The online gambling industry is worth over $90 billion, according to research firm Statista. The industry’s growth is expected to continue increasing as more countries legalize online casinos and sports betting.
In the online casino space, there are more than 20 popular game genres. The most popular real money casino games — slots and table games — dominate over 80% of all casino games.
Below is an overview of these games and how they work.
#1: Slot Machines
Slot machines are colorful, shiny, and noisy arcade-style games that use RNG software to determine when you win and lose. They have three to eight reels and three to nine rows with symbols on them. When you hit ‘Spin,’ the reels spin sporadically before stopping to display a sequence of symbols.
Developers determine the specific symbols to pay out real money, symbols to trigger free spins, and symbols worth nothing. Usually, slots pay from left to right on specific pay lines. A pay line is a string of symbols: the average slot has five to 100 pay lines.
If you bet on ten pay lines, you get paid when any of the pay lines are activated. If a slot’s reels stop on a pay line you didn’t bet on, then you’re not paid. On this backdrop, it’s essential to wager on as many pay lines as possible.
- It’s also essential to choose quality slot machines. Instead, play slots that suit your goals:
- Classic Slots – for people who love retro games
- Video Slots – modern games with advanced features
- Progressive Jackpots – suitable for winning big
- Megaways Slots – highly risky but payout handsomely
#2: Video Poker
Video Poker looks like slots, but they are unique games, nonetheless. Video poker games combine some elements of slots with poker. Here’s how. When you choose a video poker game like Jacks or Better, you’re given an option to bet on one to five credits.
You can also bet on multiple of these credits—you can wager $10 instead of one coin, or you can wager $50 instead of five credits. After you’ve placed a bet, you receive five poker cards: K, A, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 5.
Next, you have a decision to make. Which cards should you keep? What cards should you discard? Let’s say you receive a 10, J, Q, K, and 9. You can keep all these cards because they form a straight hand. Or you can discard the 9-card in the hopes of receiving an ace to form a royal flush.
The goal of video poker is to form a real poker hand, a pair, two pairs, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, or a royal flush. With that in mind, you want to keep cards that can help you form a real hand, even if it’s a pair of Jacks—the lowest hand in Jacks or a Better video poker game.
If you’re wondering, video poker pays out based on the amount you wagered and the hand you won. If you risk one credit and produce a pair of Jacks, you’re paid one credit–$1 for one $1. If you produce a royal flush, you earn 250x your bet. If you wager five credits and produce a royal flush, you win 4000 coins.
#3: Roulette
Roulette is also known as the devil’s game. But this shouldn’t scare you. It got its nickname because the sum of all its numbers (1 to 36) equals 666—the number of the beast in many religions.
Roulette is an exciting game to play because it’s simple, it’s a game you can play with friends, and it pays out decently. The game comes in several types:
- European Roulette
- American Roulette
- French Roulette
- Lightning Roulette
- Mini Roulette
European and French roulette are the best versions to play. American and Mini Roulette are the worst variants. Here’s why. Both European and French roulette have 1-36 numbers plus an additional slot with the number zero.
French roulette also features two rules—En Prison and La Partage—which lower the house edge from 2.7% in European roulette to 1.35% when playing outside bets: red or black, odd or even, and high or low bets.
American roulette has the usual numbers 1-36, but it has two additional slots—0 and 00. The presence of a double zero slot increases the casino’s house edge from 2.7% in European roulette to 5.2%.
Mini roulette looks like a small version of European roulette—it has numbers 1 to 12 and an extra pocket with zero. The problem with mini roulette, though, is that it has a low payout rate of 96.15%: better than American roulette (94%) but worse than European roulette (97%) and French roulette (98%).
#4: Blackjack
Blackjack is one of the most popular card games at online casinos. It’s played against the casino through a dealer. This explains why it is so popular among celebrities, millionaires, and professional gamblers that they get a chance to play against the house.
The objective of blackjack is to beat the dealer at producing cards with a total value of 21. You can win based on the first two cards you receive—an ace and a 10, J, Q, or K combine for a hand of 21.
If your initial cards don’t add up to 21, you can hit another card or stand to avoid busting—when your hand totals to more than 21.
#5: Poker
Baccarat might be the most popular card game in brick-and-mortar casinos. But on the Internet, poker rules. Poker is famous because it has elements of skill. You could receive a combination of weak cards and still win the game.
Of course, this depends on the poker game you choose: Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi, Hi/LO, 5-Card Draw, or 7-Card Stud. In Texas Hold’em, for example, you can participate in a tournament where you can fold cards, bluff, or risk all your money to scare your opponents.
The beauty of poker is that you can win consistently, which is every gambler’s dream.