Online casinos

What are they?

The term online casinos refers to websites providing gambling services to players over the net in much the same way that physical casinos do. These websites offer the players the unique opportunity to gamble i.e. play and wager on various casino games in the comfort of their homes without having to take the long and often dangerous trips to traditional brick casinos.

How do they work?

Online casinos offer basically the same services offered in real physical casinos only that they do charge higher fees. Casinos may offer live gaming to their players. In this case, real dealers are usually situated in gaming studios taking wagers and bets from the players. This is usually aimed at creating the real atmosphere in a traditional physical casino. Winnings, wagers and even bonuses are submitted through the net through various means thus no real money ever changes hands. Online casinos can be divided into basically two types depending on the interface that they use i.e. web-based/ no download and download-only casinos. However, casinos may offer both depending on their capabilities.

No download-based vs download-based online casinos.

Web-based casinos also known as no download casinos have no downloadable software and as a consequence require plug-ins, browser and bandwidth support in order to play. The use of plug-ins such as flash and macromedia players is an essential tool in loading of graphics, sounds and animations. On the other hand, download-based casinos provide for downloadability of the casino software. This software connects directly with the casino without the aid of a browser or other plug-ins thus ensuring that the wagering process is generally faster than that in no-download casinos.

Problems encountered in online casinos.

One of the major problems encountered by online casinos is that of bonus abusers. These are individuals that join casinos with the sole aim of getting bonuses and then taking off or even continuously win using the bonuses given to them. A large number of players winning using the bonuses is not good for business as no input comes from the players. This may eventually lead to online casinos closing shop due to huge losses incurred. Secondly, there may be trust and reliability issues with the softwares and programs in use by the online casinos. The susceptibility of these client softwares to manipulation by either the players or the casinos prevents many from participating in online gambling. Thirdly, dealers and casino owners may refuse to remit winnings to the players or even have in place cheating softwares that usually restrict payouts to the players.

Ways to combat the problems

Due to the problem of bonus abusers, the casinos may offer chips instead of real cash balances. Also, the bonuses may be in form of “non- cashable bonuses”. These bonuses are reverted back to the house when the player cashes in his/her winnings. The ware client from well acquisition of software client from well reknown companies helps greatly with the reliability and trust issues within the sector. On their part, dealers are usually monitored by the relevant authorities continuously to prevent underhand and unscrupulous tactics that they may employ in defrauding the players.