Online Casino Games

There are hundreds of online casino games to choose from. The sheer number of gaming options can be confusing, so Online United States Casinos wrote a guide to the most popular games and some of their variants. This introduction will help you select a good casino for your gaming needs. We give you a comprehensive list of casino games that can be found online, as well as around the world.

Use our OUSC guide of the popular games to pick your favorites. These include those real money games, as well as live dealer casino games that can give you the best gaming experience possible. Find the casinos that cater to your needs, as well as offer the best casino game bonuses that can help you fill your pockets as you start out.

Play Casino Games at Best Online Casinos

Playing Game at Online Casinos

We recommend that you try every major game at a casino. The hundreds of titles fit into a number of categories: table casino games, slot machines, video poker, and specialty games. Each of the broad categories offers more choices. For instance, a good online casino is likely to offer two dozen variants of blackjack: classic blackjack, Spanish 21, Switch, Double Exposure, Pontoon, and a variety of others.

This article is a simple overview of all the gambling opportunities you’ll have. It describes bonuses, software companies, free play gaming, real money games, and live dealer casinos. Read the full-page reviews of any games or casinos which interest you. Learn a few table game tips for the most popular casino games online, which can help you start playing better.

Most Popular Types of Online Casino Games

Choosing a Casino Game

The most basic decision you’ll make is which online casino games to play. New players should try all the major casino games online to see which their favorite is. You might wonder where to begin. In many cases, the choice comes down to payouts versus simplicity.

In casino gaming, it’s a rule of thumb that the easier a game is to learn, the higher its house edge is going to be. Games like blackjack and video poker offer the best-expected return, but those casino games require players to learn strategies. Casinos can offer better odds on those games, knowing many gamblers won’t have optimal results.

Slots have a lower expected return but require no tactical knowledge. Also, they tend to have more entertainment value. Between blackjack and slot machines are a wide variety of options.

On the off-chance that you want to bet on something other than casino games online, you can always try your luck betting on sports offered by the casino sportsbooks.

Real Money Casino Games

Real money casinos are websites which offer gambling opportunities. You might be familiar with Facebook casinos or other social networking sites, where “play is for fun” or for bragging rights. The real money casino games are where the bets become real.

Online casinos offer both “free play” and real money versions of their casino. The free casino games can be accessed once you register an account. Players do not have to fund their casino account to enjoy these games. This is done for promotional reasons. If a player enjoys the games selection and software, it’s a gateway into real money gambling. Players could start with the simplest casino games, going for real money slots, or test their luck with video poker.

Keep in mind that some casinos only allow free gambling until the player make a real wager. Sometimes, free online casino games ends when you make a deposit. Be sure to read a casino’s FAQ or its “Terms and Conditions” page to make sure you know the policies.

Live Dealer Games

Live dealer games provide online gamblers with the entertainment and camaraderie of brick-and-mortar casino gaming. Instead of using video simulations of casino games and a random number generator, live dealers produce the results. These dealers are found in a gaming studio somewhere in the real world, often in Latvia or Estonia.

Using streaming video like you’d use on Apple TV or Roku, the games are streamed live to your computer. The dealers use real cards, real dice, and real roulette wheels to provide live gaming. A camera maintains a constant focus on the gaming table. If you have questions or issues, a pit boss is in the room. Everything is handled with Skype-style video technology.

Live dealer casinos are part of some online casinos’ gaming packages. They support a limited number of table games. The most common games offered at live dealer casinos are blackjack, baccarat, craps, and roulette.

Finding the Casino Games

Choosing the right online casino is important because there are hundreds of options. There’s no other way to put it, but some operators are more trustworthy than others.

Deposit Bonuses

These sites provide deposit bonuses to new players for promotional purposes. Sometimes called welcome bonuses, these are incentives to gamble at a particular site. Online casinos have two bonus types: the deposit bonus and the no-deposit bonus. At the majority of sites, the biggest bonuses are triggered when a player makes a first deposit. This is what most gamblers want to research.

The type of casino a player chooses often depends on the size of the bonus they hope to receive. High rollers want the largest deposit bonus offered because they want to max out the advantages of having a big casino account. Other gamblers prefer the welcome bonus with the most bang for their buck. For instance, they might not care about a $5,000 bonus, because they never intend to deposit that amount. Instead, they might focus on a 200% bonus up to $500 is worth more to them than a 100% bonus on the same amount of cash.

Some gamblers want a bonus tailored for a specific game. Casinos sometimes offer big bonuses for online slots, but smaller incentives for blackjack, video poker, and other games with a low house edge. If you aren’t a slot machine gambler, then the big slots bonus isn’t the promotion for you.

No-Deposit Bonuses

In the past, players who used the free play casino did not receive a welcome bonus. These days, a no-deposit bonus is offered at some sites. This tends to be a free promotional credit of $5 to $20 to encourage gamblers to try the product. Some online casinos have begun offering no-deposit bonuses in the hundreds of dollars. Like a welcome bonus, this is going to have a play-through requirement to protect the casino.

Better Software

Some players decide whether to play at a casino based on its software package. Many online software developers exist. A few of the leading companies are Microgaming, IGT, Playtech, Bally Technologies, Aristocrat Gaming, and Cryptologic. Net Entertainment and Sheriff Gaming specialize in 3D slot machines. RealTime Gaming or RTG allows it licensees to accept U.S. players or not. Many of them do.

Each of the companies mentioned has their own line of slots titles. Table casino games like blackjack, roulette, craps, and baccarat are offered by everyone. The graphics from company to company vary wildly, but the same essential table games are offered. It’s the slot machine selection which often differentiates one online casino from the next.

Some software providers try to entertain with elite graphics and quirky themes. Others draw customers with popular licensed slot machines from entertainment franchises. Still others focus on the biggest progressive jackpots. Most offer a few throwback titles — the 3-reel classics — which offer fixed jackpots and a higher payback rate.

Not every operator does, but some online casinos are known to license gaming software from multiple companies. They do this for one of two reasons. An online casino might want to offer traditional iCasino games, but they also might want to offer Internet poker, sports betting, or bingo gaming. If so, they might deal with a specialist to provide that additional software support.

More commonly, an operator wants to pick-and-choose slot machine titles. That company might use Microgaming or Playtech software for the bulk of their casino, but also, sign a deal with IGT to offer some of its most popular slots titles.

Trustworthy Game Providers

Not every casino uses licensed software. Some use proprietary software they design in-house. Others use less famous software providers. Like you can tell a lot about a person from their associations, you can also tell a lot about a casino from its associations.

That isn’t to say all proprietary software is bad. Top brands like 888casino have proprietary software. So does Bovada. If you are signing up with a company you do not know, it’s best that they’re supported by a developer you know.

For instance, Microgaming formed eCOGRA, a trusted online gambling industry watchdog association. The eCOGRA auditors publish reports on each member every month. Anyone using Microgaming software must join eCOGRA, so that confers a certain amount of legitimacy on Microgaming sites. While bad actors can still happen, software support is an important indicator of trustworthiness.

That isn’t to say Microgaming is the only trusted software developer. International Game Technology (IGT) is the biggest provider of slot machines to brick-and-mortar casinos in the United States.

Free Casino Games

Free casino games are used by casinos for promotional purposes. They hope gamblers try their free-play games and enjoy them enough that they decide to play for real money. Free slots and table games are therefore the online gambling equivalent of food samples at the grocery store.

From a player’s perspective, the advantages of free casino games are they allow players to learn a new game, practice basic strategy, learn a casino’s interface, or preview new games. The drawbacks are they don’t offer the same excitement level and don’t satisfy wagering requirements on bonuses. Also, casinos sometimes block freeplay gaming after you make a deposit.

Free slot games allow players to sample a large inventory of content, because online casinos usually contain between 50 and 400 video slots. Each of these games has different themes, graphics, gameplay, return-to-player, and features. Free simulations allow players to test dozens of games without wagering on each of them. Free blackjack is a great way to practice basic strategy without risking cash on your play sessions. Free roulette allows a gambler to learn the many betting options, which can be confusing to new players.

Best Progressive Jackpots

Many slot machine gamblers search for the biggest progressive jackpots. Imagine walking into a convenience store and seeing the Mega Millions jackpot and the Powerball jackpot. You’re likely to play the lottery which has the biggest prize at the moment. That’s how many slots players are.

Those are a few of the top companies to consider. Most of the brand name companies offer progressives. I cited that list to show how diverse the various companies’ approach to game design can be.

If you need more information about playing online table casino games, be sure to visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.