Here at Slots Play Casinos, we mostly cover online casinos and the gaming fun they offer. We also recognize that there will always be some, many even, casino gamers who love going to land-based casinos. Still, our main focus is on online casinos.
Here we would like to talk about the contrast between land-based and online casinos, the short yet lively and amazing history of online casinos, and what the future holds for these casinos going forward.
What is the Main Difference between an Online Casino and a Land-based Casino?
In a word, atmosphere!
People who really love land-based casinos are willing to accept lower payout rates, the cost of travel, and the powerful incentive to play too long and for too much money for the chance to be swept up by the awesome atmosphere at any top-level land-based casino.
These casinos have bells and whistles and flashing lights plus the whopping and hollering around the craps and roulette tables. These are irresistible to people who love land-based casinos.
People who prefer and love online casinos “give up” all of these things for the chance to have a lot of fun gaming with a lot more convenience, better payout schedules, the incentive to play for a short period of time and to possibly come back to the casino again the next day and the day after.
What we here at Slots Play Casinos like about online casinos is that they have no inherent atmosphere and they also provide a lot better gaming for their gamers!
When Did Online Casinos Start?
The first online casino came aboard in 1994. It took about 10 years for the number of online casinos to grow to 20 or more. In other words, growth in this niche was slow at first. By the turn of the century, a new online casino was seemingly appearing almost every week at the very least.
What Did Online Casinos Offer?
Online casinos offered a very different gaming experience. First of all, gamers didn’t have to travel to play! This saved, and continues to save, gamers hundreds of dollars. These dollars can buy groceries, concert or sporting event tickets, or go far towards paying for a “real” vacation.
Online casinos offered a lot more frequent gaming so that players don’t have to feel compelled to stay on the casino floor for hours upon hours. When you come to a land-based casino once or twice a year for a long weekend and at pretty big expense just getting to the casino, you are a lot more likely to spend the vast majority of your time on the casino floor.
Not so, at all, and in no way, does that apply to online casino gaming!
Casinos Offer a Lot of Games But…
Online casino gamers can easily play all of the games the casino offers while land-based casino players get stuck at one or two terminals and have a hard time giving up their seat at a terminal.
So, a land-based casino may offer 300 different slots but most players play only one or two of them. Online casino gamers can and do play ALL OF THEM!
Online Casinos Pay Back More in Video Poker and Blackjack
Online casinos also pay back more in slots! The difference between slots and video poker and blackjack is that the random number generator can be calibrated to pay back less in slots but not in blackjack or video poker.
So, an online casino will have a return to player rate in slots of 96-97% while the return to player rate for the same slot at a land-based casino may be as low as 90%.
In video poker, most online casinos, and all of the online casinos that we recommend, still pay 9-6 which is 9 coins for a full house and 6 coins for a flush. Many land-based casinos pay only 8-5 or even just 7-5 for the same two hands.
In blackjack, all of our recommended casinos pay 3-2 for a blackjack while many land-based casinos now pay only 6-5 for a blackjack.
The Future of Casino Gaming is Online
The single biggest innovation in online casino gaming was the introduction of mobile gaming platforms. These started out, as so many things do, as a clunky way to play online casino games. Mobile devices were big and clumsy and the technology for mobile gaming was poor.
That is by far and away no longer the case!
Most online casino gaming nowadays is done on a mobile device. This relates to another innovation that gamers discovered: namely that playing online casino games for a short time for fun while curled up on the sofa or in bed with your significant other leads to another even more fun activity.
Mobile casino gaming has become so pervasive that even some land-based casinos now offer a mobile gaming platform in the hotel.
What Can We Expect Next?
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are slowly making their way into online casinos. Just as mobile started out as a trickle and became a kind of sympathetic deluge so will it be with AR and VR.
As game providers look for more and better ways to present slots and all of the other games they offer, AR and VR will take a major role in making online casino games more fun to play.
Game Providers Are Hard at Work Creating New and Exciting Games
One way game developers have expanded the horizons of online slots is by inventing new ways for wild symbols to act. These same games do appear at land-based casinos but the downside of that is that very few players can play even a small handful of new and extra fun slots while at a land-based casino.
The much greater flexibility of online casinos means that gamers can play all of the casino’s games over time.
Game developers have the incentive to create new games which online casinos categorize as parlor games or as specialty games. These games include games such as Fish Catch and Banana Jones. You surely have to join our recommended casinos in order to play Banana Jones!
Cryptocurrencies Offer More Privacy
The rise of cryptocurrencies for purchases in general has certainly been meteoric. These currencies serve a special purpose for online casino gamers, namely, to provide the most private and anonymous gaming possible.
Live Gaming at an Online Casino
This is an entirely new genre within the online casino format. Live games are usually played in a studio but they are also sometimes played at a real land-based casino. In both cases, the online gamer gets the feel of playing roulette, craps, or blackjack live!
This adds to the basic benefit and nature of online casino gaming. Why would a player travel at high cost and great hassle when he or she can play the same games in a live casino format?
Slots Play Casinos Covers the World of Online Casino Gaming
We have reviewed and recommended over 30 online casinos. We have guides and helpful articles to help gamers get the most fun and win more while playing online casino games. We see a very bright future for all forms of online casino gaming. One example is the new poker tournaments offered by two of our recommended casinos, Juicy Stakes and Everygame, in which whenever three players sit down to play poker, they automatically become part of this tournament “promotion” of sorts.
Our great commitment is to you, online gamers!
We encourage all gamers to…
COME TO SLOTS PLAY CASINOS OFTEN!