Ultimate Online Casino Guide

Casino Guide Online
If you’re interested in learning all there is to know about online casino gaming, you’re in the right place. Here at EuropeSlots, we’ve compiled the ultimate online casino guide, helping you to master all the basics before signing up and giving it a go for real.

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll find information on online blackjack, roulette and slots, as well as some crucial notes regarding the mechanics of online casinos and how they work. Each guide comes with a series of handy graphics too – helping you visualise the points made in the text.

Understanding Online Casino
So, why play casino games online? If you are yet to experience the joys of online casinos, you may be unaware of the many benefits they offer. The convenience of playing from home is an obvious one, but when you factor in the fact that there is a much wider choice of games, bigger jackpots, more benefits and promotions, options to play for free and lower wagering requirements, you can start to see why online casinos are so popular compared to the offline equivalent.

Online casino games are also as fair as fair can be. At Loyal Casino, they have many live roulette and blackjack tables, which stream a real croupier working at a table to ensure you can experience an authentic game environment. All of the non-live games, such as slots, blackjack and roulette, use random number generators (RNG’s) which ensure each game is completely random. All of the RNG’s are stamped and verified by the Maltese government, giving you peace of mind that you are playing in completely fair conditions.

A Casino with licens always make sure that their members are playing in the most safe and secure online environment possible. That’s why they encrypt all of the personal information you provide when signing up and playing. They also ask the members to verify their identity at an early stage to protect minors as well as the loyal members and ensure the fairest of playing conditions for everyone. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for all online casino providers, so if you are thinking of signing up to a online casino then do your homework and make sure they have strict safety and fairness regulations.

How to Play Blackjack
One of the biggest appeals of blackjack is its simplicity. Anyone can go from being a complete novice to being an accomplished player in no time. The game consists of four main elements – the table, the playing cards, chips and the dealer – and is almost identical in every casino and website all over the world.

The aim is to reach a higher value of cards than the dealer, without exceeding 21. Each card is worth its numeric value, with face cards worth 10 and aces worth either 1 or 11. Chips are used to bet against the dealer at even odds, so if you win you will receive double your stake.

Playing blackjack online is almost no different to playing in a bricks-and-mortar casino, except in non-live games where the dealer is replaced by the computer. There are also some variations of the classic casino game available online, such as , where the player can see both of the dealer’s cards face-up as opposed to just one. Playing online is also much quicker, as the computer is able to calculate and distribute winnings much faster than a human dealer.

The History of Online Blackjack
The game of blackjack, commonly referred to as 21, or less commonly ‘vingt-et-un’, has been around for hundreds of years. Most historians suggest that it was invented during the French revolution, but others suggest it has a deeper history, dating as far back the Roman times. One thing we can be certain on is that since its introduction to the internet, it has taken online casinos by storm – so much so that there are now many variations of the classic game available to play online.

Due to the game’s popularity, you can now experience the thrill of live blackjack from your own home by playing at a live table. These tables stream croupiers in real casinos and allow you to play in the most authentic way without actually visiting a casino. If you decide to play at Loyal Casino, you can join live games from some of the most famous casino venues around the world, including Monte Carlo, Barcelona and London. You can also play all of our games, including blackjack, on your mobile device.

Blackjack Strategy
Blackjack has the lowest ‘house edge’ of any online casino game, but there are still ways of reducing it further and increasing your chances of winning. Blackjack strategies are the perfect way to do just that. Put simply – a blackjack strategy is the process of playing blackjack with a predetermined plan of action.

Deciding whether to hit or hold is a decision which will determine your fate in a game of blackjack, with correct choices giving you a much better chance of winning.

There is also a chart which outlines when you should double your stake. This is a strategy that is available after the deal, and should only be used when you have a statistical advantage over the dealer due to having a strong hand.

Another strategy that can help to give you an advantage over the dealer is splitting. This process involves separating your hand into two hands and receiving two more cards from the dealer – be aware though, you can only do this when your original cards have the same value, and doing so will double your initial stake.

Card Counting
If you think that card counting is not for you due to the complexity and mental ability needed to master it, you may want to think again. It is a common misconception that you need to memorise every card that comes out of the pack. In fact, the basic card counting strategy is remarkably simple, and with a bit of practice and patience, anyone could learn how to do it.

It is also a myth that card counting is illegal. It is actually a perfectly legal strategy as long as a player doesn’t use aids to help them. We provide a comprehensive guide on what card counting is, where it originated from, how it works and, most importantly, give you an interactive training tool to help master your card counting skills.

How to Play Roulette
Roulette is one of the most popular online casino games, thanks to its simplicity and the opportunity for brave betters to win big. The game consists of four elements – the betting table, the wheel, the croupier and the chips. The table is divided into sections of every possible bet, from individual numbers to group bets such as red or black and odd or even. Different sections have different odds, depending on how likely they are to happen. Your job as a player is to place chips in the winning sections before each spin of the wheel. The wheel contains numbers from 0 to 36 and has a groove where a ball is spun until it eventually falls into a numbered section. The croupier – also known as the dealer – then places a marker on the table to indicate where the ball landed and pays out the winnings to those who have placed chips in winning sections.

Playing roulette online is almost identical to the real thing, except it is much quicker thanks to the computerised dealer in non-live games. It is also much easier to access, as the maximum capacity of an online table is far greater than a roulette table in a bricks-and-mortar casino. At LiveRoulette, you can also play some exciting variations, such as , which is a live game where certain numbers have their odds boosted before every spin.

The History of Roulette
Roulette has been entertaining casino goers for hundreds of years, but its invention was actually an accident. In the 17th-century French mathematician, Blaise Pascal, was attempting to build a perpetual motion machine and mistakenly ended up creating one of the most popular casino games of all time. It wasn’t long until his invention was introduced in some of the most exclusive casinos in the world, and before long, roulette became a feature of just about every casino in the world.

The game remained entirely unchanged ever since its creation until recently, when modern technology caught up and roulette became available both online and on mobile with online casinos such as Loyal Casino. The game is still much the same when playing online, but computerised dealers and random number generators have made playing much quicker and easier. If you prefer the authentic experience of a real croupier, you don’t have to head to your local casino, just check out our wide range of .

Over the years there have been some truly incredible stories of players winning huge amounts when playing roulette. Most of them come from gambling’s spiritual home, Las Vegas, and feature some famous names. In 1963 Sean Connery, of James Bond fame, won a staggering $27,000 in one spin by betting on the games most popular number – 17.

Roulette Strategy
Despite being a game of luck, there are lots of strategies that have been helping roulette players increase their chances of winning for many years. The most famous one is the Martingale strategy, which was created by an 18th-century casino owner. It is a fairly straightforward system and can be easily applied to online casinos. The basic idea is to double your stake each time you lose a bet, so when you eventually win, you will recoup all previous losses. You then return to the original stake and start the process again.

More conservative players with a target in mind will prefer the Labouchere strategy, created by Henry Labouchere, a British politician from the 19th-century. This strategy involves setting a target, such as 10, and writing down a series of numbers which add up to that amount. You then use those numbers as a stake. When you win, you cross that number off the sequence. When you lose, the total amount bet is added back onto the sequence. This is done on even odds bets until all numbers on the sequence are crossed out.

Another popular strategy, which is seen as a safer version of the Martingale, is the D’alembert strategy. This was designed by another French mathematician, Jean le Rond d’Alembert, and is still used by roulette players all over the world. Instead of doubling your initial stake when you lose, you simply add €1. When you win, you take away €1. The idea is that when you eventually reach €0, you will be in profit.

Introduction to Online Slots
Visit almost any online casino, and you will discover a variety of exciting slot machines. They are some of the most fun casino games you can play, but sometimes all the bright lights, colourful reels and an assortment of buttons can look a little confusing. So, how do they work?

Online slots are actually fairly simple in most cases, and don’t differ much from the vintage machines that you would find in Vegas. Instead of pulling a lever, you simply click to spin. This then spins the individual reels, and if the symbols on them line up across a payline, you win! Some video slots have a progressive jackpot, which usually requires a side game to win.

A common misconception about online slots is that they are rigged to take your money and pay very little back out. This is completely false. At Loyal Casino they use random number generators verified by the Maltese government, and the slots generally return over 90% of income to the player over time.

How to Play Slots
Online slots have one of the lowest difficulty levels of any online casino game. They are mostly reliant on luck, although the nudge and hold features of some slots add a dimension of skill. As a player, all you need to do is decide how much you want to bet – this is determined by the value of the coins you play with – and click spin. It’s as easy as that!

A hold button allows you to freeze certain reels, which may already be matching, to increase your chances of achieving a winning combination. If the reels land just short of a winning combo, you could use the nudge button to push the reel into a winning position. You can try out our online slots at Loyal Casino for free by playing whilst logged out. Then, when you are ready, you can log-in or register and play for real.

Unlike table games such as roulette and blackjack, the odds of slots aren’t the same across all variations of the game. Some slots have multiple payreels, side games and a larger variety of symbols, which all have an effect on the odds. You can view a breakdown of the rules and odds of each game by clicking the ‘?’ symbol whilst playing.

Types of Slot Machines
With over 900 online slot games available to play at Loyal Casino, you have so much to choose from when picking which ones to play. There are three main types of online slot machines – classic, multi-reel and video slots. Classic slots are the closest online equivalent of the vintage slots, such as fruit machines, that were made famous by Vegas casinos. They consist of three reels, a small selection of buttons and a virtual lever to activate the spin. Multi-reel slots are similar to classic slots but, as the name suggests, they have more reels and usually more paylines. This means that there are more ways to bet, and therefore more ways to win! Video slots are the most popular online slot variation, and with animations, sounds, side games and progressive jackpots, it is easy to see why. They also often feature recognisable characters, such as , based on the cult-classic 1990’s movie starring Jim Carrey. Check out the full range of or read more about the different types of in the full-length version of this chapter.