There is now a huge choice of gambling games available to play online

There is no doubt whatsoever that computers and associated technology such as tablets and smart phones are now an integral part of almost all our lives. There are very few workplaces which are not reliant on internet communications of one type or another, and an increasing number of people can even work from home because of this technology. The internet has also become increasingly influential in how we shop, manage our personal finances and of course how we spend our leisure time. Our reliance on information we obtain online means that very few businesses can survive in today’s world without some form of internet presence, and there are more and more new businesses which trade solely online. The online gambling sector for instance now has a mixture of both types of business in terms of their use of the internet. Our well known high street bookmakers were the first to provide their customers with the option to enjoy their gambling online rather than through their local betting shop, but sports gambling fans still have the option to place their bets through a betting shop if they prefer. Bookmakers such as Ladbrokes and Paddy Power have both totally embraced the online gambling concept with excellent and comprehensive online gambling sites, but they have also retained a large estate of betting shops in Ireland even though less of us are placing our bets this way. Some of the bookmakers who still have a high street presence would argue that they are only viable because of the access they provide to gambling games through the much vilified fixed odds machines they have installed, although Paddy Power have recently begun to question this idea. What is certain is that the biggest boost to online gambling was the introduction of gambling games on the first sports gambling sites. That decision taken by the bookmakers who were operating those popular online sports gambling sites created a whole new online gambling sector, which we now tend to call online casino gambling. It is the online casino gambling sector which has since developed into an internet business sector comprising operators who still trade through traditional high street outlets and many new online gambling site operators who have never had a high street presence. The first gambling games to be introduced online were successfully targeted at existing groups of gambling games enthusiasts. Traditional casino gambling games such as roulette and blackjack were clearly going to be popular among those of us who already enjoyed playing these games at a real casino, and this group of gambling fans were even more interested when they were given the opportunity to play a range of other traditional casino gambling games which were not normally available in our own casinos here in Ireland. Games such as craps, baccarat and backgammon were all now available at the online casino gambling sites operated by the big bookmakers, and quickly became very popular. Those first online gambling sites also quickly introduced a range of numbers games based on the concept of bingo, which again was a very clever way to attract an existing fan base. In spite of a period of falling attendances at most of our bingo clubs, the game of bingo itself continued to attract a large number of fans and again became very popular online. Nowadays there are even specialist online bingo platforms where bingo is the only gambling game on offer. Last but not least we cannot discuss the success of online gambling sites offering a range of gambling games without mentioning the online slots games. Slots games now form the majority of the range of gambling games featured on almost every online casino gambling site, including the original primarily sports gambling sites and the newer specialist casino gambling sites which have joined the sector over recent years.

Clearly one of the most obvious reasons why online casino gambling in particular became so popular is the sheer number of different gambling games we can now play online, but all those games can also be played for very low stakes. Operating an online gambling site is far cheaper than running a real casino or even a bingo club, because there are no overheads relating to maintaining a building and far fewer staff to employ. Even with the studio based live casino options now associated with gambling games such as roulette, blackjack and baccarat, the operating costs of the whole company will still be considerably less than managing a real casino so allowing online games players to play for small stakes is a viable option. Playing gambling games online is now a leisure activity enjoyed by a very wide range of people, ranging from high rollers with large budgets, to ordinary working families playing slots games for a few cents a spin. There is no doubt that the slots games are the most popular online gambling games, but there is one traditional casino gambling game which has also grown in popularity to such an extent that there are now several specialist online gambling sites entire dedicated to it. That game is of course the game of poker, which has almost established itself an online gambling game with a cult following. After many years in the doldrums poker has become one of the most played individual online gambling games, and the specialist online poker forums are always busy with players competing with each other from all over the world. The Texas Hold’em format of poker has become the game of choice for most serious poker players and is also the version of the game used in almost every poker tournament around the world, but most online casino gambling sites offer a whole range of different versions of poker which can be played against the house. You don’t have to be a serious poker player with a big budget to enjoy playing poker online, there are many opportunities to play the game for fixed odds and small stakes. Whatever your taste there are now gambling games available online to suit just about everyone.