The online casino is a relatively new development for casinos

If you ask the whereabouts of a casino in France you are likely to be sent to a supermarket but elsewhere in the world casinos are recognised as places where gambling takes place. Casinos have of course been around for many years although in times gone by they were only frequented by the rich and famous or at least the rich with places such as Monte Carlo gaining a reputation as a place to be seen. Commercialisation of casinos making them accessible to the masses came later with places such as Las Vegas in the USA starting a trend of combining them with luxury hotels and other forms of entertainment. Las Vegas probably did not have a great deal of choice about combining casinos with hotels as it is located in the middle of a desert meaning visitors needed somewhere to stay. The early days of casinos in Vegas were not good as they attracted the seedy end of the market with crime and prostitution being frequent visitors. That has changed considerably over the years and the city has now cleaned up its act considerably with some of the top artists in the world performing although the casinos are still the main attraction. The internet age then changed the world of casinos altogether.

Online casinos began to pop up all over the place and there was originally no legislation in place to restrict or control who could and who could not operate one of those casinos. Fortunately countries soon realised that this was going to be big business and that legislation was needed not least to protect the general public and so it was that minimum standards were introduced and licenses became mandatory particularly in Europe. In Ireland we are still working with outdated laws governing online gambling but that is in one way an advantage as Irish casino players can enjoy online casinos without any legal concerns. Certain countries realised the potential for employment and became centres for licensing and control such as Malta, Gibraltar, The Isle of Man and certain Channel Islands. Not coincidentally these countries were also recognised as low tax economies which could attract internet casinos to their shores. The result is that today even large well known online casinos such as Paddy Power Casino which is of course principally an Irish Casino is not based in Ireland at all. The same applies to other large online casinos such as Ladbrokes casino. Where an online  casino is based is basically of no consequence to the casino player as long as it is correctly licensed and operated under the control of a reputable authority and by choosing an online casino from the recommended list at Casinos.ie you can at least be sure of that as they have checked it out.

In the beginning of online casinos the software required was written by the casinos themselves but this was found to be an expensive and difficult operation which was becoming increasingly complex particularly where casino slots was concerned. This in turn led to the creation of specialist casino software companies who could create the software and market it to any number of online casinos simultaneously thus spreading the costs around. Today it is unlikely that any online casino actually created its own casino software. This phenomenon of sharing casino software also helps to explain why some online casinos look remarkably similar to others as for example Bet365 casino and Betfred casino do. The casino software companies operate in the background and sometimes you might not even know or care which software company is responsible for the casino slot which you play although it is important to portals such as casinos.ie who are recommending online casinos. As an example casnos.ie likes the software produced by NetEnt as it provides some slightly different and quirky online slots that should appeal to the Irish casino player. There are a number of online casinos on their list which use this software such as All Irish Casino and Freespins casino.

Because some online casinos are using the same casino software and therefore offering the same casino games they need to attract new players in a different way and they often do this by offering welcome bonuses. Often this casino bonus takes the form of what is known as a matching deposit bonus whereby the casino with promise to match your first ever deposit into the casino 100% up to certain maximums. There are occasions when even your second and third deposits are also matched but generally for a lesser percentage. If this is attracting you to an online casino you should be aware that this matching money is not placed in the same account wallet as your original deposit but rather into a bonus account. Before you can transfer this cash into your playing account which makes it possible to take it out you will need to wager that cash a number of times on certain casino games and the number f times can be quite high thus giving the casino every chance of winning back the money before you can withdraw it. This does not mean that joining bonuses are a bad thing but it helps to avoid disappointment if you are aware of the restrictions.

There are alternatives to the new player bonus such as at www.freespinscasino or indeed www.nobonuscasino. At freespins casino each deposit attracts a number of free spins on a selection of casino slots. The actual number of free spins depends on the size of your deposit and the casino slot which you choose but the good thing is that the promotion is available for every deposit that you make into the casino whether you are a new player or not. There are play through requirements but only on the money made from playing the free spins. At no bonus casino there is no upfront bonus at all (the name of the casino rather gives that away) but should you happen to lose your complete deposit on the same day as you make it you will get back 10% of your losses the very next day and there are no restrictions at all on what you can do with that returned money. You can even remove it from your account if you so wish.