Online Casinos and Land Based Casinos

Casinos are gambling houses that specialize in parlor games (table games), machine games, and the odd numbers game like Bingo or Keno. Today, the six most prominent games are craps, black jack, poker, roulette, slots and baccarat. In the slang of gamblers, a 'carpet' joint or 'rug' joint is a permanent, lavish casino, often attached to a hotel or nightclub, and operating within the law. A 'sawdust' joint is a gambling house that is transient in nature, unpretentious, lacking fancy decoration, and usually operating outside the law.

Live 'brick-and-mortar' casinos can be found in practically every nation of the world. Usually, they are concentrated in a select handful of resort locations. Major areas outside Europe and North America include Australia, Asia, South Africa, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Gambling Games Available at Online Sites

In general, all of the sites offer the basic complement of craps, blackjack, slots, poker, roulette, and baccarat. Many of these standard casino games have variants, such as Texas Hold 'Em poker, Caribbean Stud, Pai Gow Poker, and many kinds of Video Poker, and many other games, such as Big Six, Red Dog, Keno, and Bingo. Each site must purchase, lease or develop the gaming software for each game, so in many respects the variety, quality, and number of games offered is a sign of the underlying capital investment of the owners in the site. By today's standards, a site that offers over twenty games is large.

Locating Live or Online Casinos

Both live and online casinos may be located by using directories. These invariably include a search function that allows the user to search for, and identify, a casino by name, or locate a list of casinos according to geographic location or type of gambling. A good directory also provides some annotation or rating of the casinos, perhaps explaining details about its rules and games. A directory that simply lists casino advertising banners is essentially a marketing tool and not particularly helpful in sorting the good from the bad. The casino watchdog sites are an excellent way to find a solid casino.

Game Software Downloads & WebTV

Gaming software essentially comes in two types: software that loads itself (Java games), and software you are required to download and then install on your computer. Downloads often take 5-10 minutes. Many casinos will mail a CD with the software, but this obviously takes many days. Because of the heavy investment of time and computer resources entailed in choosing a casino, most sites allow you to test the games with free play-for-fun. If this option is not available, look elsewhere.

Currently, WebTV does not allow downloads of software like computer browsers. Consequently, only those online casinos without downloads can be experienced on WebTV. If the site requires a download, it can't be enjoyed on WebTV, and only sites with Java games are compatible.