There are plenty of questions people new to gambling ask about the online casinos, but one of the most popular must be about how to deposit, or fund, your casino account. Gambling at the local casino is easy – you just take your cash and feed the slot machines directly with it, or exchange it for casino chips at the tables. Needless to say, buying chips at the internet casinos is a bit different, since they are the only place where cash is not the king.

How you can deposit at the online casinos will vary depending on your country, since some payment methods are either country-specific, or unavailable to all players. But there are some general types of methods to fund your player’s account and here we will take a look at those basic ways you can deposit money at the online casinos.

Credit Cards / Debit Cards – the most convenient way for the players to fund their casino accounts. You use them in the same fashion as you would at any other website. Just enter your credit card information at the cashier section, choose the amount and the transaction is processed instantly with the money available for play at the casino right away. Depending on the casino, there may be a fee associated with depositing money using credit card, but most of them would charge you nothing. You can click on the link above to learn more or to find casinos taking credit card deposits.

E-wallets – if you don’t have a credit card or simply don’t want to use it at the casino, the e-wallets are a great way to deposit money at the casinos and even get some extra bonuses. Popular e-wallets include big names such as Skrill and Neteller, but those are not available to all countries. Players from the USA are not allowed to open accounts with those gambling ewallets, due to financial regulations, but other casino-specific ones are available to the US player, just check with your preferred casino for more information. The e-wallets may appear a bit intimidating and complex at first, but nothing can be further from the truth. You can view them simply as a prepaid card – you open an account with the ewallet of choice, deposit money using either credit card or bank transfer, and use the money in turn to either deposit funds to your casino account or shop online. Some ewallets will issue a debit card, which can also be used to withdraw money from ATMs or shop offline.

Bank Transfer or Cheque

You can always simply transfer money to the casino or send them a check. Clearly, those methods for depositing money at the online casino are among the slowest – it takes a few days for a transfer to be received and the cheque will have to travel by mail and then be on hold for up to 3 days until it clears. This type of deposits are only recommended for very large amounts of money.

Vouchers and Prepaid Cards – another alternative exists for funding your casino account – the vouchers and prepaid cards. You can buy them offline using cash and then enter the information at the casino banking section and the money will be instantly available to you. Perfect for people who don’t have credit cards or bank accounts, or those who are extra cautious with their financial information online.

While playing at the online casinos seems to be an easy process for most, beginners to gambling on the Internet may find the initial process a bit daunting. That’s why here we will talk about the process of how to play online casino, with step by step guide, from selection to start playing at the casinos. And even though there may be small differences between the various online casinos, the basic process will remain the same no matter which casino website you choose to patronize.

How To Play Online Casino

Step 1: Selecting the right casino

The most important step of learning how to play casino online is finding and choosing a good gambling website. There are virtually hundreds of online casinos today on the internet and unfortunately the large majority of them should be avoided at all cost. There is a reason that casino guides like ours not only exist but are very popular – we separate the wheat from the chaff. And believe me, there is a lot of chaff out there. Choosing the right online casino before you even begin to play is very important. Landing at a rogue casino can, at the very best scenario, lead to you not getting your winnings, and worse, you can lose your personal information to internet criminals. The online casinos listed on our home page represent the most reputable casinos and we highly recommend that you select a casino from that list and that list only.

Step 2: Download the casino software

While all online casinos give you the option to play without actually downloading the software, often referred to as “instant play”, downloading and installing the casino software on your computer is the best option. The no-download version of the casino don’t offer all the video slots available if you were to actually download the software and more – you will have to wait for the games to load every time you decide to play something else. Installing the casino on your computer works the same way you would install any other program.

Step 3: Open a casino account

Once you have selected one of the best online casinos, the next step is to become a customer by opening an account. With every casino there will be two types of accounts available: a play money account and real money account. With the play-money account all you have to do is enter your name and email and you can play at the online casino using fake casino chips, giving you the opportunity to try out the various games available, without risking actual money and, of course, you won’t have the chance to win real money. We do recommend you open a play money account first, just to make sure that the games available are to your liking.

The other type of account, the real money account, is where the real gambling commences. You open said account by filling in the sign-up form with your details and then you will have the opportunity to deposit real money and play for real winnings. Which brings us to the next step:

Step 4: Deposit and Claim Bonus

Once you have a real-money casino account, you can visit the Cashier section of the casino and deposit real money to convert to casino chips. Depending on the depositing options, you would be able to fund it with, for example, credit cards or one of the popular ewallets like MST gift cards. Which method you use will depend on what’s available at the online casino and which one you prefer. Purchasing casino chips works in a way similar to purchasing anything else on the internet. Don’t forget to claim your bonus at this step. Some online casinos will automatically credit you with the appropriate bonus, once you have made your first deposit, but others may require a bonus code. You can compare casino bonuses here to help you with the selection of the online casino, since some offer more free money than others.

Step 5: Play online casino games

The final step,once you have funded your account and claimed your bonus is the best one – play at the casino. The online casino will have a wide variety of casino games – video slots, table games, keno, etc. All you have to do at this point is simply select the game you’d like to play and start playing.

Is this online casino safe? Is it safe to play online casinos? These are some of the questions we receive on a weekly base from our readers and today we will talk about the casino websites and their safety, something very important, but often overlooked by the players. Asking about safety is paramount in this day and age, when news about security breaches of big retailers and non payment of winnings at some casinos we won’t mention, are plenty.

There are several ways one can interpret “safety”, thus we will look at all of them, starting with safety as in security of the information you send to the online casino. In this term, the majority of the online casinos are safe and certainly all casinos we have recommended offer an industry-leading 128k bit SSL encryption of all the data transferred to and from the casino server, this is standard for some of the biggest websites and the casinos have taken upon themselves to provide your connection with as much safety and security as, let’s say, some of the biggest banks. In addition, the information stored on the casino server is maintained and stored behind firewalls to avoid getting into the hands of the wrong people. And since the online casinos don’t have the offline presence of many other companies, breaches of the security via offline means is virtually non-existent.

When some people ask about safe online casinos, they often have in mind that fact that a lot of the casinos you can find by a simple Google search are rogue and will not pay your winnings. And to be perfectly honest, there are probably more rogue than safe casinos on the internet today. This is one of the major reasons review websites like ours exist today – to separate the wheat from the chaff. The casinos we have listed on our website are safe and with a proven track (of more than a decade) of paying their winning customers. Sure, we have not listed hundreds of casinos, you can count them on your fingers, but if you want to play at a safe online casino – these are your best options. We cannot stress enough how important it is to play only at the safe online casinos listed on our website. Don’t get fooled by free money bonuses, paid advertisements or do one of the biggest mistakes many new online gamblers commit – simply searching for online casino and joining the first one that pops up. The forums are full of people, who have been burnt by a rogue casino in the past. Avoid all this trouble and if you want to play at a safe online casino – select one that has been recommended by us.

Have more questions about casino safety? Send us an email using the contact form at the top.

The credit cards (and debit cards) are the most popular instrument for payments on the Internet today and not surprisingly – at the online casinos, as well. And while many people deposit at the casinos with credit cards and a lot of casino websites take certain credit cards, the question of which ones accept Amex (American Express) comes up quite often in your emails.

American Express, also referred to as Amex, is among the top 4 most popular credit card brands and it’s only natural that people who gamble online will look for online casinos taking Amex as a payment method. Unfortunately, there are no internet casinos at this time that accept Amex for deposits and withdrawals, not only for USA players, but for online players all over the world. The fact that the online casinos don’t take Amex cards is not so much as a result of tougher credit cards processing, rather the problem lies with American Express itself. A long time ago this credit card issuer decided that people who use their card are not grown up enough to make their own spending decisions and completely cut all forms of gambling from the approved list of transactions one can make with their Amex branded card, both credit and debit. Even legal gambling websites, for example, US horse racing or UK casino, are not allowed to accept American Express cards as a depositing option.

Of course, there are ways one can use their Amex credit card at an online casino. For example, many UK online casinos offer ewallets that themselves will take Amex cards and then the player can use the ewallet to fund their online casino account, but it’s nothing short of jumping hoops and racking up credit card fees. And if you are an US player, it is nearly impossible to fund your casino account with American Express, since no casino will accept this payment method. For those players, using a different credit card brand will be the best option for depositing money. See which casinos take various credit cards by following the link on the menu to the right.

Even today, well over a decade since the popularity of online gambling exploded, there are people skeptical about the online casinos and finding it hard to believe that they work with real money. Yes, there are plenty of websites where you can play casino-style games (such as video slots or roulette) absolutely free and only for fun, but the online casinos are a real business and they do offer their customers the option to gamble with real money and win real money.

We should make a note right away that every online casino today offers two versions of its software, the one with “play money” and the other where people play for “real money”. They play-money version can be used to make yourself familiar with the casino or to simply try the games without having to use real money. Of course, any winnings during your fake money play are also fake.

On the other side, if gambling with real money is your goal, you should chose to play the “real money” casino version. This is where you risk real money, but any winnings are also real. A lot of people have been made millionaires by some of the most popular online casinos, but you have to play the real money casino to have that chance.

And we know what’s coming next, the question – if I play the real money online casinos will I get paid? Yes, but only if you chose your casino wisely. If you select any of the best online casinos on our home page, your winnings will certainly be paid. These are only the most reputable gambling websites and they have been paying their customers for many, many years. On the other side, there are more rogue online casinos than there are honest ones, it seems some days. Make sure you don’t chose a bad casino that would be more than happy to let you play for real money and lose real money, but when it comes time to paying you – they find an excuse to not do so. Stick with the reputable casinos when playing for real money and you’d have nothing to worry about.

or Do the online casinos pay?

One of the questions potential online casino customers ask themselves right at the beginning is “Will the online casino pay me?”. We completely understand how many people could be skeptical at first when they encounter the world of the online casinos and gambling. For many it may appear as if the online casinos are more like a fun game and not really involving real money and yes, they could be that, as well, but more on this a bit later. Other are simply concerned with the reputation of the casino and are wondering if that particular online casino would pay its customers. Yet another group may be apprehensive with the whole internet gambling “thing”. No matter the reason of you asking if the online casino pays, we will answer right here and set the record straight.

First and foremost, yes, the online casinos do pay their winning customers, you should always regard the online casinos as you would a traditional casino – all money transactions are real (unless you opt for the play money version) and therefore you should exercise the same level of caution you would at your local casino, including but not limited to money management, beware of signs of addiction, set your limits, etc. Just as certain as the casino will pay you your winnings, even more certain is that they will take real money for your losses, so be careful when gambling, no matter if online or offline.

And while the online casinos are a business like any other, they rely much more on reputation to build their customer base. Review and informational websites like ours wouldn’t dare recommending a casino that did not pay its customers, which brings us to our next point: While the good online casinos will always pay (and pay on time, to boost), the bad casinos will NOT pay you anything. Yes, there are just as many (maybe even more) bad online casinos that there are good ones. And one of the traits of rogue internet casinos is not paying the players. While all of the best casinos are licensed and regulated, the freedom of the Internet itself gives criminals and rogues the ability to create casinos, attract players and then simply rob the of their money. Remember the reputation we mentioned earlier? Well, now is the time to underline it – reputation is everything and if a casino does not posses it – it should not be patronized in any case. If you want to find an online casino that pays its customers, simply see the list on our home page and read the casino reviews to make up your own mind which of the best ones you’d like to visit. But we highly discourage people from simply doing an internet search and selecting a casino simply on their own merit. You will be safe with our selection and will play at a casino that pays.

Finally, let’s talk about the free play casino option, as it’s the one case when the casinos don’t pay. Every online casino will give you two options – play for real money or play for free (with “fake” casino chips). If you chose to play for free, the casino will provide the player with a large amount of play-money. This is done so the potential customer can try out the games available without risking real money. Needless to say, if you choose this option and win – you won’t get paid anything, since you are not really playing with real money. If you want to get paid real money, you should risk real money, as well. Most people know this, but we figured we should mention this just in case a new player gets confused on the matter.

We will begin our casino guides with the most basic information of all – how the online casinos work. If you’ve never immersed yourself in the online gambling world before, chances are you have no idea how the internet casinos really work and may even feel apprehensive about joining one of the recommended gambling websites listed on our main page. Here we will explain in very plain English the basics of how the online casinos work, hence one you familiarize yourself with the workings of an online casino – you should have no inhibitions of joining one.

So let’s start our journey into the online casino world by taking a look at how it all actually works. The easiest way is to imagine the online casinos in the same way you would a regular, traditional casino. You have the main floor, where all the games and slots are located and then the cashier cages, where you can get some money either by check or a credit card. The basic of an online casino follow the same principle. But unlike the traditional casinos, the internet ones substitute all the brick and mortar with a software.

You download the software, install it on your computer and after you open an account, you can either head on to the virtual cashier and buy some chips or if you’ve already done so, just go to the lobby and pick a game you would like to play. To make it easier for the players, the games will be separated into categories, most often table games, video slots and specialty games (Keno, Bingo, etc). If you’ve chosen to visit the cashier, there you will have the chance to buy casino-specific chips, either by using your credit card, bank account, an ewallet or even a voucher, all depending on your country of residence. Once you have funded your player’s account, you are free to go back to the lobby and select your preferred game. As you can see, the process if rather simple and painless. Most online casinos also offer something called “Instant Play”, where you don’t even have to download the software on your PC, but simply play the game in your internet browser.

If you are wondering how it works on the online casino side of the equation – also very simple. The gambling company leases a casino software from one of the major gambling software developers, for example, Microgaming, and after the software has been customized to the particular casino (name, number and type of games, payout percentages, etc). Once this has been achieved, the casino makes the custom software available for download through their website for people to download and use. Since the actual online casino doesn’t have access to the software code, fairness and payouts remain assured, while the casino itself takes care of its customers, handles the money, and so on. Just like a traditional casino, the online casino has a very small margin of profit built into the games, but they make money the same way land-based casinos do – by sheer volume of people.

In a nutshell, the online casinos work in a similar fashion to the land-based gambling halls, with the main exception that there are no halls needed, indeed. Your chances of winning at the online casinos are just as good as at the traditional casino, even better in most cases, since the online casinos don’t have the overhead the land-based do and can afford smaller profit margins and big bonus offers.