Check out the online casino bonus carefully to avoid disappointment

It seems that in every major European country there are casinos where you can gamble to your hearts content but there is one exception and that is Ireland but when it comes to an online casino Ireland has plenty of choice, in fact possibly more than other countries which can be partly explained by the relaxed attitude of the Government to online casinos and other forms of online gambling. Some countries either try to control online casinos by making them State owned such as The Netherlands or by banning them completely such as in China or the USA but in Ireland anything goes to such an extent that it is even up to the user to make sure that the online casino is correctly licensed and operated. In the UK for example they have their own license which online casinos have to obtain before operating. This does give the user some protection but it should be said that was not the original idea of the license. The original idea was and is to collect tax from the online casino operators on profits from UK based players regardless of where the online casino is based. This was really a reaction to online casinos basing themselves offshore generally in low tax countries to avoid tax. Even the online casino of our very own Paddy Power is not based in Ireland but in Alderney in the Channel Islands where it has a license issued by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. Casinos.ie is not suggesting that there is anything wrong with this arrangement as Alderney is recognised along with other territories such as Malta or Gibraltar as being centres for online gambling and issuing licenses to good online casinos.

If you are in any doubt about the legitimacy of the online casino you are thinking of joining then simply make sure that it is one of those listed on the casinos.ie site as they have all been checked out as being correctly licensed and operated. There is in fact a list of 8 online casinos which are recommended so there should be at least one which satisfies your needs. Which one you choose will depend on your own preferences. If you prefer to stick with the big names in the industry than Paddy Power casino or Ladbrokes casino is probably the answer but if you are looking at the choice and variety of casino games then others such as All Irish Casino might be more up your street where they use a combination of casino software companies such as NetEnt and Microgaming to provide fun casino slots along with the massive progressive jackpot slots. If you are a new player to an online casino watch out also for possible bonuses which are available to new players although it is advisable to read the terms and conditions carefully beforehand to avoid disappointment. The most frequent form of casino bonus for new players is what is called a deposit matching bonus whereby the online casino will match your first deposit, often at 100%, up to a certain maximum amount. It is also not unusual for an online casino to match your second and even third deposits but this is usually to a lower percentage.

The thing to remember about this bonus money is that it is placed into a bonus account rather than your normal account. Money in your normal account is accessible to you at all times for playing or withdrawing but money in a bonus account is only available for playing casino games and cannot be withdrawn until certain conditions have been met. The conditions are generally expressed as play through requirements which means that you will have to stake the bonus money a number of times before any winnings can be transferred into your regular account and this can often be as many as 40 times. Some online casinos will try to keep this number down to say 20 by expressing it as a number of times your bonus plus your deposit but it will be obvious to most Irish casino players that 20 times your bonus plus your deposit is the same as 40 times your bonus if the bonus was 100% of your deposit in the first place. The terms and conditions will also state that not all casino games count towards the staking requirement so it is not unusual for casino games such as Roulette or Blackjack not to count or if they do for a much lower percentage. All in all this makes the likelihood of you actually getting anything out of the bonus rather remote but of course you have been able to play for longer than would otherwise be the case so at least the enjoyment factor has been there.

There are however alternatives to this arrangement which can be interesting. For example at the online casino called nobonuscasino.com there are no bonuses but instead there is a cash back offer. At this online casino if you make a deposit, subject to certain limits, and are unfortunate enough to lose it all on the same day then the online casino will refund 10% of your losses the very next day. The good thing about this arrangement is that there are no restrictions on what you can do with the refunded money as it is placed directly into your regular account rather than any form of bonus account so if you want to take it out, you can. The other great thing about nobonuscasino is that this promotion is not only for new casino players but is available for every player on every deposit they make into their online casino account. Your choice therefore is a one off deposit matching bonus with strings attached or an ongoing promotion of cash back when you lose.

Another option worth taking a look at can be found at freespinscasino.com where each deposit entitles you to a number of free spins on a selection of casino slots. The winning from the free spins are subject to play through requirements but it is of course not your money you are playing with and again this is available to every player on every deposit.