With online slots more easily accessible than ever before, it’s a wonder anyone treks out to a land-based casino miles away from home anymore.
And why should you? Online slots allow you to spin away from the comfort of your own front room or on the train to work. So, if you’re still tempted by the bright lights of your local gambling joint, here are eight reasons why staying in your slippers and firing up the laptop could be the better option.
1. Signing up takes seconds
Registering for an online casino account takes minutes – all you need is a username, password and an address. Joining a land-based casino, however, is much more of a hassle: you have to get to the casino to start with, bring photo ID and sometimes have your picture taken. Then you must always remember your card if you want your comp points each time you play.
2. You can play anywhere, anytime
Most online casinos have a mobile casino using the same ewallet – so alternating between the two is a doddle. Many of the biggest online titles like mobile Pixies of the Forest and Cleopatra mobile slot – and some of the worst – are being hurried out in the new format which fits perfectly to your smartphone or tablet and include many of the same features as their older online brothers and sisters. That’s not even mentioning the convenience of whipping out the phone on the bus to work and having a few spins on Rainbow Riches mobile slot.
3. Wider range of slot games
So, there you are on the gaming floor of your local casino – there are lights and sounds everywhere and it looks like there are games as far as the eye can see. But wait – where’s that new Playn’ Go title that you tried online the other day? Where’s the progressive slot you’ve heard some Norwegian cracked for $11 million?
Online slots offer players virtually any game they can possibly want, and at all kinds of stakes. If your local casino offers one progressive jackpot slot, chances are a decent online casino will offer a dozen. Even the biggest live casino won’t have every game in the world, so why waste a journey?
4. There are limited distractions
Live casinos use table games to distract gamblers from what they’re supposed to doing: winning and taking off with their hard-earned slots loot. OK, so it’s easy to click on the ‘Roulette’ tab on your online casino site, but it’s far more exciting – and dangerous – to walk past a roulette table surrounded by whooping, hollering betting fanatics and be drawn in.
5. The RTP is better
If you’re a serious online slots player you’ll be – or should be – looking at the RTP% (Return to Player). For example, an online slot will on average RTP of between 92% – 96%. Whereas a land-based casino will normally have an RTP between 88% – 94%. This is due to the lower operating costs and fierce competition found online. Land-based casinos have much bigger overheads, with vast properties, staff costs and all those free cocktails!
6. Lots of bonuses
There are so many online casinos about these days, they’re all desperate for your business. That’s why welcome bonuses at online casinos easily out-strip any kind of flaky free-drinks-and-meals VIP programme offered by a big brick ‘n’ mortar gambling joint. Online deposit bonuses can vary wildly from casino to casino, but essentially they follow the same system: depositing the maximum amount into a casino offering a 100% deposit bonus up to $400 will pay you back $400 over time in increments. But there’s a catch: you’ll have to play enough slots to activate the bonus, and in a certain timeframe. Sometimes this may mean playing through, or wagering, 10 times the deposit amount, so unless you’re planning on a lot of spins, it may be best to steer clear.
7. No need to worry about button bashers, angry gamblers and those people who love to touch the screen
The one constant among land-based casino slots is the legions of retirees slamming spins or touching symbols for hours on end until they’ve hit one bonus round and a free glass of Sanatogen wine. Escape this 10th Circle of Hell by sticking to the octogenarian-free zone of your cosy bedroom. Of course, if you want to recreate this unique feature of land-based casinos, simply get your Gran to sit alongside you while you play at home, smashing buttons on a laptop and cursing every once in a while.
Source for image: Hayley’s Comic