Online casinos allow players to gamble through the Internet and in the comfort of whatever place they're in rather than traveling to wherever their favorite establishments are situated. They're often known as Internet casinos or virtual casinos due to this.

The same as 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 run." This parameter may be programmed into what ever game the virtual casino may be running and is set in accordance with the owner's specifications.

As a result of its very nature of being virtual and intangible, online casinos have trust problems with prospective as well as regular clients. In light of this many casino owners have purchased and/or leased proprietary software made 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 as well as the stability of their random number generators.

Online casinos are classified into three types in accordance with how players connect to each other. They are:

Web-based online casinos - these kinds of virtual casinos don't require downloading files; they readily play through a wide range of Internet browsers. Some of them require Flash or Java for a player to participate in games however. The good thing about this kind 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 - Engaged in this kind of casino involves downloading a client installer needed for players to gain access to the virtual site. The good thing about this sort of casino is that it generally runs much faster than Web-based ones. The disadvantage is the fact that interested players need to download the client and the risk of installing malware from shady parties is quite much real.

Live-based casinos - Within this kind of casino, players can hear, see, and connect to other players. The net is just relatively an unobtrusive medium of communication as players participate in a real world environment.

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