During the last year, the world nearly fell apart. And, whilst everything around us crumbled, we all had to stay locked indoors 24/7 – unless we were taking part in our state-mandated exercise.
Many of us found ways to live our lives digitally. Taking meetings via zoom, going to lectures via virtual talks, and making online shopping our new norm – instead of browsing aisles, we were all browsing webpages!
When it came to gambling, however, a lot of peoples’ experiences may not have changed. For a long time, people have been gambling online, and land-based casinos have (many think) grown to be underwhelming.
But how do the two compare? What’re best, real-life, or online casinos? We’ll look at these questions by considering the following:
- Safety.
- Game selection.
- House edge.
- Perks and Promotions.
- Atmosphere.
Safety
Given the current state of the world, the first and most obvious thing to compare is safety.
Playing online at home is much safer than playing at a land-based casino. You can remain isolated, you don’t have to be around other people, and therefore you can keep the risk of getting and passing viruses low.
At a time when small decisions now have lethal consequences for those around you, online casinos must come out on top.
Game Selection
When it comes to the games, which fare better?
Well, on-land casinos have an immediately obvious restriction on the number and types of games that they can offer; namely, space. They need to have enough room to have a casino floor, a security room, a staff room, bathrooms, a welcome area, and a cashier’s cage. Alongside that, most real-life casinos also have a bar or a restaurant where you can get food and drinks.
Because of this, the space they have for games is immediately limited to one area: the casino floor. And, each game itself takes up a portion of the casino floor. So, the limit on the number of games is reached much more quickly.
Online casinos do not have this issue, they’re not constrained by space, and neither are their games. Because of this, they can offer thousands of games, including ones that could never even exist in a real-life casino.
House Edge
What about the house edge, how do real-life and online casinos compare?
First of all, let’s say what the house edge is. The house edge is the difference between the number of games that are played and the number of games that are won by a player as compared to those won by the casino. So, if 100 games are played, and the casino wins 51, it has an edge.
This is often represented by the return to player (RTP) rate of games. Which is the theoretical calculation of the amount put into a game compared to what it returns to customers.
Land-based casinos often have games with poorer RTPs, i.e., ones that are lower. Online casinos often have games with higher RTPs. This means that online casinos have games with a worse house edge, which is better for you.
Perks and Promotions
Promotions at real-life casinos exist, but they’re slim on the ground and much harder to take advantage of.
For example, often land-based casinos will give you promotions when you sign up, but to take advantage of that promotion you must be there in person. That means you have to get there to get the perks. Moreover, often these promotions will be valid for your first visit only.
Online casinos, by virtue of being virtual, don’t require you to be there in person to get the promotion. Neither are they limited to your first visit – you can log in and out as much as you want.
Moreover, online casinos have tons of promotions and are constantly giving free spins and bonuses away. Whilst this can make it hard to see the wood for the trees, there are sites like Nettikasinot360 which help you find the best of the bunch.
Atmosphere
Last, but by no means the least, is the atmosphere.
Real-life on-land casinos are, without a shadow of a doubt, much better when it comes to atmosphere. In fact, online casinos have little to no atmosphere.
This isn’t because they don’t have pleasing themes, easy-to-use designs, or even have elements of social play. It’s simply the fact that they’re not in-person games and you’re not around other people. Land-based casinos have that intangible brilliance of human interaction, which, all things considered, for many people clearly outweighs the other considerations.
Overall, online casinos come with a heap more advantages. But they’ll never be in-person events. And, if we’ve learned anything from this past year, it’s that in-person events are invaluable.
