Gambling has long been part of Irish life but it has progressed from a rather secretive affair in the dark bookmakers shops with no windows through to being socially acceptable with smart brightly lit places and of course more recently to online gambling which can be done from the comfort of your own home. It is only twenty years or so ago that having a computer in your home was a luxury but today virtually everybody has at least one plus tablets and smart phones which can do much the same job. It is no wonder then that gambling online has become so popular and increasingly easy as most online gambling opportunities can be carried out anywhere on a mobile device. Sports gambling was the first to benefit from going online but that was simply an alternative to going to the bookie but then came online casinos for which there was no previous opportunity. The whole idea of being able to take part in casino gambling was completely new to most Irish people but suddenly there was a chance to play at what seemed like a live casino without actually leaving home. There are of course differences between what is a real live casino and the online casinos which people can gamble at today.
Firstly at a real live casino there is a the chance to mingle with other people which means seeing how they approach casino gambling, how they play their cards and to some extent celebrate with them when they manage to beat the casino and make a profit. Online gambling is different in that there are no other people around so it can be a little bit lonely. Online casinos do however have what they call a live casino option which is a kind of half way house between a true live casino and the regular online casino. There are still no other players that you can see but there is a dealer to whom you can chat should you feel the need. Probably the other big difference between gambling online at an online casino and gambling online at a live casino option is the way in which the next number on a roulette wheel or the next card arrives. In the live casino option it is simple enough as you can see the ball rolling round the roulette wheel or you can watch the dealer slide the next card from the top of the deck which is anyway generally in a shoe. In regular online casino play, however, that is replaced by a random number generator or RNG which is simply a piece of electronic equipment which produces random results. The main issue with these is that you cannot see what is happening so there has to be an element of trust involved. All good online casinos such as any of those listed here at gambling.ie have their RNGs checked regularly to make sure they are indeed random. Strangely this is as much in the interest of the casino as the player as any chink is likely to be spotted by casino players and used to beat the system. Online gambling needs to be as fair as possible so a good RNG is important but it is easy to understand why some players suspect that all is not in order when hitting a losing streak. It never seems to be an issue when on a winning streak.
To be able to take part in many casino games you have to have faith in the RNG as games such as casino slots are simply not available at the live casino option which in turn means that you need to have trust in the online casino that you choose. There are of course certain things which can suggest that an online casino is a trustworthy one and one of those is where their license for operating in Europe is issued. There are certain territories that are recognised as leading the field in online gaming and where their reputation relies on them not issuing licenses to less than reputable companies. The two best known are probably Malta and Gibraltar; two islands which depend on online gaming for a high proportion of income. If your online casino is registered in either of these territories you are probably onto a safe thing. Another clue is whether they are also licensed in the UK by the UK Gambling Commission as this adds another layer of protection. Beware an online casino that claims to have a license from obscure countries such as Ecuador. Choosing from the list of online casinos from this online gambling site will save a lot of hassle investigating.
As with any form of gambling online the bookmaker or the online casino always has a slight edge. It is well known that in horse racing if you back every horse in the race you will lose and the same thing applies in casino gambling where for example backing every number on the roulette wheel also will result in a loss. The simple reason for this is that there are 37 numbers but a winning number only pays at 35:1. This house edge, as it is called, is important because it means that the casino has no need to cheat to make a profit. As long as there are enough people gambling for a long enough time they will make money. From the individual players point of view this does not mean that there is no chance of ever making a profit, in fact, far from it. The margins are often so small that if someone loses €100 there is probably someone who has won €95. These statistics are built up over a very long period of time so it is quite possible for a casino to have a losing streak in the same way as bookmakers sometimes complain that too many favourites have won when gambling online at horse racing. Casino gambling has added a whole new dimension to the Irish gambling world.