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Online bingo is still a favourite

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:23:58 +0000

It is reported that one of the fastest growing casino games being played at our online casinos is the good old game of Bingo. Some people may find this somewhat surprising given that the Bingo Halls in our towns and cities appear to be going through a difficult time with many actually closing down, but clearly the actual game of Bingo seems to be as popular as ever. The online casino operators even tell us that online bingo is now being played by customers of all ages, including young men. Almost all of the major online casino sites now offer online bingo, and many have introduced interesting variations of the original game with both 80 and 75 ball games on most sites, plus some new patterns which vary from the normal winning lines. The principles of online bingo are still the same however, and it remains a very simple casino game which has the added advantage that the cards can be purchased at very little cost so online bingo gamblers can have a great deal of fun without risking much of their hard earned cash. The online casino operators have also picked up on the popularity of the linked games which are available in our bingo halls, and most online casinos now run linked games on their sites, which of course raises the potential winnings quite dramatically. Many also run rolling jackpots with their online bingo games which again increases the potential winnings for their customers. When you think about it, we should not be surprised at the surge in interest in playing bingo online, because it clearly offers a great deal of fun at very low cost and still gives the bingo players the chance of a big win. If you’ve not yet tried online bingo, click on one of links and give it a try. Online bingo may be just the game you’re looking for.

Online casinos have changed the face of gambling in Ireland

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:47:34 +0000

Access to the internet has changed the face of gambling in Ireland beyond recognition. Sports gambling, particularly horse racing and football has traditionally involved a trip to the local bookmaker, or setting up a telephone account if there was no betting shop within easy reach. Playing casino games such as roulette, blackjack or poker was simply not an option for most of the population, unless they travelled to a casino. The advent of online casinos and their associated online sports gambling sites have changed all that, and gambling online has become a major leisure activity across the country. Even those who were able to play casino games at a land based casino now find that the new online casinos can offer a very much bigger range of casino games than any of Irelands established casinos could possibly manage, particularly when it comes to slots. At onlinecasino.ie we recognise that many people have little or no experience of some of the casino games now available at these online casinos, so we have attempted to set out the basic principles of many of these online casino games in our individual casino games pages, which we hope will encourage new online gamblers to give them a try. This brings us to the next feature of online casinos which you will not find at a real casino, and that is the option to play casino games for free until you are happy that you understand how the game works. We recommend that you always take advantage of this option when playing any new casino game online. Finally, because online casinos can operate with much lower overheads than their land based competitors, it is possible to play almost all the popular casino games for very much lower stakes, bringing this form of gambling within the reach of people with quite modest budgets. If you have not yet tried playing casino games online, the two best known bookmakers in Ireland, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes both have good online casino sites alongside their online sports gambling sites, so click on our links and have a go.

Live online casino is welcome but not for everybody

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:35:10 +0000

For those of you who are new to playing casino games at an online casino, it is worth us pointing out the role of the Random Number Generator or RNG in many of the casino games available online. An RNG does exactly what you would expect from the name, and is used to supply winning numbers or combinations in many of the casino games which rely purely on luck. Provided the RNG’s are regularly checked and are fair, which we at onlinecasino.ie are sure is true of all our recommended sites, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this method of determining winning numbers. There are some games however where the use of RNG’s does irritate some online casino games players, one of which is roulette where the movement of the ball on the wheel can appear somewhat erratic on the graphics as it moves to the pre-selected number. In response to their customer’s complaints many of the main online casinos have now introduced a Live Casino option, which provides the online casino games players with the opportunity to play roulette and blackjack with real dealers and a real roulette wheel. This is of course a major step forward for the online casinos, and brings online gambling much closer to the real casino experience. It is even possible to chat with the dealers on some sites, so that online games players do not feel that they are playing alone. If you have not yet experienced playing casino games online with real dealers, Paddy Power, Ladbrokes and Party Casino of our recommended sites all offer the Live online casino option and it is well worth giving it a go. There are however some drawbacks with the Live casino experience, and we know that it does not suit every online casino gambler. Because the use of real dealers inevitably increases the operator’s overheads, minimum table bets are usually higher, and the games are played at a much quicker pace just as they would be at a real casino. Those roulette players who like to take their time laying their bets may not enjoy the much faster pace of the Live casino option. The Live casino option is a welcome innovation, but should not be the only option.

Your Laser card can be your online casino deposit option

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:36:23 +0000

When you decide to register with your choice of online casino, the next question you will need to answer is how you are going to deposit money into your online casino account. Most online casinos provide us with a number of options including credit cards, debit cards, e-wallets and even cash in the case of Paddy Power and Ladbrokes who have an estate of shops in Ireland at which we can fund an online account. For many people a debit card is the most convenient, and because the money is immediately available you can start to play your favourite casino games right away. Many people in Ireland will have a Laser debit card, which of course is virtually unknown outside Ireland, but nowadays Paddy Power, Ladbrokes and Party casino will all accept a Laser card as a casino deposit option. The Laser debit card also enables you to put money into your online casino games account without incurring bank charges, unlike most credit cards, but remember that you must have sufficient funds in your bank account to cover your deposit. At onlinecasino.ie we can’t advise on which option you should choose, but we would certainly support the use of a Laser card if only because a debit card will only allow us to play our casino games with money we actually have available. We have already listed the Laser card casinos which are featured on our recommended online casino sites, so if a Laser debit card is your preferred method of funding your casino games, click on one of our links and start playing straight away.

Are slots now the most popular online casino games

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:29:07 +0000

It would appear that in spite of the much reported squeeze on household budgets, consumers are still willing to spend their money on their leisure pursuits. William Hill’s latest trading figures show a 28% increase in online casino gambling during the last quarter of 2011, and probably more surprising an 11% increase in turnover in their betting shops. Much of this extra turnover appears to be coming from slot machines in their shops and of course the ever increasing range of online casino slots available on their website. We have to assume that William Hill are not the only online casino operator to be benefitting from our fascination for playing this form of casino game, so perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at why we are increasingly happy to spend our money playing slot machines and slots online. William Hill’s Chief Executive Ralph Topping appears to be convinced that the reason for their betting shops outperforming the rest of the High Street in these tight economic times is that customers can gamble for relatively low stakes. Many are convinced that this factor also explains the increasing popularity of playing many of the casino games online, and certainly it is possible to play slots at an online casino for quite a long time with even a limited budget. Value for money will always come to the fore when money is tight, and we all know that many leisure activities can be quite expensive, so perhaps we should not be surprised that more and more people are choosing to enjoy their leisure time at home by playing low stake casino games on their computer. It is difficult for us to identify which casino games are the most popular with new online casino customers, but it would be fair to assume that the online casino operators are responding to customer preferences when they consistently introduce new slots and video slots on their sites.

If you like your casino games quick and easy try Red Dog

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:48:05 +0000

For those online casino gamblers who enjoy quick, simple casino games which require no particular skill and rely purely on chance, a few online casinos, including Bwin on our list, offer a casino game known as Red Dog, or sometimes Between the Sheets. Red Dog is an online card game played against the house using a standard 52 card deck which is shuffled after each hand so that there is no advantage to be gained by attempting to memorise the cards. First the player must decide how much they want to stake, and place an ante bet on the hand. Each hand comprises just three cards, with the first two cards dealt face up, followed by a third card dealt face down and normally positioned between the first two cards. The object of the game is to bet whether the third blind card has a value between the two cards that have been dealt face up, which would be a winning hand. Please note that the ace is always high in Red Dog. If the player believes he may have a winning hand, he now has the opportunity to raise his stake. If not he can call and the ante bet remains in force. The third card is then turned over and if it is a winning hand the player receives a pay out which is usually even money. There are however two situations which may result in a higher pay out. Firstly, if the two face up cards have a spread between them of 3 or less, a winning hand is clearly less likely but the pay out is usually higher. Then there is the situation where the two face up cards are a pair. Clearly it is not possible for the third card to have a value between them, but if the third card is the same value this constitutes a winning hand which is normally paid out at odds of 11/1. If not, the hand is declared void, or a ‘Push’ and the stake is returned. Similarly, if the two face up cards are consecutive numbers, for example an 8 and a 9, it is again impossible to have a winning hand and the stake is returned. As with any new casino game, we recommend that you play in free play mode until you are comfortable with how the game is played, but Red Dog is great fun so click our Bwin link and have a go.

Online casino software is a specialist field

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:29:02 +0000

Those of you who play casino games at more than one online casino will have noticed that many of these games look very similar and in fact can be identical in layout and content. The reason for this is that online casinos do not produce their own software to run their sites, preferring to use one of the specialist casino software companies. There are currently four main online casino software companies who between them cover almost all the major casino sites we are likely to use. These top casino software companies are Microgaming, Wagerworks, Playtech and Chartwell, and for those interested in knowing a bit more about them we have put more details on our casino software page. To illustrate the power of these software providers, William Hill, Betfred and Bet365 all use Playtech as their software provider and when you look at these online casino sites you will see that they are almost identical except for the branding, and for the most part offer the same casino slots. Some online casinos will use more than one software supplier, with perhaps the main casino games such as poker and roulette being run by one supplier and the slots by another. It is worth noting that it is the casino software companies who negotiate any copyrite deals with the big entertainment conglomerates who own some of the characters or television shows they use as a basis for their slots games. At first glance it is tempting to accuse the online casino operators of being a little lazy in opting to use these same software suppliers, but when you realise that our personal data protection and security is also a function of the online casino software you begin to understand just how important the choice of software and the software supplier is for all of us.

Limited budget then try Let it ride poker

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 08:23:28 +0000

Poker is a very popular casino game but for many, poker formats such as Texas Hold’em can risk them easily exceeding their budget in just one or two hands because the stakes can increase so many times during the game. There are however some online casinos who offer alternative forms of poker with fixed stakes and fixed odds winnings depending on the value of your hand. One of these alternative online poker games is ‘Let it ride’, which you can find at Ladbrokes and Bet365, and this is one casino game that allows online casino gamblers with limited budgets to play poker without risking high losses. We have explained the basic rules of Let it ride poker on our games pages, but briefly it is a game of poker played against the house using a standard 52 card deck. When played at an online casino, three cards are dealt face up, followed by two community cards face down in the middle of the table. Before the cards are dealt, the player is required to place three equal bets of at least the table minimum, and these bets are the maximum which a player can lose on that hand. The player can then decide whether the three cards they can see give them a chance of winning when combined with the blind community cards, and they can remove one of the initial bets or let it ride. One community card is then revealed and the player has another chance to remove one of their initial bets, or again let it ride. The final community card is then turned up and winning hands are rewarded at fixed odds against the remaining stake. The minimum winning hand is normally a pair of tens, so it is worth checking the house rules before you play, but if you are lucky enough to get a straight or straight flush the odds are very good. Let it ride is a very simple online casino game which allows you complete control of your maximum stake, and is an excellent introduction to poker. As usual you should play for free until you are sure of how the game is played, but if you enjoy playing poker and don’t have a large budget then log on to the Ladbrokes or Bet365 online casino sites and give it a try.

Let onlinecasino.ie help your online casino games experience

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:18:05 +0000

Not that long ago very few people in Ireland owned their own personal computer, but now we are approaching an era where the majority of the population have access to the internet in one form or another. Not only that but we are using our computers, i-pads or mobile phones more and more in our everyday lives. As a result almost all business sectors have introduced web sites which enable us to access their goods and services online, none more so than the online casino operators. All the major bookmakers now have excellent online gambling facilities for their sports fans, plus online casinos which enable their customers to play an enormous range of casino games online. There are also an increasing number of specialist online casino operators who concentrate solely on the business of playing casino games. This proliferation of new online casinos is why we at onlinecasino.ie, have attempted to sort out the most reliable and entertaining sites for our readers, and this has resulted in our list of recommended sites to get you started. We also realise that many people in Ireland who now have access to online casinos may not have played many, if any of the casino games they are being offered, so you will also find a brief summary of the rules of the most popular games on our onlinecasino.ie site. The very nature of online casinos as opposed to their land based competitors, means that online casinos are also able to offer us a huge range of slots for us to enjoy, some of which use up to five reels and multiple winning lines. Clearly it would be impossible to describe all of these online casino slots in detail, but the online casinos have introduced another feature not available at any of the real casinos, and that is the free play option. If you are playing casino games at any of the major online casino sites, this free play option allows new players to learn how the game works without having to risk your hard earned cash. Give it a try and enjoy your gambling online.

We applaud the free online casino option

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:54:49 +0000

It is always satisfying to be able to praise an organisation or business sector for coming up with a good idea, and we at onlinecasino.ie are happy to do just that for the online casino operators. In this instance we are talking about the free online casino option now offered by nearly all the major online casinos available in Ireland. One of the worst feelings for any new gambler playing casino games is not totally understanding the rules of a new game, or indeed how the game is played online compared to in a real casino. At onlinecasino.ie we have attempted to explain the basic rules of the most popular casino games available online, but there is no better way to learn than to actually play the game. For this reason we applaud the free play facility offered by the online casinos. Clearly the online casinos are in business to make money, but they have recognised that when new customers first start to play their casino games, it is very easy for them to become frustrated and lose money simply because they don’t understand how the game is played. This could result in these new gamblers never trying again, so it makes sense to introduce them to the games for free. The same of course applies to experienced casino games players, particularly when it comes to the enormous range of slots which the online casino operators are encouraging us to try. Whether you’re a new online casino gambler or you just want to try a new casino game, always take advantage of the free casino games option. You can have fun getting to know whether you enjoy a new game without it costing you money to find out. Most online casinos offer the free play option on their main pages, but in a few cases you need to look for it. Have fun and don’t give up.