Choosing an Online Casino or Poker Room
by Max Drayman, winneronline.co.uk
May 10, 2006

You might think that picking a gambling site would be pretty simple: where do I win the most? Or, which is the best site? Unfortunately it's not quite that simple. There are a number of aspects to this issue which we'll tackle in no particular order.

Biggest payouts, biggest pots

This can be difficult to determine because every casino wants to be in the list of "Top 10 Payouts" so the player has exercise a little due diligence if they want to ensure that their specific game is paying out well. For the casino games that often means doing a little research, specifically checking things like game odds, payout tables and the like. You'd be hard pressed to find a better resource for this than the Wizard Of Odds (www.wizardofodds.com). Michael Shackleford has been running the site for years and his ability to crunch the numbers and present the bottom line is unsurpassed on the internet today. Highly recommended.

For poker it's a little different. It often boils down to is "where are the fish?" and by it's very nature the answer to this question is ever-changing. Here, as in many other cases, the busy message boards and forums are the place to go. Our own PokerForum.com is one such place but there are others.

Look first, download later

All gaming sites, casino and poker, run on some kind of software platform. In other words you often have to download something, or allow something to be installed for you, in order to begin playing.

The better sites have a "Preview" section that shows you snapshots of what their games look like, maybe even provide you with a description of how to play. Check them out! You can learn a lot with a little bit of browsing.

Most sites will offer the player two choices: (1) a download package for the full suite of full-featured games or (2) an instant-play option based on the Flash or Shockwave applets that normally reside on most of our computers. Option 1 gives you all the bells and whistles while option 2 means you don't have to install any software and you can play right away. The choice is yours of course but our advice is that unless you've got a particularly slow internet connection the download packages almost always offer the better gaming experience.

That said it's worth noting that players the world over have learned that how the software looks is not the burning issue it once was. How's the service? The payouts? The reputation? And so on. These are at least equally, and we believe more, important. We'll get to them shortly.

Withdrawals

Most casinos and poker rooms now payout within a few days if not instantaneously. Check your specific site to see what their particular policies are because they can vary widely and each site will often impose it's own withdrawal restrictions and limitations. Watch out for things like monthly withdrawal limits, identification requirements (driver's license, etc), PIN numbers that may have to be received via the postal service, etc. All of these can effect your withdrawal procedures and therefore you comfort, or discomfort, with them.

Support

Some sites offer toll free numbers but those are now less common than call-back or online service options. Many casinos now out-source their Customer Service so we think it's imperative that you try out your casino's Customer Service as soon as possible in order to give yourself the peace of mind that you're going to be handled in a manner that suits you if something goes wrong. Remember, these guys are the only life-line between you and your cash so it's up to you to make sure that the help is going to be there for you if and when you need it.

Licensing and Legalities

Generally speaking online casino regulation has been a "self-regulation" issue. In other words, the casino plays fair if it wants to play fair. Fortunately there have been some serious steps forward in terms of licensing and regulation zones around the world and that is a very good thing. The UK's Gambling Commission, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Cyprus, etc have all emerged as stable licensing bodies with committed governments behind them to ensure fair play and reasonable conduct.

As to the legalities of internet gambling it's a country-by-country or state-by-state issue. In some parts of the world it's wide open, citizens are free to play when and where they see fit. Elsewhere it is not so. In the US for instance seven states have outlawed internet gambling entirely while others simply forbid the casinos to be run within their state boundaries. Players are advised to check their local laws before proceeding.

Top site awards

In the early days of internet gaming the competition was fierce and casinos did anything and everything they could to attract players. As a result many "Best Casino", "Top Site" and "Gold Star" awards were invented and awarded to casinos, often with questionable justification. Since then though the shakeout in the industry has meant that many of the smaller casinos have down-sized, cut back on services or disappeared entirely. A few big name casinos now have most of the customer base and handle most of the cash flow. Going with one of the biggies is usually a pretty safe bet.

Message Boards: The Advice of Other Players

Over and above all other recommendations it behooves the newcomer to check out the reputation of their prospective casino or poker room before handing over the cash. The fastest way to do this is to drop by our message boards (mb.winneronline.com/ or mb.pokerforum.com), for instance, and do a quick search to see what folks are saying about the casino or poker room you are interested in. Better yet, register and ask specifically. There are many thousands of experienced players out there and they'll be happy to tell you what's what if you are looking for some "get started" kind of info.