The Different Types Of Casino You Can Find Online
There are thousands of online casinos out there, but not every type of online casino is the same. With games and offers for every type of player using every type of online technology, the world of internet gambling is a diverse place. Here are some of the different types of casinos you can find online.
Crypto And No-KYC Casinos
One type of online casino that has become increasingly popular over the last few years is the sort of casino that does not make its customers go through a Know Your Customer (KYC) process when they sign up for it. These casinos without a KYC process almost always cross over with cryptocurrency casinos, satisfying a handful of particular needs.
Firstly, they give people who hold crypto a new way of using their blockchain money. Secondly, because, in many cases, they operate offshore, they are not bound to the same sorts of regulations that affect traditional, fiat, casinos and can attract customers who might otherwise find it hard to gamble online. Thirdly, they offer their users the sort of privacy they have come to expect when dealing with blockchain-based finance. Fourthly, because they use crypto, they can offer payouts much faster than traditional, fiat-based, gambling sites. Finally, they allow people to sign up and play without having to go through a time-consuming and potentially intrusive KYC check. These sites have flourished recently, and there is no reason to assume that more and more aren’t going to be shooting up on a regular basis.
Instant Play Casinos
Perhaps the most common, or at least the most obvious, type of casino website is the instant play casino. These sites’ gambling facilities are going to be based within a browser, so there is no need to download any additional software if you want to play. The technology that helps these sites get to work properly is the HTML online standard, which includes JavaScript. Without getting too off-piste, it is these bits of tech that help games operate quickly and smoothly across a variety of platforms, meaning that you don’t have to do anything noticeably different if you want to play on your computer, your phone, or your tablet.
What makes instant play sites so popular is that they are simple. You fill out the form, you sign up, you deposit your money, and that’s that. They are great for casual and occasional players, but they also have their fair share of loyal customers and experienced gamblers. Being on the sort of technology that has a lot of people who can serve as developers helps them bring out new games on a regular basis. When you consider that there are more than 4,000 different gambling companies and online casinos as of 2024, and the overwhelming majority of them have instant play sites, you can see just how far-reaching they are.
Downloadable Casinos And Casino Apps
While instant play sites are the most popular kind of online casino, that hasn’t always been the case. There was a time when most online betting sites operated via a download basis. This was because, back in the day, computers and technology in general weren’t used to streaming a live game in the browser. Instead, you needed some specialized software to help you play the game of your choice, whether it was roulette, poker, blackjack, slots, or even baccarat. The downloaded application keeps some resources stored locally, which means they can load much quicker, and the client has to connect to a remote server to get hold of certain kinds of data. While they have, for the most part, been overtaken by browser-based sites, there are still some downloadable casinos for computers and they have a spiritual successor that is very popular, too.
Online casino mobile apps are all the rage right now, with hundreds available across both iOS and Android. People have the ability to use something they carry around with them every day to play slot machines, classic table games like poker and blackjack, and even take part in a little sports betting, too. Although there might be a large time difference between classic desktop casinos and mobile apps, the same principles, including having some locally-kept assets for easier loading, apply.
Specialist Casinos
There’s one other kind of website that counts as an online casino that you might not have thought about, and that’s the specialist site. In the UK, bingo is a national pastime. Although the numbers have dropped slightly, there are still more than 600 places in the country with a bingo hall, and most decent-sized towns have at least one of them. Indeed, one of the reasons why the number of physical bingo halls has dropped is that an increasing number of people are going online to play bingo, with specialist bingo sites popping up and grabbing customers. As well as giving people the opportunity to play bingo, there is also a social chat element to the sites, which has helped make them an increasingly big deal.
Another type of specialist casino is the online card room. Usually focusing on poker, these sites give people the chance to test out their skill and luck with other people, often for real money. Some of the biggest sites are, for want of a better phrase, all in with the wider world of poker. For example, people can enter the World Series of Poker via satellite tournaments at GGPoker, while PokerStars runs its own prestigious World Championship of Online Poker.
The views and opinions expressed by the writers and columnists of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Casinocenter.com do not necessarily reflect those of the magazine’s management. All content is intended solely for entertainment and informational purposes. Gambling may be illegal in some jurisdictions—it is the responsibility of each visitor to check and comply with local laws before participating in online gaming. Always read the terms and conditions, and gamble responsibly.
