The online casino industry has rapidly expanded over the last few decades with new gambling sites opening their virtual doors on a daily basis. In such a saturated marketplace, operators find themselves jostling for attention from prospective members. The most successful online casinos attract new players to their site by offering tempting bonuses, trusted payment options, secure transactions, hassle-free withdrawals, and a wide variety of popular online games.
Many of the top online casinos will offer their members the opportunity to play these popular casino games for free. However, some sites will offer free games prior to registering for an account which gives you the chance to suss out the casino and discover what types of games it offers before you deposit any funds. If you decide through free play that you’d like to wager real money, then registering for an account will be your next step.
How to Choose the Best Online Casino
Before registering with an online site, you need to make sure that it offers a safe and reliable gambling experience. Here are a few tips on what to look out for:- Safe online casinos will be licensed by a trusted gaming authority such as the Malta Gaming Authority or the UK Gambling Commission
- Regulated sites will offer secure transactions using top spec encryption technology
- The best casinos will only offer trusted payment options such as PayPal, Neteller, Visa, Apple Pay and Paysafe
- Top gambling sites partner with industry leading software developers such as NetEnt, Big Time Gaming, and Evolution, to provide a diverse range of quality online games
- Reputable casinos will offer their members a range of responsible gambling tools such as deposit, wager, loss and session limits, timeouts and self-exclusion
- Licensed sites utilise third party auditors such as eCOGRA to monitor the RTP rates and RNG stats for all games supplied to ensure they are fair and legit
- The best casinos will offer attractive welcome bonuses and regular promotions that have fair and achievable terms
- Legit sites will offer their players 24/7 customer support via live chat and email. Support agents will be friendly, responsive and knowledgeable.
- Top online sites will be fully optimised for instant play from your mobile device’s web browser, whether iOS or Android.
Popular Free-Play Online Games
You may be surprised to discover that most of the online games available at top casino sites can be played for free. The only exception to this is live casino games, which can only be played when you make a real money wager. Let’s take a look at some of the more popular free-to-play casino games:Slots
Undoubtedly, the most popular free-play games are multi-line video slots, and most casinos offer a huge selection of these in comparison to the rest of their games portfolio. Slots offer a dynamic gaming experience with multiple paylines, wide betting ranges, free spins bonuses, win multipliers, substituting wilds, bonus rounds and jackpot prizes.Table Games
Although live casino games are unavailable to play for free, you can usually experience similar gameplay through traditional table games like blackjack, poker, craps, baccarat and roulette, which can be played for free. This is advantageous when trying to learn the rules and basic strategies for skill-based games prior to real money wagering.Crash Games
A more recent addition to casino lobbies is crash games. Originally developed for crypto casinos, these quickfire games are becoming a firm favourite with regular online gamblers. But be warned, game rounds are over in seconds and your budget can be hit hard and fast. This is why it’s a great idea to experience these in demo mode so that you can get accustomed to the style and speed of play.Why Play Online Games For Free?
Playing online games for free is a great way to explore the world of casino gaming before parting with your hard-earned cash. Not all sites provide the option to play their games for free but there are plenty out there that do. However, some casinos may restrict players from accessing their demo games until you become a fully fledged member of their site.There are numerous advantages to playing online games for free, here are just a few:
- Free games offer a like-for-like real money gaming experience so you get a true impression of payout frequencies, bonus triggers and general gameplay.
- Playing demo games is risk-free and fun. You can enjoy the experience, make big bets here and there for a quick thrill without wagering any real money.
- Free-to-play games prepare you for real money wagering, they’re great to practice on and you can learn the rules at your own leisure whilst enduring no pressure.
- You can boost your skill knowledge by learning and developing basic strategies for real money games like blackjack, poker and baccarat.
- You can gain a better understanding of different game mechanics whether it be in slots, table or crash games to further enhance your gaming knowledge.
There are only a couple of slight disadvantages to playing online games for free:
- You cannot play live casino games or claim a jackpot prize when playing for free.
- You cannot win real money by playing online games for free.
