Online casinos allow players to gamble through the Internet and in the comfort of whatever place they are in rather than traveling to wherever their favorite establishments happen to be. They may be generally known as Internet casinos or virtual casinos as a result of this.

Just like their tangible "brick and mortar" counterparts, online casinos have ratings in the form of payback percentages and odds. Some of them even publish payout percentages on their own sites, vaunting higher payback and better frequency than their competitors.

Payback percentage is defined as "is the overall percentage that a machine will return to the player within the long haul." This parameter will likely be programmed into what ever game the virtual casino could be running and is set in line with the owner's specifications.

As a result of its very nature of being virtual and intangible, online casinos have trust issues with prospective and even regular clients. In light of this many casino owners have purchased and/or leased proprietary software created by reputable software entities like CryptoLogic Inc, Realtime Gaming, Microgaming, and Playtech. They then peg their online casino's trustworthiness with the programming companies' reputations and the stability of their random number generators.

Online casinos are classified into three types based on how players connect to each other. They are:

Web-based online casinos - these types of virtual casinos don't require downloading files; they readily play through a wide variety of Internet browsers. Many of them require Flash or Java for Going at Fundrazr a player to participate in games however. The good thing about this sort of casino is that sound clips and graphics needed for the game is streamed directly to the client over the Net. This dispenses the need to download relatively huge files.

Download-based online casinos - Participating in this type of casino involves downloading a client installer needed for players to access the virtual site. The good thing about this type of casino is that it generally runs faster than Web-based ones. The disadvantage is that interested players need to download the client as well as the risk of installing malware from shady parties is quite much real.

Live-based casinos - Inside this kind of casino, players can hear, see, and connect to other players. The internet will be relatively an unobtrusive medium of communication as players participate in a real life environment.

Online casinos may offer anyone or all of the following gambling pastimes: online poker, roulette, blackjack, baccarat, craps and online slot games.