Getting Started

This section is primarily for people who are new to online gaming, and details finding an online casino, opening an account, depositing money and playing...  and the most important part of all - withdrawing your winnings.

The first question to ask is "When is a casino NOT a casino?"  When it's an affiliate site!  Did you know that there are over 2000 online casinos listed on Yahoo, but  only about a third of them are ACTUAL casinos?  Most are doorways to a casino, which have been created by an affiliate in the hope that you will open an account at that casino.  Why?  Because he stands to earn anything up to 50% of the money you spend.  There are no problems in them doing this, but it helps if you are aware of the practice.

Therefore, if you are looking through a search engine for your casino, it's best to remember that you are likely to be clicking through an affiliate site.  One way to check is to watch the domain name in your browser, or look at the extra information at the end of the URL.  Try clicking this link to see what we mean -

http://banner.joylandcasino.com/cgi-bin/redir.cgi?member=tesoft

See?  This one is pretty self-explanatory - the affiliate with the code tesoft will now be credited with having brought you to the site.  This kind of thing is also used by the casinos themselves to check where their advertising money is best spent.

So, where should you gamble?  Well, the good news is that 99% of online casinos try to be as honest and respectable as possible.  The majority of cowboys have been identified and eliminated by the good people on the internet.  Casinos like Cyberthrill and First Live are long since dead.

What kinds of online casinos are there?  Well, there are three basic types:  Download, Non-Download and both.

• Download - In order to play at these casinos, you must download the software from the site and install it on your computer.  Downloading times can be anything between 10-30 minutes for a large download file on a 56k connection.  Carnival Casino is an example of this kind of casino.
• Non-Download - These games are usually written in Flash or Java, and are much faster to load than the "Download" kind.  All the casino processes and transactions are done on the actual website. 
• Both - This provides the best of both worlds, with a download version for those people who are expecting to play often and would rather get the job of getting the software over in one go, and the non-download type for those who want to get stuck in at once. 

Many casinos often let you play for fun, as well as for real money so that you can get to grips with the games without losing your cash.

Playing for Money

Once you have decided where you are going to play for real money - STOP!  That big bonus you can see on their site - is it 20% free on your first deposit, 30%, 50%, 100%?  You need to think now.  When you pop into Caesar's Palace or your local casino, do they give you free money on the door?  No, of course not.  So why do online casinos do it?  Simple.  They add "TERMS AND CONDITIONS" or Small Print as we like to call it on this website.  Some of these are truly ridiculous - "Deposit $200 and we will give you ANOTHER $200 FREE" - sounds good until you eventually find out that you have to make $6000 of bets before you can withdraw your money, AND roulette, craps and baccarat are not included.  How likely are you to come away with ANYTHING AT ALL?  Think we've made this incredible bonus up?  Visit Goodasgoldcasino and weep with laughter.  Unfortunately,  you may not find this out until AFTER you have deposited your cash due to the small print being so well hidden.

Casinos have to make a profit to stay in business, so it's always best to be REALLY dubious when presented with a 50% or 100% bonus - how generous are the odds going to be if they can afford to give you so much of a bonus?  The most well-known and popular of online gaming sites generally keep to 20-30% and limit their small print to a minimum. 

The New Account

The first thing to do when you finally decide which casino you are going to use is to create your account with them.  Whichever kind of casino it is - download or not - this option will be clearly marked and will be  all over the home page.  The casino will want to ensure that you can do this with no slip-ups.

You will now be presented with a form which will request various items of personal information about you. Each casino has it's own layout, but basically the questions tend to be similar. Required information: name, address & email are the most important pieces of data the casino needs. Most casinos ask for an ID name and password so you can log into your account, others will provide these by email.

The next required information is for your first deposit.  For simplicity, we will assume you are using a credit card in this example, but there are many other ways to deposit - take a look at our Alternative Payments page at your leisure. Some casinos will automatically direct you to the Cashier page (where all deposits and withdrawals are made) and others will give you the option to choose it.  The casino requires the type of card, the number & expiry date and the name on the card in most cases. Obviously, if you are only interested in the play for fun aspect then there is no need to provide any such details.

Don't forget, some casinos will require you to enter a special code for your bonus - don't forget to type it in at the deposit stage.  The reason behind using these codes is that it allows the casino to create new promotions for repeat players, so that you know you will probably be receiving future bonuses too.  So there could be a code xxxx which will give you a 20% bonus on your NEXT deposit.
 

Playing the Games

Some casinos have 30 games or more in their portfolio.  Many of these are variations of the same game - such as Pai Gow, Let it Ride, Double Down Stud and Caribbean - which are all poker games.  Each casino should have instructions on how to play each game, but for convenience we have added some of the more popular ones to our How To Play section.  Ensure that you know all the rules for the games, as some can be pretty complicated.  Also, try to find out some hints and tips on good and bad bets to make - again, some of these can be found on the How To Play section.  One good idea is to join a multiplayer game and watch what the experienced players are doing before you join in.

Withdrawing your Winnings

And so we come to the final section of this Getting Started guide.  You've won some money - so how do you get at it?  Your first stop is the Cashier again.  There will be a link  inside there which gives you the option to Withdraw your funds.  Now simply enter the amount to withdraw and you should be complete.

Problems?  Well the main one is usually that you have not made enough bets to cover the "Small Print" or their Terms and Conditions for the bonus - in which case, you will have to carry on playing until you do.

Some casinos will give you the option of how to receive the cash.  Generally, it will be in the form of a check.  Sometimes though, they will require a bank wire transfer to be made if the amount is large - say, over $1000.  In this case, they will contact you and ask for payment details.  Again, you can see the various payment methods on our Alternative Payments page.

We hope that this guide has been informative for you, and that you enjoy your online gaming experience.  Please feel free to let us know on support@the-online-casinos.com if there is anything you think we should add to our Getting started page.