Five Top Casino Tips for Beginners

By Jane Shaw Senior Editor Updated: 02/27/2023

Jane Shaw Senior Editor See Full Bio

We count on Jane to inform our readers about the latest slot games in the US market. With her passion for video games and a degree in engineering, she’s our gambling tech expert. Jane’s also active in our blog section, where she tackles the curiosities and changes in the industry.

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Five Top Casino Tips

In the past decade, online casinos have become more prevalent than ever, and it’s becoming more and more common to see brand-new players, with little-to-no online gambling experience entering into the world of online casinos. The purpose of this page is to tell you about some basic casino tips for beginners.

• Casino Tips For Beginners
• Our Favorite Gambling Tips For Beginners
• Choose a Safe Casino
• Claim Bonuses and Promotions
• Check Game RTPs
• Look at Payment Methods
• Set Your Limits
• Frequently Asked Questions

Casino Tips For Beginners

So, what are casino tips for beginners? They are, essentially, ways for newer, less-experienced players to get a foothold at online casinos without having to worry about spending too much money, playing the wrong games, choosing the wrong online casino, or getting caught up in anything potentially shady.

Once you’ve finished reading, check out our page on the top online slots, if you’re planning on playing slots.

Our Favorite Gambling Tips For Beginners

Truth be told, there are numerous tips we’d recommend to new players. Some of these include choosing a safe online casino, claiming the right bonuses and promotions, checking the payout percentages of different casino games, and using the right payment methods. Those are some of our favorite gambling tips for beginners, and we’re going to break each of these down, plus more, below.

Choose a Safe Casino

Whether you are looking to play online baccarat, roulette, blackjack, or slots, the first thing you should do when deciding on a new online casino is to choose one that’s licensed. For example, if you’re playing in New York, you should always choose a site that’s licensed by the state’s regulatory board.

As a general rule of thumb – if you were reading a “gambling for dummies” type of guide, for example – we’d also recommend you avoid gambling at casinos licensed in Curaçao. This is a notoriously weak online gambling regulator, and they’ve been seen to fail to take action against online casinos operating illegally – so it’s best to steer well-clear them and avoid them. You should also be hesitant of playing at online casinos located in Costa Rica or Russia.

Finally, when it comes to choosing a safe online casino, you should always do your own due diligence. See what other players are saying about the games online, check out reviews – and try to stay away from online gambling websites that continually generate a plethora of complaints.

Claim Bonuses

Bonuses and promotions are offered at virtually every online casino in the world, but just because they’re on offer doesn’t necessarily mean you should claim one. When you join an online casino, you will often notice new player bonus offers and special promotions. If you’re wondering how to start gambling, then choosing the right bonus is second in importance only to choosing the right online casino. It’s really important to choose a welcome bonus that offers a realistic bonus amount, offers a good number of free spins, and has fair wagering requirements.

You see, when online casinos advertise their bonuses and promotions, they try to make them look as lucrative as possible. That’s fine – they are businesses after all. However, just because a welcome bonus looks great on paper doesn’t mean it’s worth claiming – and with some bonuses, the wagering requirements are simply so high, you stand almost no chance of actually securing a cashout.

Wagering requirements determine the number of times that you need to play your bonus funds before they become withdrawable. For example, if you claim a $100 bonus with wagering requirements of 10X, you’d have to wager the $100 a total of ten times before the bonus could be withdrawn. Always search around to find the best bonuses and promotions with the lowest wagering requirements before settling on a casino to join. Below, we’ll look at some of the other common bonuses and promotions:

Check Game RTPs

If this really were a casino gambling for dummies book, we’re sure one of the first sections would discuss games and their payout percentages. Whenever you play an online casino game, you will notice that there’s something called an RTP. This stands for the return to player, and it’s a percentage that the game is expected to pay-back to players over the course of its life.

For example, if you chose to play a game with an RTP of 97%, that would mean that for every $100 bet on the machine, it would – on average – return $97 to players, while the casino would make a profit of $3. Of course, the RTP is calculated over billions of simulated spins, and in the short-term it’s possible for RTPs to vary significantly – but it’s worth keeping in mind when you’re looking for new casino games to try out.

Thankfully, RTPs are usually very easy to find. Most game developers are legally required to publish their games’ RTPs within their games’ help files. However, if you can’t find out what the RTP is, don’t be afraid of asking the customer support team who’ll be more than happy to help you out. Legitimate operators, such as the best WV online casinos will also provide links to responsible gambling organizations if you require professional help.

Choose the Right Payment Methods

If you’re still thinking about how to start gambling online, you may be wondering about the different ways of making deposits and withdrawals. After all, when you gamble online, the whole point is to play with real money, right? This means you need to find a way to fund your account. Today, almost all online casinos offer several payment methods, although some banking options are country-specific.

For example, pretty much every online casino lets you make deposits and withdrawals using debit and credit cards – and all major VISA, MasterCard and Maestro cards are usually accepted. Also, look for the best online casinos for Discover, as this is another increasingly popular credit card. EWallets are another excellent choice. They offer instant, fee-free, and secure payments, and they offer the additional benefit of not littering your bank statements with online gambling transactions. Popular EWallets include Skrill, Neteller, and PayPal.

You should also look at the speed at which a casino will process your withdrawal request. Today, most casinos process withdrawals within 48 hours, but it’s possible to find sites that process cashouts on a same-day basis, so this is another thing to keep in mind.

Set Responsible Gambling Limits

Gambling online should be fun – there’s no denying that. And, if you’re lucky, you may even end up walking away with a little extra cash! However, it’s important to be aware that things can get out of control if you’re not careful. One of our biggest casino tips for beginners is to set responsible gambling limits as soon as you first join a site. For example, set up a deposit limit that will limit the amount of money that you’re able to put into your account on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

There are several responsible gambling tools available at most reputable online casinos, which can include wager limits, loss limits, time session limits, and play checks. If you feel that online gambling is becoming a big problem for you, you can also choose to enter into a self-exclusion agreement, which will block access to your account for a specific period of time.

Most online casinos have a dedicated responsible gambling page, but if you ever find yourself struggling, or want to know more about the different tools and options available to you, don’t be afraid to reach out to the customer support team who’ll be happy to help you out.