Gambling has been an integral part of society for many centuries, dating all the way back to Mesopotamian times, some 5,000 years ago, and in modern times, playing games of chance and skill in the hopes of winning big jackpots and life-changing sums of money has never been so fun, exciting, or accessible.
The world of online casinos has shifted in a whole new era for gamblers across the world, allowing anyone, anywhere, at any time to load up a site or app and start playing some of their favorite games. Thanks to this, you don’t even need to worry about actually visiting a classic, brick, and mortar casino anymore; a world of gambling is right at your fingertips.
The stats show that millions of people across the US are enjoying online casinos each and every day, with more and more sites popping up on a regular basis and new games being developed all the time, giving you even more reasons to get in on the action! But where should you start, and how do you find the best online casinos to play at? This guide will tell you all you need to know!
Important Things to Look for When Choosing the Best Casino
There are a lot of different online casinos out there, and you should never assume that they’re all equal in terms of game variety, customer service, security, and other key features. One online casino can differ hugely from the next in many different ways. Some of them will offer way more games than others, some will provide more tantalizing promos, and some will even pay out your winnings way faster than the rest!
This is why it’s important to take a lot of different factors into account when trying to find the best online casinos for you. You need to think about everything, from site layout to banking options and customer service too, taking multiple features into consideration and deciding on what matters most to you in order to find the best possible place for you to make an account, deposit some cash, and play some games.
When looking for the best US casinos online, we look at all of the aforementioned factors and more, aiming to find sites that cover all the bases, offering a good range of high-quality games, plenty of great promos for new and loyal players alike, solid customer experiences, great mobile support for on-the-go gambling, and more. Read on to learn more about the key factors we consider and why they matter so much.
Ease of Use and User Interface
One of the first things you notice about any online casino, or indeed any website in general, is how it’s laid out and how easy it is to get around and find the things you’re looking for. When it comes to top American online casinos, you want to be greeted by a smart, sleek layout and simple menus that help you find your favorite games, make deposits, withdraw winnings, and contact customer support if needed with ease.
Some sites can fail in one or more of these areas, with confusing menus or obtrusive layouts that make it so much harder to get around. A top 10 US casino, meanwhile, should be a lot of fun to navigate, and you shouldn’t have any problems finding the areas and games you want to find. This should be true across multiple platforms too, with the best US casinos working flawlessly on computers, laptops, tablets, and mobiles.
Payment Methods and Speeds
Another key feature that can help to separate the best from the rest when it comes to online casinos is payment methods. These days, not everyone wants to pay with credit and debit cards; some people like to make use of other online payment methods, such as PayPal, Skrill, or Neteller, and the best online casinos make this possible. Some online casinos are stuck in the past, offering just a couple of payment types, but the best ones let you play however you like.
As well as having plenty of banking options to choose from, the best online casinos should provide swift payment processing times and speedy withdrawals. Nobody wants to be waiting around for weeks to get money into their account or withdraw their winnings after hitting the jackpot, and the top sites process payments super speedily, letting you get access to your cash in just a couple of days, rather than multiple weeks.
Bonuses and Promotions
When browsing through different online casinos, you may notice that many of them boast of free cash, free spins, and other exciting offers to try and tempt you into signing up. This is one key way in which online casinos attract new players and try to appeal to the widest possible audience, and most online casinos are in competition with one another to try and offer the very best promos and bonuses.
Some of them can struggle in this aspect, with hidden rules and disappointing promos that don’t pan out the way you hoped, but others really excel, giving new and loyal users lots of free cash and extra opportunities to win big, just for signing up or playing a certain game. The best online casinos don’t forget about long-term players too and should continue to provide great bonuses, even when you’ve been playing for a few years.
Security Features
Another absolutely essential thing to think about when it comes to signing up for an online casino is security and how it handles data protection. Let’s not forget the importance of online security. After all, there have been some serious data leaks in recent years, in which people’s contact details, phone numbers, and even credit card information have been hacked and sold to people and companies across the globe.
If you want to avoid falling victim to something similar, you have to focus on finding sites you can trust. The best online casinos invest heavily in security, with state-of-the-art security certificates and two-factor log-in features to help keep your account as safe and secure as possible. Other sites, meanwhile, don’t put much effort at all into protecting user data, so should be avoided at all costs.
Range of Games
This is often one of the most important factors in the eyes of many different users when trying to choose which online casino they want to try out. Most players don’t just want to play the same boring version of blackjack every single day or choose from a limited selection of just a few slot machines; they want hundreds of different options, covering everything from live poker to 3D fantasy slots, various versions of roulette, and much more besides.
Some sites really excel in this area, and the best online casinos the US are able to offer literally hundreds or even thousands of different games, giving you new options to try every single day from leading providers like NetEnt and Microgaming. Others, meanwhile, can be pretty disappointing in this aspect, with barely a few dozen titles to try out and no sign of any new games on the horizon.
Mobile-Friendly Play
These days, pretty much everyone owns their own smartphone and relies on it for all kinds of daily uses, from chatting with friends to doing their grocery shopping, keeping up with the news and weather, and, of course, playing online casino games too! Mobile casino apps can be awesome for busy people, letting you play your favorite slots and other casino games on the go, perhaps while riding the subway to work or during your lunch break to help you relax and have some fun in the middle of the working day.
The best online casinos simply have to cater to the mobile market, either by offering distinct mobile apps for their services or having dynamic sites that can adapt to small mobile screens and provide the same great experiences, no matter which device a user wants to use. If you’re the sort of person who does a lot of gaming and browsing on your mobile or tablet, this needs to be a make or break factor for you, and it’s simply not worth your time playing on a casino that fails to provide a solid, dependable mobile experience.
Customer Service
Last, of all, we have to think about customer service and support. In an ideal world, you’ll never need to worry about contacting customer support, as everything will flow smoothly on your chosen online casino and no issues will arise when it comes to making a new account, depositing some cash into your account, playing your favorite games, navigating the site on different devices, and withdrawing your winnings. However, in the real world, issues do sometimes arise, even on well-designed sites, so it helps to have customer support agents who can help out.
Some sites fail to invest in their customer service department, sometimes outsourcing it, which results in long hold times on the phone lines and confusing conversations with customer support workers who don’t quite seem to be qualified to deal with your issues. The best online casinos, however, will make customer support a priority, choosing experienced, qualified, professional customer service workers to help out with any issues that you might encounter, offering phone, email, and chat options, as well as dedicated FAQ and Help Center sections on their sites.
Top Tips for Finding the Best Casino Sites 2024
When looking for the best online casino sites, you need to pay attention to all of the factors outlined above, and here are some additional tips to make the process as simple as possible:
Choosing an online casino to try out can feel like quite a challenge at first, especially with such a lot of different options out there and more new sites popping up all the time. How can you possibly sift between them and separate the best options from the rest? Well, we’re here to help with that, providing detailed reviews and guides to the best US online casinos for you to check out, along with advice to help you find the sites you can really rely on while avoiding the badly-designed, poorly-supported casinos that simply aren’t worth your time. In order to focus on finding top tier sites and avoiding the risk of dealing with a scam or low-quality sites, be sure to pay attention to these key factors:
Licensing
The exact rules and laws regarding online casino gambling in the US can vary from state to state, so it’s important to be aware of the situation in your location. For now, online gambling is legal in New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware, but even if you’re in one of these states, you need to make sure that you only play on licensed, certified sites. There are plenty of sites out there that are run by shady companies that fail to get proper licensing, but the best online casinos always state that they have licenses and approval to operate.
Selection of Games
Who wants to play on a site with just a dozen different games? It can quickly become boring to play the same things again and again, and this is why the best online casinos always stand out from the crowd by offering huge libraries of titles, from slots and blackjack to poker, roulette, baccarat, and more. The top sites even offer live casino games with real dealers and intense competitive action.
Mobile Availability
If you’re the sort of person who likes to do a lot of online activities on your phone, you’ll need to try and find an online casino that caters to you, either by offering a dedicated mobile app you can download straight from the Google Play Store or Apple Store on iOS devices or by providing a dynamic site that adapts to your screen size and lets you enjoy the same great content on-the-go.
Cash Outs
The whole point of playing online casino games is to try and win some cash, and nobody wants to wait around for weeks to get their winnings or have to deal with lots of frustrating rules and fees when they want to get paid. The best online casinos making it super simple to cash out, providing speedy payment processing times, lots of different banking options, minimal fees, and no fuss.