life probabilities you’ll find in any land-based casino.
IGT
IGT has been a leader in the gambling software industry before internet casinos ever existed. Founded as International Game Technology in 1990, this multinational corporation provides the software for slot and video poker terminals in brick-and-mortar casinos as well as offering their services in the online space.
Aristocrat
Aristocrat is an Australian software company known for its wide range of slot themes. Some of their more popular titles are Queen of the Nile and Where’s the Gold. You’ll find Aristocrat software online and in physical gambling establishments alike in over 200 jurisdictions around the world.
CryptoLogic
CryptoLogic was founded in 1996 and is known for its many games using licensed characters and themes from popular TV shows, movies, and pop culture. They tend to offer online casinos a larger selection of games, while the software itself is relatively simple in appearance.
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Most Popular Online Casino Games
Imagine, if you will, that you could magically transport yourself to all the different casinos on the Las Vegas Strip without having to walk through the hoards of tourists, attractions and all that Vegas traffic. Now imagine that, in an instant, you could be transported to Monte Carlo, black tie and all. Well, in the world of online casinos, you can do just that! From the comfort of your own home, you can visit casinos of all sizes and styles until you find the one that best suits your desires.Another luxury that online casinos have in their favor is that they are not limited by real estate size. As a result, there is really no limit to the number of games that an online casino can offer you, and they take advantage of that opportunity. Your online casino experience can be as limited or as vast as you want it to be, but we want to make sure that, in either case, you are aware of what to expect. Our online casino games guide has something for everyone from the novice to the expert gambler.Blackjack
Blackjack – or Twenty-One – is a classic casino table game in which the players compete against the dealer. The object of the game is to make a better hand than the dealer, getting as close to 21 points as possible without going over. If you’re dealt 21, that’s blackjack. Going over 21 is a “bust,” which means that hand is lost (for either the player or dealer who draws too many cards).
Slot Machines
Slot machines are games of chance. The player either pulls a lever or pushes a button to activate the reels (usually either 3 or 5), which begin to spin. The wheels are covered in an assortment of symbols. If a winning combination of symbols lands on one of your pay lines – with slots ranging anywhere between 1 and 200+ lines – you receive the associated payout. The outcomes are determined by random number generators, making slots a form of gambling that takes no skill or prior knowledge to play.
Video Poker
There are many varieties of video poker rulesets, but they’re all built around the five-card draw. The player is dealt five cards – the object is to create the best poker hand possible. After the first five are dealt, you choose which cards to hold, and the rest are discarded. New cards are then dealt in their place.
Depending on the rules, the various hands are assigned different values. In some versions, there are “wild” cards and jokers, while others use a standard 52-card deck. A Royal Flush is typically the best hand one can receive and acts as a kind of jackpot for most versions of video poker.
Craps
Craps is a dice game in which the players bet on the outcomes of rolls of a pair of dice. There are multitudes of different types of bets – some of which only last for one roll, while others stay in play over the course of multiple rolls.
Once a point is established — meaning the come-out roll isn’t a 7 or 11 (bet wins) or a 2,3, or 12 (bet lost, called “crapping out”), the shooter keeps rolling until a 7 is thrown, at which point the bets are cleared from the table, and the game starts over with a new person rolling.
Legit online casinos are an ideal place to learn how to play craps, as it can be an intimidating game to learn on the spot in person.
Baccarat
Baccarat is a casino table game played with cards. Depending on the bet, it can offer some of the lowest house edges in the casino. It’s a game based around comparing two different hands, one for the “player,” and the other for the “dealer.” You may also wager on a “tie,” which pays out 8 to 1.
Roulette
The name “Roulette” means “little wheel” in French. As the name suggests, this casino game is decided by spinning the wheel in one direction and spinning a small ball in the opposite direction. Players bet on in which of the 37 or 38 (depending on the version of roulette) numbered and colored pockets the ball will land.
A player may wager on a single number, the color (red or black), odds or evens, or whether the number will be high (19-36) or low (1 –18). There will also be either one or two green areas numbered “0” and “00.” Roulette has one of the lowest house edges in the casino, especially if there’s only one green pocket.
If you are wondering about the history of one of the casino games you find online or the games with the best odds, our online casino games guide has all the information you need. Once you are done with our guide, you’ll feel like an expert in the field as you sit down to hit either the tables or one of the thousands of different slots titles at your fingertips.Online Casino Payments Methods – Managing Your Money
The most critical piece of your online casino experience has to be banking. You want to make a deposit quickly, and when you win, you want to get paid accurately and without hassle. Over the years, financial options in several regions have become more complicated, and new payment providers are coming online all the time. Here’s an overview of the most popular options:If you’re going to bet real money at a legit online casino, you’ll first need to fund a gambling account at the site of your choice. Depending on the regulations in your region, your options may be limited.
For example, in the United States, federal law prohibits banking institutions from completing transactions between account holders and known gambling operators.
So, if you’re using an offshore provider while in the US, using a debit card or e-check to fund your account won’t be possible. Instead, you’ll need to use a credit card or transfer your cash into an e-wallet/convert it into a cryptocurrency before depositing it into your casino account.
Debit Card
A debit card transaction is the most straightforward way to move money directly from your checking account into your online casino account. However, utilizing this method requires you to share your card number over the internet, and if you’re scammed, you lose real money without the security provided by credit card companies. Cashing out is more convenient, however, as your winnings drop directly into your bank account. These transactions typically take between 2 and 5 days to complete.eCheck
Credit Cards
e-Wallets
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies
Online Casino Bonuses
Casino bonuses have been a staple of online casino marketing since their inception. However, navigating through the thousands of different offers out there can be confusing, even to the seasoned player. It seems like around every corner, there is a new, bigger bonus trying to attract you. Without reading through all the fine print, how do you know that you are getting a good deal? Check our bonus table and make your pick.One of the most significant advantages of gambling at legit online casinos over their brick-and-mortar counterparts is the sizable bonuses offered on the web. Since casino sites don’t have the astronomical operating expenses and overhead of a land-based establishment, they can afford to give generously to new customers. Bonuses are traditionally dispensed in a few different ways.
Sign up Bonuses
Many online casinos will offer a sign-up bonus to new members. All it takes to retrieve this prize is to open an account. Usually, the player will either receive some free-play credits or a small sum of money to help them get started.
Deposit Bonuses
Deposit bonuses are another entry-level gift reserved for new users of a gambling site. Depending on the legit online casino, these bonuses tend to vary. Some websites offer a set amount of cash, while many more agree to match a percentage of your first deposit – up to some maximum value. It’s not uncommon for an online casino to match 100% of that initial transaction, helping players to double the size of their bankroll before ever making a single bet.
Loyalty Rewards Programs
Loyalty rewards programs are a tool used by legit online casinos to keep players happy and feeling appreciated. Every gambling activity performed with your account is assigned a point value. Over time your rewards credits accumulate. Most online casinos have a store or exchange on their website where you can trade these points for all sorts of prizes, including (but not limited to): cashback on some of your losses, gift cards, clothing, vacation packages, and entry into more lucrative prize raffles and contests.
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Online Gambling Sites
No Deposit Bonuses
Many casinos will give you a chance to play their games and win real money just for creating an account. Account information is critical to the marketing departments of these operations, so make sure to take advantage of the best No Deposit bonuses out there.These bonuses usually come in the form of free spins of slot machines or in a tiny amount of cash to use at table games. The only downside to these bonuses is giving the site your contact information and then receiving their marketing emails, but we actually love to see all the offers a casino has for us, delivered conveniently to our inbox!Welcome Bonuses
The welcome bonus that a casino offers is a great place to find good value for your initial deposit. This is the casino’s first chance to connect with you and make you a real-money player, so you will see most of their largest offers reserved for welcoming players to the site.These bonuses are frequently a percentage of your deposit delivered to you as bonus cash, which then must be wagered a minimum number of times before you can convert those bonus dollars into actual cash. Some sites load up the bonus on the first deposit, while others spread the welcome bonus over a series of deposits or days.Rebate Programs
I think we are all aware that not everyone wins at a casino, right? Well, casinos want to make sure that their losing players have a reason to hang around, and many turn to rebate programs. The most common form of a casino rebate program is a cashback promotion.Cashback guarantees a portion of your losses back to after a certain amount of gameplay. These programs can either be site-wide or restricted to certain games, and are usually used as time-sensitive promotions to motivate players to play in a certain timeframe.Legitimate Online Casino Games For Prizes For Adults
VIP Programs
Creating loyalty is a top priority of all online casinos, and the easiest way to do that is to enhance the experience of players who play more often. All reputable casinos have some form of VIP program that usually classifies players based on their activity on the site. In general, the more you play, the more advanced your VIP status level becomes.VIPs are rewarded based on their status and can receive extra chips, faster bonus clearing rates, and other perks as a result. There are all kinds of VIP programs available to players; we have researched everything out there so you don’t have to!LegitCasinosOnline.com wants to help you pick the bonus that best suits your style of play. So make sure you get the maximum value for your deposit, and that starts with an understanding of how they work. We’ll walk you through all the different types of bonuses and what to look for in order to take advantage of the best offers out there. Below is a list of some of the most trustworthy casinos we have come across, that are also way ahead of the game with their bonuses.Blacklisted Online Casino Sites
An unfortunate reality of the online casino industry is that there are a lot of fraudulent operators out there. The internet makes it easy for scammers to set up a website, – it may even run like a legitimate gambling site at first – collect money from unsuspecting users, and then disappear overnight.
Others don’t even bother disappearing. They just stop responding once you’re looking to cash out – or they have unbelievably slow payout timelines, forcing you to chase them down for weeks or months before ever getting any of your winnings. There are all kinds of unethical behaviors out there.
This site was created so that we may ensure our readers never have to experience such a thing. That’s why we blacklist online casinos that either fail our review process or have a history/reputation of poor customer service. These are a few of the reasons a website might be blacklisted.
Slow Payout Timelines
Sometimes moving money over the internet can be a challenge. Depending on the amount and the payment method used, it’s understandable if every transaction doesn’t get completed immediately.
Our problem is with providers who have shown a pattern of delaying or failing to respond to withdrawal requests. When an online casino starts taking longer than the average payout timelines on a consistent basis, that usually means trouble.
Either they don’t have the cash on hand to run a healthy business, or they’re purposely moving slowly in hopes that their users will get impatient and gamble away the money rather than waiting for it to be delivered.
Canceled Winnings
Legitimate Online Casino Sites
Another unfortunate reality of some online casinos is that they’re anti-winning. Sure, everything is fine when you’re depositing money and losing it – then, when you finally get some good luck on your side, their demeanor changes. There have been examples of websites accusing players of cheating or saying their earnings were the result of a malfunction or error and using that as a rationale to cancel out their winnings.
Poor Safety and Security
In some cases, an online casino will be blacklisted for not providing adequate website safety and security. Maybe their financial transactions aren’t encrypted properly, or their backend data is vulnerable in some way. We’re only recommending top-notch professional online casinos here; the rest get blacklisted.
Unfair Odds
The house already has an advantage in every casino game. Still, that’s not enough for some operators. They’ll set ridiculous payout percentages or change the odds of classic table games so that they no longer represent the expected real-life probabilities. It’s not fun to gamble if it’s impossible to win. Again, it’s already hard enough with the math working against you in the normal way; there’s no reason to tilt the odds even further in the house’s direction.
Responsible Gambling
We can’t fully discuss gambling at online casinos without addressing the potential risks. If done in an irresponsible, out of control way, gaming can have a dramatically negative effect on your life. It’s vital that you approach playing on the internet with caution and that you keep your finances organized, with safeguards in place to prevent problem gambling behaviors.
Bankroll Management
One of the most fundamental concepts every gambler should learn is bankroll management. Before you make your first bet, you need to examine your financial situation. Calculate how much money you have to dedicate to this form of entertainment and make sure it’s an amount that you could lose entirely without any disruption to your day-to-day life.
When you’ve found that number, figure out how long it needs to last. Write it down and refuse to deposit more cash until the time has expired. If you run out of money in your account earlier than expected, that’s too bad. By just following those simple steps, you can save yourself tons of stress and anxiety.
Don’t Chase Losses
Along this same theme of staying composed and disciplined with your gambling finances, you also want to be aware of never chasing your losses. Unfortunately, we gamblers occasionally hit a cold streak of terrible luck. That’s just how the math works out sometimes.
When this happens, players will frequently start to think they’re “due” for a big win. The rationale being that if they’ve been unusually unlucky for a stretch that the probabilities will balance out with a similar streak of good luck. That’s called “the gambler’s fallacy.”
The truth is, each game of chance is entirely independent of every other result. If you flip a coin 25 times and it lands on heads every time, that 26th toss is no more likely to land on tails than if your results had followed a more predictable 50/50 distribution. Every coin flip has the same 50% chance of landing on either side.
Along that same thought process, there’s no reason for a cold streak to make you believe you’re due for a win. Don’t make the mistake that so many gamblers do, which is to start making increasingly larger bets in an effort to make up their losses. More often than not, they just dig a much deeper hole for themselves.
Problem Gambling Support
If you’re feeling a compulsion to gamble or are having a hard time playing responsibly and within your financial means, don’t hesitate to reach out for help. There are numerous support groups and systems around the world happy to help. The sooner you make that first step to addressing any problem gambling habits you may have, the easier it will be to deal with.
FAQ – Your Online Casino Questions Answered
Welcome to the World of Online Poker.
The online poker boom has cooled off after being affected by the UIGEA and Black Friday, but even if the growth rate of ”America’s favorite pastime” has slowed down, there are still hundreds of thousands of people playing poker online every day.
Our mission is to show you the most legitimate poker websites to play at. Additionally, we’ll guide you through different deposit and withdrawal methods (yes, we also tackle Bitcoin), as well as rate subscription poker training websites.
In a nutshell, we want to guide you through the world of online poker safely. Most informational sites have other intentions; for example, you’ll find plenty of websites giving the sites the review 10/10 ratings, which basically means perfect. If a website ranks several poker rooms with a perfect ten, you have a good reason not to trust that website’s recommendations.
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Basics of Online Poker
Hundreds of sites operate within the online poker industry, but what you may not know is that many of them share networks with each other, thus creating bigger player pools, which in turn create more games and higher prize pools.
”Player liquidity” is an important puzzle to solve for internet poker websites since you always need more than one person to get a game running, and lots of players if you want lots of games running. Unlike games like blackjack, slot machines and video poker, which are played against the house, poker relies on a high volume of participants to keep things going.
Player liquidity is exactly why it’s difficult to succeed by starting an online poker site today. Giant companies like PokerStars and Party Poker have already established themselves within the internet poker market and are attracting huge amounts of players – all the other issues aside, how is a start-up poker room going to convince people to sign-up when you can go to one of the giants and find plenty of games running 24/7 and participate in tournaments with prize pools worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars?
Even if a start-up operation was able to attract thousands of real-money customers to their site – which is a major feat by itself – they would only have simultaneous customers online in the tens or (at most) low hundreds at peak hours (such is the nature of the business); PokerStars, on the other hand, has around 19,000 simultaneous cash-game players online on average, and the figure goes way up during peak hours. Again, why would you play at one of the start-up sites? Player traffic, which leads to more games (by both quantity and variety) and bigger prizes, is a big customer benefit.
How PokerStars Became #1
Online Casino Games Free Play
Being extremely successful usually comes down to two things: doing the right things and having the right dosage of luck. For PokerStars, it so happened that Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker main event – along with its $x prize – after qualifying for the tournament through a $22 satellite tournament at PokerStars.
The moment Moneymaker won the WSOP is often considered the start of the online poker boom, and the numbers certainly indicate that being true: estimated online poker revenue grew from $365 million in 2003 to $2.4 billion in 2006.
The result? PokerStars was mentioned in almost every article about Moneymaker’s unbelievable winning effort. Moneymaker also won PokerStars-branded clothing automatically because he qualified through one of their satellite tournaments – which would be shown on television to millions of people – so it was great press for PokerStars in many ways.
The second big, future-defining moment for PokerStars came in 2006 when President George W. Bush made the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act a law. Plenty of internet poker rooms either folded or simply prohibited U.S. customers, including the biggest poker room at the time, Party Poker.
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PokerStars, however, did no such thing. They were the second most popular online poker room in the world, and after Party Poker exited the U.S. market, PokerStars became #1. They took the U.S. market by storm with plenty of marketing and great promotions, not to mention high-quality software.
Without the UIGEA, who knows what would have happened? Party Poker was comfortably in the lead player traffic-wise, and it’s difficult to overtake a dominant leader in the online poker industry. In fact, ever since Party Poker left the U.S. online poker market, PokerStars has been the dominant leader and the rest of the sites are far away. The point being: player liquidity matters perhaps more than any factor. (The people at Party Poker were no strangers to marketing either, sponsoring events like the World Poker Tour and organizing the infamous Party Poker Million cruise.)
We’ve come a long way since the ’90s when you could still request a CD-ROM to be delivered home in order to install gambling software. Well, not that long, since fundamentally online poker software is still the same, although more secure, user-friendly and capable than before. The biggest change during the past few years has been mobile; more and more gambling sites have to make the adjustment to mobile games as screen sizes get bigger and mobile phones more efficient. The change has been more drastic in the sports betting and casino markets, but online poker is making its way to mobile as well.
Our site is called Legit Gambling Sites and the name does a fine job at explaining our main purpose, which is to showcase all the legitimate online gambling operations so that you could safely gamble on the internet. We’ve been victims of online gambling fraud, so believe me: there are plenty of real-money poker websites looking to take your money and disappear with it.
As highlighted on the home page, Lock Poker is a current (2015) example of a scam operation. According to estimates, it has scammed its customers for at least $15 million, and the real figure may be significantly larger than that. To make matters worse, its customers have virtually no way of receiving any compensation since there’s nobody who can force the owners to do anything about it. (The site was licensed in the jurisdiction of Curacao, which, by the way, took a long time to freeze Lock Poker’s license even though player withdrawal times were delayed for several months.)
Promotions
Poker is different from other casino games in one significant way: it’s played against other players, so the house takes its (small) cut out of each pot instead of trying to win your money. While casinos prefer that you lose your money (they want you to be entertained and come back but eventually lose), poker sites would rather see you keep on playing as long as possible, since they make money based on how many hands you play, not how much your lose or win.
Therefore online poker promotions are different from casino and betting promotions: while neither wants to give you free money, poker sites want to see you play, so clearing their bonus offers is often realistic (although success rate depends on your skills and how you match against your opponents). Casinos, on the other hand, would love to see you deposit and lose; the deposit bonus offer may look attractive, but is all but impossible to clear all too often (there are exceptions, which we highlight in the casino site section).
Bottom-line: you won’t be able to clear poker or casino bonuses if you lose your money, but whether you lose at poker depends on your skills, while skill only plays a minor factor at casino games (unless you play blackjack).
So how does a poker deposit bonus work? It’s all about rake. The more you play, the closer you get to clearing the bonus. If you play well (in other words, clearly better than your opponents), you’ll find it easy to clear a deposit bonus; if you’re a losing player, however, it will be difficult to clear one.
Most poker bonus offers require you to collect a certain amount of player points in exchange for a certain amount of bonus money. The maximum amount of bonus money you’re allowed to clear depends on the size of your deposit and the maximum deposit limit that qualifies for the bonus.
You accumulate player points based on how much rake you pay (for example, you might accumulate one player point for every $1 paid in rake). The term ”player point,” however, makes it sound less like you’re asked to contribute a certain amount of money in order to receive the bonus. However, anyone can do the math since bonus terms and such are easy to find on just about any online poker room’s website.
Bigger internet poker rooms like PokerStars also have VIP programs which make it possible to exchange player points into tournament tickets, merchandise and even money.