Pros and Cons of Online Casinos
Date Added: October 10, 2008
The prime advantage of online casinos is that the player can play from home. This has benefits of both cost and convenience. Playing at land-based casinos is accompanied by a costly life style in terms of travel, dressing, tipping and high stakes. At home the player need not dress formally, can play any time of the night or day and visit several online casinos in one evening. Another advantage online casinos offer is anonymity. Online players can play using an alias. Family, friends and neighbors do not have to know that they are indulging in gambling activities.
Online casinos are ideal for novice players. Almost all online casinos allow players to play for free. This enables novice players to learn the ropes and acquire a level of comfort before they start wagering with real money. This facility is not available in land-based casinos. Even when they start wagering with real money novice players can start with low stakes in online casinos. Land-based casino atmosphere can be very intimidating. The glare of the dealers or croupiers can easily shatter the confidence of a player as can the contemptuous laugh of fellow players. In online casinos a player can make mistakes and no one but himself need know.
Today the variety offered in online casinos is mind-boggling. Online casinos offering over two hundred games is common and those offering more than three hundred games are not unheard of. There are casinos that offer over twenty variations of blackjack. Many of these games have been developed with interesting side bets that are not available in land casinos. The cost required to operate online casinos is much lower. Therefore the house edges are also lower and the players benefit. Another way that players benefit because of the lower costs is through bonuses and promotions. These allow players to wager with funds provide by the online casinos.
However online casinos cannot replicate the exclusiveness and the glamour of land based casinos. If players can afford it and revel in it then the lifestyle offered by land-based casinos is unmatched. This is all the more true if the player is a high roller and gets personalized service from the casino staff. Another advantage that land based casinos have is that they have been around much longer and hence are better regulated. For example the Nevada Gaming Commission has been regulating land casinos in the state since 1959. There is practically no chance of a land-based casino ripping players off. In comparison online gambling is less than twenty years old. There are instances of online casinos refusing to pay out winnings. Recently there was a massive insider fraud at an online poker room. But the situation is fast improving through self-regulation because the industry wants to build up its credibility. Organizations like eCOGRA are raising the benchmarks for customer security and those like European Gaming and Betting Association are asking its members to follow practices that are more stringent than the laws demand.
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