The free online casino option is a welcome element of online gaming

Since some of the leading bookmakers decided to maximise their investment in online gambling by adding a few gambling games to their sports gambling sites, we have seen a huge expansion in what we now refer to as online casinos. Not only have all our major bookmakers now created an online casino section as part of their sports gambling sites, but we now have access to a whole new type of specialist online casinos dedicated solely to providing exciting and new casino games. Here at onlinecasino.ie we have seen our recommended list grow dramatically over the past couple of years as more of these new online casinos have come on stream and proved to be popular additions to the casino games sector. They have also undoubtedly increased still further the number of casino games we can play online from an already high number available at the original online casinos operated by the bookmakers. Most of these original online casinos now offer well over a hundred different casino games and some even have more than two hundred for us to choose from. Although it is primarily this huge number of different casino games which has made the online casinos so popular with Irish games enthusiasts, we should also applaud some of the other innovations which the online casinos have introduced over the years. For instance, when they needed to attract and please casino games players who were already regular players at a real casino, the online casinos introduced the live casino option for casino games such as roulette and blackjack, but perhaps the most welcome of these new developments was the free online casino option. As more and more new casino games were added to the online casino sites so the free online casino option became increasingly relevant and ever more important. It was also an option which their land based rivals could not afford to match. A real casino, a bingo club or even a slot machine arcade all have substantially bigger overheads than an online casino which has no bricks and mortar to support and very few employees, and are therefore at a huge disadvantage when it comes to competing with even the much smaller minimum table stakes offered by online casinos let alone the option to play games for free. There is no doubt that the free online casino option is a huge selling point for the online casinos and takes full advantage of their lower costs, but it is also an important element in how we approach the huge range of casino games we can now play.

As no doubt many of us will remember when we first went to a real casino, playing a casino game for the first time can be a little daunting as well as expensive if we make a mistake, and although most of the new casino games at an online casino are slots games it is probably when learning how to play the more traditional casino games where we get most benefit from the free play option. Here at onlinecasino.ie we have done our best to help new casino games players learn how to play the traditional casino games by dedicating a significant part of our site to detailing the rules of most of these traditional games, but we also know there is no substitute for hands on experience. Some of the traditional casino games such as roulette for example require very little explanation, although there is an art to placing multiple bets on games such as roulette and craps without over doing it and getting almost no reward from a win. Being able to try a new traditional casino game without the risk of losing money has also proved to be useful in dispelling some of the myths surrounding certain casino games. The game of baccarat for example has somehow become known as a complicated game played only by high rollers. As far as we are concerned here in Ireland, part of the reason for that is that we rarely had the opportunity to play baccarat, but even in the European casinos where it is played it is often away from the main floor and therefore appears exclusive. In reality playing baccarat at an online casino could not be easier. Each hand is totally controlled by the dealer in accordance with the rules of the game, so the player does not even need to know the rules. It’s true they are a little complicated but all the player has to do is predict one of just three potential outcomes of each hand. Most of the time either the dealer’s hand will win, or the player’s hand will win. Occasionally there may be a tie, but it is unusual and rarely backed. Another traditional casino game which does require a certain amount of experience and knowledge is backgammon, and the free play option will undoubtedly encourage more of us to give it a go. That also applies to poker of course and all the online casinos offer a variety of different poker formats which can be played against the house for fixed odds, most of which can also be played free of charge as you learn.

As we have already pointed out the vast majority of the casino games available at our online casinos are slots games in various forms, but many of these are a far cry from the simple slot machines we used to play so the opportunity to have a few free spins may be very welcome. The free online casino option is also an excellent way for us to take a look at the different online casinos, particularly now that we have even more choice. Unfortunately some online casinos make this easier than others to do. All the online casinos on our list offer the free play option on most of their games, but some require us to register before we have full access, and others only provide a full range in the download mode. On the other side of the coin CasinoCasino, Casinoland and Instacasino all make the free play option their default mode on all games.