The original casino games were all either created or adapted for land-based casinos. Land-based casinos pre-dated online casinos by several centuries! Casinos were originally considered to be gambling houses and it took some time for the term gaming to be accepted at either land-based casinos or online casinos.
Nowadays, the top casino games are generally found in greater abundance at online casinos such as the ones we here at Slots Play Casinos have reviewed and recommended.
Online Casinos are Different than Land-based Casinos
Online casinos, especially, prefer the term gaming since they, and we here at Slots Play Casinos, see online casinos as gaming houses where gamers can play for short periods of time either to top off an evening before bed or as a relaxing and entertaining activity before then getting on with their evening.
This is in direct opposition to what most gamblers experience at land-based casinos where they have travelled to at a sizable cost, booked a room at the hotel adding even more cost, and found themselves in a place where, for all intents and purposes, the only “game” in town can be found on the casino floor so they spend many hours gambling!
History Teaches us about the Popularity of Games of Chance
There is some historical record or reference to games of chance being played as far back as ancient Greece. We know that games of skill have been conduits of gambling for many centuries, horse and camel racing being the two most prominent games of skill that people placed bets on.
Boxing has also long been a gambler’s game of skill.
Modern Games of Chance and Skill
When we think of games of skill being played in a casino setting, we think of poker and blackjack. Poker was usually played in a saloon which some say was the original term that, over time, became “casino”.
Casino is a diminutive form of casa which is the Latinate root of the word “house”.
So, a casino was originally considered a gambling house and, in fact, the first casinos were often located in large homes or villas!
Modern Casinos Have Many More Games and Online Casinos Have Even More!
Modern land-based casinos, which date back only about 100 years when gambling houses were legalized first in Nevada where Las Vegas reigns supreme and in Atlantic City, just an hour or so south of New York City.
Land-based casinos have roulette and craps tables, possibly a few blackjack tables, keno, bingo, baccarat, and, in its most modern iteration, sports betting. With such a wide range of gaming opportunities, the most popular game at land-based casinos is still slots,
Slots are the Premier Casino Game
The first slot machine was an entirely mechanical device with an arm the gambler had to pull to get the reels turning. The first slot machine was invented toward the end of the 19th century and became a quick hit. It is the quintessential game of chance.
At today’s land-based casinos, the sounds on the casino floor are the whooping and hollering emanating from the roulette and craps table and the bells and whistles connected to the slot machines.
How Online Casino Gaming Expanded the Gaming Opportunities
Land-based casinos, whether in a massively big Las Vegas casino or a gigantic mansion of centuries past, space was limited. In modern land-based casinos, the costs of running the casino are so big that these casinos need as much floor space for slots as possible!
As a result, land-based casinos do not, and cannot, offer as many variations of blackjack as an online casino can offer.
Modern Slots are Digital Games
In slots, gamers can now enjoy digital gaming. It is an anomaly that land-based casinos have so fully abandoned the mechanical slot machines for digital slot machines. After all, they have physical space and could have a wide range of mechanical slot machines!
The reason they have abandoned mechanical slot machines is that modern slots players want the digital element and are not willing to “make do” with a mechanical game,
Digital slots have better graphics and, especially, animation which is entirely digital. In addition, digital slots have wild symbols that can do many things that mechanical slots cannot do!
Online Casino Gaming Improves Gaming Exponentially
We have seen how modern land-based casinos have become much bigger and thus have more room for more games. Now, the era of the cyberspace casino is here with enormously greater “space” for casino games! The era of a casino with more than 200 slots is here!
At a land-based casino, every inch of available floor space is always devoted to games so that the casino can maximize its profits and pay its massive bills. So, when a game provider introduces a new slot, a land-based casino has to take out terminals to make room for the new.
Online casinos never have to take out the old in order to make room for the new! So online casinos have a much bigger selection of slots.
It Gets Even Better!
Online casinos can offer many variations of blackjack. Land-based casinos cannot offer so many variations of blackjack because blackjack tables take up a lot of space!
Online casinos can also offer many variations of video poker. We referred to video poker in passing above. This great casino game is entirely digital so it was not one of the original casino games. Video poker is also much more appropriate to online casinos than it is to land-based casinos.
Here’s Why
A land-based casino cannot alter the return to player rate in video poker like it can in slots. Thus, the return to player rate in slots at land-based casinos is substantially lower than the common 96-97% rate found at online casinos.
Video Poker Awards Gamers Who Use Best Strategy
With correct strategy on every hand, the return to player rate in video poker at both land-based and online casinos is the same at about 99.5%! Land-based casinos cannot easily afford to have a lot of gamers playing video poker at a 99.5% return-to-player rate.
Thus, land-based casinos have just a few terminals for video poker and many terminals for slots. One more thing a land-based casino player should know is that no land-based casino can have hundreds and thousands of gamers play the same slot at the same time.
However, online casinos can have thousands or millions of gamers play the same slot at the same time!
Online Casinos Encourage Gamers to Play Specialty Games
Online casinos have a nice selection of specialty games which differ from game provider to game provider. These games are as easily accessed as any other casino game and are there for the sheer fun of playing them!
Slots Play Casinos is a Font of Helpful Gaming Ideas
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