Online Casino Reviews: We Review the Best Casinos
Searching for reliable reviews of the best online casinos in the US? We’ve compiled accurate and up-to-date insights to help you make an informed decision in this vast market.
Top Online Casinos Compared for 2024
| Ranking | Casino Name | Bonus Amount | Review | Payment Options | Minimum Deposit | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 |
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USD $5,000 Bonus |
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$20 Min Deposit | PLAY NOW | |
| 5 |
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USD $3000 Bonus |
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$20 Min Deposit | PLAY NOW |
Expert-Approved Checklist for Evaluating the Best Online Casinos
If you’ve decided to deposit money, the first step in finding the right casino is determining which factors matter most to you. Our online gambling reviews help you explore those factors. Here are a few questions to consider as you read our casino reviews.
- Do you want to play at a casino that has the latest features: slots with 3D graphics or live dealer games? Our reviews give detailed slot game analysis.
- Do you prefer to play at a site with a huge welcome bonus? Read our reviews for bonus amounts and terms of use.
- Do you want the option of gambling on your smartphone? Our reviews discuss mobile gaming.
- Do you want casino games plus other betting options? Do you enjoy poker or a mobile sports betting app? Our casino reviews mention poker and sports content.
Figure out what you want, then scour the best reviews for what matters most to you. Find that section in our casino reviews. That way, you can compare gambling sites.
Game Content
Ultimately, gamblers play online for the casino games. If they’re a blackjack player, then you’ll read casino reviews for a site’s rules for Classic Blackjack or whether the site has Perfect Pairs. If baccarat is their cup of tea, then they want to know about the online baccarat and live baccarat.
If a bettor plays online slots, they read the best casino reviews for info on how many slots a casino has and what kind of jackpots those games feature. They want to know about the software package, or the games’ graphics, gameplay and other slots features.
The best casino reviews should focus on game content. Our reviewers give the details on real money games, including a casino’s online slots, table games, video poker and specialty games.
Welcome Bonuses & Other Promotions
For many gamblers, welcome bonuses are a key part of the evaluation process. For promotional reasons, casinos offer players welcome bonuses for one of two things: (1) to register a new casino account or (2) to make a deposit in that account. If you receive a bonus for a sign-up, it’s called a no-deposit bonus. If you receive a bonus for a first deposit, it’s called a deposit bonus.
The deposit bonus is the offer most players consider, which is why it’s our primary focus. Our bonus reviews evaluate several key factors: the maximum bonus amount, the minimum deposit required, the match rate, eligible games, and the wagering requirements. Each of these elements plays a crucial role. For more details, visit our casino bonuses page.
Casino promotions don’t stop at the welcome bonuses. Sites have a wide variety of offers: reload bonuses, free chips, game-specific bonuses, free spins on casinos, and casino rebates (sometimes called “insurance”). When gambling sites offer one or more of these, we add that information to our reviews.
Player Rewards
Player rewards aren’t always reviewed as closely as bonus promotions, but they should be. A casino site’s loyalty program is like a land-based casino’s slots club – it provides cashback and other rewards for volume play. High rollers especially gain big rewards for membership in the VIP club, but all players receive benefits.
Our casino reviews describe each casino site’s player rewards program (or VIP club). Our reviewers list the comps and other perks you receive, while discussing what you must do to attain higher-tier levels in the program. Beginners should look closely at VIP program information when reading the best casino reviews.
Software Support
Our casino reviews also discuss a site’s software package. The best software makes gameplay better, while offering a huge number of games. Compatibility and playability are key factors, because players want their casino to be compatible with and optimized for their desktop computer or laptop. You don’t want technical issues when playing online, especially if you’re playing for real money.
Some casinos have one software provider. Others compile a long list of suppliers, sometimes a dozen or more. This is especially important when it comes to online slots, because players might want to sample slot machines from many designers.
Mobile Casino Games
The mobile casino component now has its own section in the best casino reviews. It’s important that operators support players who use Android and iOS devices (iPhone, iPad). Less important every year is BlackBerry and Windows Phone, but whatever type of smartphone or tablet computer you own, players want to play mobile casino games on the go. In our casino reviews, we review this component of interactive casino gaming on its own merits.
Live Dealer Games
Our reviews add similar emphasis to a site’s live dealer games. A live casino is a gaming studio somewhere in the world with bricks-and-mortar table games like baccarat, blackjack, roulette and craps. Real-life dealers and croupiers operate these games. Meanwhile, cameras film the game from several angles. These videos are live-streamed to the player, who sits at home on their computer.
Many players never got used to simulated table games using computer graphics and random number generators. Instead, they prefer the live casino experience they would find in their local bricks-and-mortar casino. They play online for convenience, of course, but prefer playing with real cards, roulette wheels and dice. Live dealer games provide the best of both worlds: the convenience of casinos combined with the real-time gaming experience of live casinos.
The best casino reviews cite the live dealer games included, plus bet limits and staff quality.
Safety and Security
Player safety should never be overlooked when reading the best casino reviews. An online bettor wants to know their money transactions are secure. The best sites use 128-bit encryption and SSL certificates to stop identity thieves. We review their security systems.
Safety comes in other forms. We also review a website’s reputation for paying regularly and on time. Offshore casinos usually are licensed, but they don’t have to abide by US consumer protection laws, because they exist outside the United States.
Despite that, a site’s reputation spreads quickly due to reviews, so a rogue casino soon is known to the gambling world. Our reviews cite a casino’s reputation and legitimacy, so our readers have a leg up when deciding whether to deposit money at a site.
Licensing
Licensing is a key part of a casino’s reputation, so we always including licensing info in our casino reviews. Around the world, licensing agencies review and audit gambling sites, poker sites and sportsbooks. Certain countries are closely linked to the online gambling industry, collecting fees for licensing. The authorities in these countries have a reputation. By licensing a casino site, they confer this reputation on the casino.
Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, the Isle of Man, the UK (Gambling Commission), Alderney, Antigua & Barbuda, Curacao, and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (in Canada) are only some of the licensing agencies around the world that we track. If a site is licensed by one of these countries, you can tell a lot about its legitimacy and trustworthiness.
The best casino reviews always note a site’s gaming license, when applicable.
Talk to Customer Service
The best sites have customer service staff for a reason. The job of the customer service team is to answer questions about the site, help customers with problems, and generally assist casino gamblers in any way possible. Casinos worth your time post their contact information right on their website.
Most also run live-chat features, where talking to customer service is as easy as using a chat room or messenger service. You should talk to a site’s customer service team before you join, if you have questions you want answered. Chatting with a customer rep also helps test out the wait time, the knowledge of the staff and how user-friendly the process of contacting the site is. Our casino reviews rate customer service, so you’ll know what you’re getting into.
Essential Tips Before Making Secure and Smooth Casino Deposits
Before you put good money in your player account, here’s what depositors should research when reading the best online casino reviews.
1. Research the casino’s reputation
Some online casinos have their roots in reputable names within the gambling industry, like Bovada Casino. Bovada originally launched as an online gambling platform in 2011 and has since gained a strong reputation for trustworthiness. Unlike some land-based casino chains, Bovada has always been focused on online gaming and operates with proper licensing while adhering to strict legal and regulatory standards.
Not all sites have that kind of pedigree, so to test their reputation, all you can do is poke around their website and read their online reviews. Look for gaming license information posted prominently on the site and an active customer service department. Look around casino forums and closely read reviews for any information about the casino you can find. Judge accordingly.
2. Determine if it accepts players from your country
With differing online gaming laws all over the world, not all sites cater to all customers. Depending on the country where you live, you may not have access to a big variety of gambling sites. Online gamblers in the USA and Canada have seen their gambling options drop off thanks to stricter online gaming laws, so they have a smaller pool of gambling websites to choose from. Our reviews point out a site’s country restrictions.
Usually, if you’re restricted from playing at a gaming site, a pop-up or other notification will appear when you go to the casino’s home page saying that they cannot accept customers from your location, but that doesn’t happen all the time. To find out which countries are restricted from a given casino, check that casino’s FAQ page or call their customer service department. Our reviews cites key restricted countries when that information is given.
3. Learn if the casino accepts US dollars and your favorite payment methods
Funding your accounts can be a tricky thing depending on where you live. Europeans have access to a lot more third-party payment transfer services than gamblers in North America or Asia.
On the flip side, Americans and Canadians aren’t allowed to make direct bank transfers, and most of their credit card companies are barred from doing business with known gambling sites, making funding a big factor in the decision process.
If you want to avoid currency exchange headaches, look for casinos that accept the currency you use every day. These sites accept many different currencies, including the US dollar, and there are even Australian dollar casinos, even though those two countries have strict laws against online gambling.
4. Read about bonuses
Casino bonuses aren’t as lucrative as they used to be, thanks mostly to higher wagering requirements for clearing bonus cash. If you’re using bonuses or promotions to choose your casino, you have to read the fine print or “terms and conditions” posted at the site. Our casino reviews point out one-sided terms of use if sites use them.
Make sure you understand which casino games count toward clearing your bonus and how much you have to wager before you earn your bonus money. Joining an casino site because it advertises a big bonus is worthless if it turns out that the casino games you play don’t count toward earning that bonus. Again, read our reviews to make sure a site isn’t deceptive.
5. Study their game selection
Many different casino software designers exist, producing a wide variety of games. When reading casino reviews, you can find everything from 3D table games to more rudimentary instant-play slot machines. You won’t know if you like a casino’s games until you try them, so go ahead and test out the instant-play versions of games before you slap down your cash and join the site.
If the casino doesn’t offer free play, you should probably avoid the site. The best US gambling sites offer free games, and it would be a big waste of time and money to join a site only to find you hate the games.
Casino Reviews FAQ
There is no aggregate review site for online casino reviews themselves, though that’s a novel idea. Online casino reviews can be biased. Readers have to remember that sometimes review sites are affiliates. That doesn’t undermine the validity of the information, if an affiliate that write online casino reviews publishes unbiased, honest, informative articles.
One rule of thumb: don’t trust a reviewer who only gives the positives in online casino reviews. Fawning praise means nothing. All casinos have some problem they could improve. Our online casino reviews always have a “pros and cons” section or otherwise spell out the drawbacks or challenges you’ll face at a site.
It depends on the player. In our opinion, the casino’s reputation and legitimacy is the key factor. If you can’t collect your winnings, then you never actually won the bet.
When reading online casino reviews, many players seek out the biggest or best welcome bonus, game selection, software types or VIP rewards. For our money, everything starts with a site’s trust factor.
Payouts depend on a couple of factors, but mainly on the speed of the withdrawal. Also, if a site is known for slow-paying over months’ time or using abusive terms and conditions to refuse payment, we’ll mark off hugely for those policies (and place it on our blacklisted casino list) in our online casino reviews.
Software compatibility is about whether players with Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone devices work with them. If players with all devices can play at the site, it gets a maximum 5-star rating. Mac usually requires instant-play games, so we don’t count off if there is no Mac download (which is rare).
When we cite security in our online casino reviews, it involves whether casinos use 128-bit encryption and SSL certificates. Also, our online casino reviews give points for sites licensed by the top regulatory agencies. These agencies audit sites for safety and fairness, thus increasing your safety and security.
Not necessarily. We use precise terms in our online casino reviews, but “welcome bonus” is a general term with two possible meanings. The most common meaning is “deposit bonus,” which gives bonus cash when making a deposit. This has an obligation or risk, because you’re depositing real money.
On the other hand, no-deposit bonuses or sign-up bonuses do not carry risk or obligation. All you have to do is register for a new player account. At worst, you might be signed up for the site’s email list, but you can opt out of these emails at any time.
If a gaming site adds special terms and conditions in its welcome bonuses, our reviewers note that in our online casino reviews.
Free casino games are a way to practice a game and see if you like it without spending money. It’s the online gambling equivalent of a test drive.
Play a casino’s for-practice or free games before you ever play for real money. This lets you test out whether the game is fun and the software works correctly. Practice mode uses the exact same gameplay and software as the real money casino games. It’s one way our reviews prepare our online casino reviews.
Our online casino reviews, as well as our online slot reviews, tell players whether they can play for free or real money (or usually both).