Mobile phones have become a staple of the 21st century. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone without a phone anymore, and with good reason – since the dawn of the smartphone, our mobile devices have evolved into an integral part of our daily lives. We’ve actually reached the point where a lot of people don’t even use their phones for talking anymore, opting instead to treat them as pocket computers. And when you think about it, their point of view is quite understandable, considering you can do pretty much anything on your phone – check your e-mail, watch movies, browse online shops, play casino games… Wait, what? You can gamble wherever you are, whenever you want? You better believe it! Stay with me, dear reader, and I’m going to tell you about what’s undoubtedly one of the best ways to indulge your inner gambler on the go!

A Satisfying Selection Of Mobile Games

The thing about casino games (and, well, computer games in general) is that most of them need to be developed independently for mobile and for PC. What this means is that while online casinos on desktop offer hundreds upon hundreds of games, only a portion of them will be available on mobile. In all honesty, though, when I say “portion”, I still mean “dozens of games”. How many exactly are available depends on the casino in question, but chances are you’ll be able to play at least fifty different games while on the go. The most prominent are, obviously, the slots. In the casinos I tested, slots absolutely dominated the selections, with over 90% of all available games being one-armed bandits. So if that’s your forte, then rest assured that you will be perfectly able to play your favorite slot machine wherever you are (as long as you’ve got a good Wi-Fi or 3G connection, of course).

Still, that doesn’t mean that you’re our of luck if you prefer to play table games – while there generally aren’t too many of those on mobile, as they tend to be harder to port than slots, there should still be more than enough to itch that scratch while you’re on the go. Roulette and blackjack are pretty much always a given, and depending on the casino you’ll also most likely get baccarat and casino poker. All the games work absolutely great, and playing blackjack on my iPad in bed was definitely one of the highlights of my online gambling life. Sure, you can’t expect the same kind of variety as you would from the casino’s desktop counterpart, but honestly, who cares? If you’re the type of person who’d honestly complain about there not being too many varieties of poker, then I’m afraid we just can’t be friends!

Live Casino, Also Known As The Best Part

What’s a good mobile casino without a live section? For those of you who don’t know, the live casino is a special section where you’re able to play table games such as blackjack or baccarat against real life dealers, video of which is streamed live directly to your device from the casino’s physical location. It’s one of the best features that any self-respecting online casino should have, as it places you right there in the middle of the action, just like if you were in a real casino! And, for the most part, it works great on mobile!

Keep in mind that not too many games are available on the live casino in general, especially on its mobile counterpart. This makes sense – I mean, it would be rather pointless to have something like live slots or live scratch cards, right? As such, the games you’ll have at your disposal are generally roulette, casino poker and blackjack, with some casinos also offering baccarat, but as far as I’ve noticed that’s relatively rare on mobile. Still, where the live casinos excel at when it comes to variety isn’t the number of games – it’s the number of tables. Most, if not all tables that would be usually available on desktop are also at your disposal when you play on mobile.

The Software Providers – The Unsung Heroes

It’s always important to give credit where credit is due, and in this case, I just won’t sleep right if the casinos hog all the recognition when they’re only responsible for hosting the games and not for creating them, or even porting them to mobile. No, that honor falls to the so-called software providers, the teams of very talented people who are in charge of creating your entertainment. Keep in mind that while the ones listed below are some of the most prominent software developers who bring us mobile casino games, the list is very far from being comprehensive. With that said, let’s learn a bit about them!

NetEntertainment

NetEnt have been around since 1996, but they only launched their mobile division, NetEnt Touch, at the end of 2011, catching the wave of the mobile revolution as it was happening. You may notice that they don’t really offer that many games, but the ones that are there are always of superb quality, with their slots often based on interesting properties such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and South Park.

PlayTech

If you’ve ever played an online casino, any online casino, then chances are you’ve experienced at least one of PlayTech’s games. Believe it or not, most mobile casinos actually feature a good chunk of PlayTech’s games, which are notable for being the only ones featuring Marvel characters such as Iron Man, Spider-Man or the Avengers. I’m still waiting for a “Guardians of the Galaxy” slot, PlayTech!

Spin3

If you’re looking for a recognized provider, it doesn’t really get any more prestigious than a winner of the EGR award for “Mobile supplier of the year”. Indeed, Spin3 have come a long way since the beginning of their partnership with Microgaming, which you may recognize as the leading developer of online gaming solutions. Their light platform is bound to run on most mobile devices, so rest assured!

Requirements

If you’ve made it this far, that probably means you’re rather interested in trying out some casino games on your mobile device. And let me guess – the only thing that’s worrying you is whether or not your own phone or tablet even supports casino games, right? Yes, I am a telepath. And yes, I know you just thought of that incident from middle school. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody. What I will tell you, though, is that if you’ve bought a device in the last 3-4 years, chances are that you’ll be able to play with absolutely no trouble whatsoever. Mobile games are really not taxing on the processor, so as long as your phone can realistically be classified as a “smartphone” you’re going to be good to go! All iPads, as well as tablets that run on Android, are also supported, but in case you’re not sure you can always check a few apps out for yourself for absolutely free.

Final Words

Online gambling is pretty much one of the greatest thing to ever happen to gambling in general, period. And while its mobile branch may not be as big of a step in the grand scheme of things, it’s certainly a rather welcome addition, giving you the opportunity to play the best casino games literally wherever you are (as long as you’re not in, say, the desert, North Korea or that one spot in my college dorm room that mysteriously cancels out all electronic signals). Really, the only reason why you wouldn’t want to play on your mobile device is if you don’t have one, but then again, in an era where phones have become pretty much an extension of ourselves, that’s not really much of an excuse. For seasoned gamblers, especially those with busy lifestyles, mobile gaming will open up a whole lot of opportunities. And even rookies can enjoy a few nice games of roulette before bed every now and again. No matter how you look at it, mobile casinos have something for everyone.

Like it or not, folks, online casino’s here to stay – its growth over the last few years has been too big to ignore, as much as some people would like to. And honestly, I don’t get those people. Sure, nothing beats holding real chips in your hand, feeling their weight as you wonder whether you should have the dealer hit you just one more time, but then again, you can’t really go to a physical casino every day. Going to a place such as a casino often requires preparation and a good investment. Many respected casinos demand formal wear, and most of us don’t really have a suit pressed and ready to go at a moment’s notice – nor the capital to bet, say, more than $10 for the entire evening. Not to mention, some people have made entire careers out of exploiting online casinos, working with the bonuses they were given and manipulating the random numbers generators in their favor, which isn’t only nearly impossible to do in a real casino, but would most likely get you banned if you attempted it. But many are reluctant to even try online casino gaming, due to various concerns or just a general lack of knowledge on where to start. Fear not, for I shall be your guide to the world of online casinos! Keep in mind that the following 3 facts, while essential, are by no means comprehensive. They’re just here to give you a good, general idea on where online casino stands in relation to physical casinos, and what you can do to start your online adventure. Without further ado, let’s dive right into it!

1. Online Casinos Are Watched More Closely Than Physical Ones

Yes, believe it or not, most big online casinos actually go through more certifications and testing to confirm their legitimacy than physical casinos do! Yes, really! Of course, that fact depends on the country you live in, since regulations aren’t the same everywhere, but in the US, UK, Germany and Australia, you need to jump a whole lot more hoops before you can open an online casino than a physical one. Again, this is highly subjective and dependent on your country, but physical casinos generally only need an up-to-date gambling license in order to operate, with additional testing and investigation done only in case the authorities have been alerted to potential unfairness. However, online casinos are certified by an authority to confirm their legitimacy (paperwork in order, all employees have proper contracts, the government knows where money is coming and going, etc), just like regular casinos need to, but on top of that they also need to go through numerous legitimacy checks where all of their games are tested by software to deduct their RTP (return to player – the amount of invested money that is dispensed back to the players randomly) and make sure it’s within the norm. Online casinos are not legally allowed to present one version of a game for certification and then upload a less fair one to their site, and the testing bodies regularly conduct tests to make sure something like that hasn’t occurred – it’s why you see RTPs changing slightly from time to time, especially on games such as blackjack or roulette. What you see is what you get. But if that wasn’t enough to convince you…

2. You’re Also More Likely To Win There

I have to admit that the actual sums that you can win aren’t all that huge – the largest jackpot ever won from an online slot was only about 17 million euro, which, while definitely a life-changing sum to be sure (if you invest that money in the bank the yearly interest alone would be more than the average salary in the majority of Western countries), is a far cry from what people have made, and continue to make, in physical casinos. It all has to do with size and the economy – currently, way more people bet way more in physical casinos than they do in online ones, and they bet bigger sums, so it’s only natural that the winnings are also bigger. But to make up for that, online casinos make it more likely to win thanks to the aforementioned RTPs. The thing is, card games and roulette in real casinos, quite obviously, don’t have RTPs – which means that theoretically they could return more money to the players than players bet, or they could keep 100% of the deposits and assure that nobody wins. It’s up to the whims of the cards, honestly. Meanwhile, blackjack and other games in online casinos have very particular RTPs which determine roughly how much of the money deposited is returned to the players and how much is kept (keep in mind that those percentages, while influenced by internal factors, are not “set” by the developers – they come up during testing), which is good news for both the casino and the players. On one hand, the casino is sure that no matter what it’s going to turn in a profit, even if it’s not a gigantic one – out of every $100 deposited, it’s going to keep $3 for itself. Meanwhile, the players can rest assured that the remaining $97 will be returned back to them – sure, somebody who deposited $10 could lose them all, but they could be won by someone who deposited $5. On a similar subject, the RTPs for slots (which exist in both physical and online casinos, since, well, all slots are electronic now anyway) in physical casinos are usually lower than those in online slots, so take what you will from that.

3. It’s Surprisingly Easy To Get Into Online Casino

A lot of people think that online casino is one of those niche things which are pretty much impossible to get into, like stamp collecting or comic books. Actually, most online casinos have made it unbelievably easy to join them and start playing, with numerous bonuses exclusive to new members (for example, they’ll give you some money for free and also double your first deposit, giving you, say, $50 to play around with instead of just the $20 you deposited, but only the first time). Picking an online casino is also not too hard, as there’s plenty of options no matter where you are in the world – hell, we’re going to showcase a lot of them right here in the near future! For the most part, feel free to just ask where your friends are playing and get that in order to be able to receive recommendations, ideas and tips from them. If you’re the only one among them who’s treading this new ground, then a simple Google search should bring up the best of the best in your area! Just make sure to look for the certificates in the footer of the page. After you’ve browsed several and compared the number of games and the bonuses each offers,

I hope those tips and facts were enough to dispel some of your misconceptions regarding online casinos! If I caught your interest, or strengthened your resolve, then go out there and find some online casinos! I hope to see you there, and as always feel free to message me with any of your questions!