Best Quality Casinos

With hundreds of brands on the market, it can be hard to know where to look, so this is our complete list of the 15 top casinos online right now, regardless of the launch date. These are handpicked established brands demonstrating that you don’t need to be a brand new online casino to offer an incredible gaming experience.

Expert Reviews of the Top Online Casinos

We know that if you are visiting our website then it means that you are looking for trusted advice on where to play and why, which is exactly what you get here.

Our team of casino experts have spent hours trawling the internet to find online casinos that we know you will love!

But, how do we know you will love them? Well, because we do too! Our team has a huge amount of experience playing at online casinos and are dedicated to passing on our expert knowledge to the visitors of our site, as of course, sharing is caring.

However, finding a great casino is harder than you might think, so we put a huge amount of time and effort into our research. When we are searching the web for awesome casinos, we look intently for a few criteria that guarantee good times for you, the player.

How Do We Review and Select the Top Casino Sites?

We apply almost the same methods to scrutinize other casinos being launched, we look into how safe the casino is and how good or bad their offer is. In other words, any casino you can play for real money hoping to make it to this list needs to excel in all these aspects:

• Safety and security measures
• Overall user experience
• Deposits and withdrawals
• Bonus on offer
• Game Selection
• Customer support services

We then delve a bit further into the service and navigate the site and speak to the customer support team to divulge the overall player experience and uncover whether it has simple service with a dedicated team on hand if anything goes array.

Then, if the design is sleek and stylish this is a fantastic extra and we will then be certain that this site is one that has paid attention to every little detail.

Once we have inspected our online casinos for all these features, and they have been confirmed to be up to our very high standards, then it will appear on our site for you to take advantage of and enjoy. We even have a dedicated page on how we rate casinos which outlines the exact criteria that we consider.

Casino and Industry Awards we take into account

If you are a seasoned player you might know the vast number of awards out there, some are recognised throughout the industry, others not so much.

For a casino to be featured in this all-time best casinos page, it needs to hold one or more of these awards. They can be in several different categories, ranging from the best operator to best customer support, etc.

These are some of the highly-sought awards to expect in a top casino:

• SBC Awards
• AskGamblers Awards
• CEEG Awards
• IGA Awards
• Malta iGaming Awards
• EGR Awards

Claiming your Bonus from Top Casino Sites

Almost all casinos today offer deals, promos, and quality casino bonuses. However, these incentives vary between the casinos. It is important to always investigate the potential deals you can win before buying into the best casino online.

Some casinos often give players random discounts for making specific deposits. The process of claiming a deposit bonus is easy.

Especially since each bonus comes with a bonus code. Below is a simple step-by-step guide.

• Log into the casino that offered you the bonus
• Enter your bonus code
• Click on ‘apply’ (or any other similar button)
• Collect your bonus

The process is a no-brainer, right? But be it as it may, ensure you type in the right codes.

Deposits and Withdrawals at the Top Online Casinos

Before you commit to any online casino, you should consider the various deposit and withdrawal options available. Why? Well, some online banking platforms restrict persons from specific countries. For instance, Paypal is a popular payment option. But even it has restrictions. It has a list of its blacklisted countries on its site.

Luckily, there are numerous options. These include Neteller, Credit cards, Click2Pay, ClickandBuy, EntroPay, Bitcoins, UCard, EcoCard and many other casino payment methods. More recently we have been adding Crypo casinos to this!

It’s also important that you pick the right currency during the registration process. Some casinos don’t allow players to make changes later. Picking the wrong currency will attract additional currency conversion fees on your banking options.

Deposits reflect immediately in your casino account but withdrawals take quite some time in comparison. This is so since casinos need time to verify the requests. They check if a player is indeed eligible for the cash-out and cross-check the payment details as well.

Though it can be inconveniencing, you should find comfort in the fact that the delays are designed to prevent identity thefts and money laundering.

Licensing and Legislation for Online Casinos

The most important thing to look for is the licence the casino you are considering to play has, especially when playing for real money.

A license – such as one from the Malta Gaming Authority – grants you and other players the peace of mind of knowing that you’re playing in a legal and regulated casino, whether you’re in Europe, the US, Canada or Asia.

A license ensures that a casino meets strict conditions and guidelines and has policies in place to verify and protect you and your monies. These are especially important to protect minors and vulnerable persons from any sort of abuse.

Via research and audits, these bodies also make sure all games a licensed casino offers are not rigged and are fair for all players.

The main licensing bodies are MGA, UK Gambling Commission and Curacao; these are responsible to regulate the majority of casinos available in the market nowadays.

Obviously, there are other countries with their regulatory bodies and institutions such as Sweden, Spain, Gibraltar and New Jersey, to name a few.

How do these licensing and regulation bodies protect players?

On top of what we briefly mentioned above, these licensing and regulatory bodies do their utmost to keep gambling free from criminal activities and support initiatives to avoid problematic behaviours.

They also promote responsible gaming in a safe environment and fund social programs to create awareness of the implications of playing casino games for more than just fun.

It also gives you an official channel to lodge complaints against any casino if the need arises too, in case you can’t sort out the issue directly with the casino.

How players in the UK are protected?

The UKGC is the main regulatory body in all the United Kingdom territories and they provide licences to operators and individuals in Great Britain that run arcades, gaming machines, betting, lotteries, bingo, remote gambling (online, telephone), casinos and gambling software.

They make sure all casinos holding a UKGC license abide by strict regulations and can offer a safe and sound casino experience to players. Not only that but they also regulate advertising on mass media and have the power to give fines and/or withdraw a license from a casino.

If you are based in the UK, always look for the UKGC logo and if you feel uneasy go to their site and check if the casino is actually licensed before you sign up and give any personal information.

What about Licensing for US players?

If you are a player from the US that has chosen to make use of our site, then we feel that we must let you know about certain restrictions you may find when exploring the world of online casinos. As unfortunately, you do not have the same freedom as your European counterparts.

Before 2006, online gambling didn’t have legal limitations. But things changed drastically. In 2006, President George Bush approved the SAFE Port Act. This act includes restrictions for the online gambling industry in the USA. Title VII of the act is popular as the ‘Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006’ (UIGEA).

This law forbids gambling businesses from accepting payments earned from bets or wagers and through the internet. Clearly, this law put a tight leash on online gambling in the USA. But even though online gambling is strictly regulated, the regulations vary in all states.

What does all this mean for online casino players?

Well, quite frankly, very little changed for the players. This is because ingenious online casino owners found loopholes in UIGEA that they could workaround. The UIGEA law indicates that it’s the acceptance of payments to an online casino by a bank or any other financial institution that’s illegal. Online gambling by itself is not illegal.

So if you find an online casino you love and accepts players from your country to register, it means that it can receive your deposits as well as process your withdrawals using alternate methods.

Now, online casinos are legal in Nevada, New York, Delaware, and New Jersey. To access online casino games, you’ll need to be in any of these states. Before you sign up to any online casino, it’s important that you review the online gambling laws in the State you live in.

Payment Restrictions

The law requires payment systems and non-exempt participants to identify and prohibit the processing of all restricted transactions.

The US government has tried to put a lid on online gambling by seizing the source, just like the UKGC recently did with credit cards in the United Kingdom.

Here’s the logic: if money cannot be transferred between the players and the online casinos, players won’t take part in the game and the casinos won’t benefit from the players. Basically, without money freely exchanging hands, the online casino industry is crippled.

For debit cards like MasterCard and VISA, the card companies are held liable and for wire transfer and check collection systems, the beneficiary and depositary’s bank are held responsible. Last but not least, for money transmitting businesses the operator is prosecuted.

Responsible Gambling

In short, responsible gambling is the social responsibility and initiatives by the gambling industry as a whole, including governments and gaming regulators, operators (such as casinos), and other vendors.

They exist to ensure the integrity and fairness of their operations and to promote awareness of harms associated with gambling, such as gambling addiction, which has been addressed vigorously by the NHS and some watchdogs.

There are ways to help with problem gambling, such as restricting your deposits in your online casinos or even access to casino sites in general; GamStop allows you to limit your access, for example.

Other services with similar intentions are GamCare and GambleAware, which offer support and also counselling to people with concerns about their gambling activities.

We also take this matter very seriously at NewCasinos.com because casinos are meant to be fun and entertaining and not a risk to you and your family. We have a whole page dedicated to Responsible Gambling if you want to read more about it.

This is of such importance that we made a case and went to Westminster to discuss ways to curb child gambling in the UK, meeting in person with MPs to find a way forward.

Tax Implications for Players

Gambling activity is tax-free in the UK. While players in some countries such as the USA, France, and Macau have to deal with gambling taxes between 1% and 25%, bettors in the United Kingdom have the privilege of keeping the entirety of their winnings.

Both online and offline players in Britain don’t need to worry about taxes. If you’ve been playing for a while, you might recall dealing with betting duties years ago, except Gordon Brown, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time, scrapped that tax in 2001.

Taxes for US Players

The US tax code states that every income earned by a U.S citizen is taxable. It doesn’t matter if the income is earned overseas or the internet. Section 61(a) defines the gross income as every income regardless of its source. This includes gambling unless stated otherwise.

Online casino tax rules are clear and are the same as those that apply to brick and mortar casinos. Not all bets are taxable, and games are taxed differently. Luckily, you won’t feel the wrath of taxation on regular wins at Pai Gow or blackjack.

However, if you hit a 7-card straight flush or five aces, then you should be on the lookout. Also, for any win that’s X300 of your wager, or more than $600, you should fill out a W2-G form.

If you hit a jackpot that exceeds the $5,000 mark, the casino will automatically withhold 25% of the payout. Unfortunately, no-one consults you on this. However, you can always place a request with the Players club desk for an annual win-loss statement.

If your losses end up being greater than your win, you won’t have to pay – assuming you are up to date with your taxes.

Advertising Regulations & Restrictions

Advertising restrictions are very robust in the UK and the US mostly, of course, other countries have mechanisms to curb illegal or harmful advertising.

However, to this date, the most rigorous regulation bodies are in the UK, which is famously known for handing hefty fines to whoever breaks the rules, no matter the size of the operator.

For Major Media Outlets

Major media companies aren’t really allowed to accept online gambling adverts. Large online media companies like Google and Yahoo placed a ban on these adverts when they were served with a warning.

Though there isn’t a specific law clearly stating the prohibition, major media companies have enforced the ban. However, Facebook can grant advertising licenses to operators under certain criteria.

Smaller media companies

For small media companies, online casino advertising is still a grey area. For small sites, there may have been warnings issued but so far none have been prosecuted or fined.

ASA / CAP Regulations

In the UK, gambling advertising is watched very closely and breaking any of the regulations can become a hefty fine for the operators. These are aimed to tackle ads appealing to children and vulnerable persons especially.

For online casinos operating in the US

As mentioned above, online casinos have the liberty to buy advertising space. They do not have to worry about being prosecuted or fined. However, media outlets reserve the right to accept payment in exchange for advertising space or not – after all, they are the ones to suffer the wrath of the law if it ever comes down to it.

References

Casino Gambling For Dummies by Kevin Blackwood, Max Rubin (2006)

Fodor’s Las Vegas 2015 by Fodor’s Travel Guides (2014)

Comp City: A Guide to Free Casino Vacations by Max Rubin (2012)