Online casinos have changed our gambling habits

It is difficult to overstate the effect that the availability of online casinos has had on the gambling habits of the Irish population. We have always recognised that the Irish love to gamble on their favourite sports, particularly horse racing, but this normally entailed a trip to our local betting shop or a telephone bet whilst we watched the race on the box. The spread of the internet and the availability of personal computers at home encouraged our bookmakers to make online gambling a viable option, but they did not stop there. The two best known bookmakers in Ireland, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes, also set up online casinos on their sites and suddenly we all had access to a whole new gambling option. For many of us the nearest real casino was probably out of reach unless we occasionally made a special effort to get there, so even casino games such as roulette, blackjack or poker were not on our radar. Online casinos changed all that almost overnight, and a huge range of casino games were at our disposal from the comfort of our own homes. Hardened sports gamblers could now play a host of casino games as well as checking the odds being offered on the next race, and of course they took up the challenge. At onlinecasino.ie we also rapidly became aware that more and more people who did not normally gamble on sports were joining online casinos and playing casino games. One of the biggest attractions for these new gamblers was the very low minimum stakes which the online casinos were able to accept, particularly on the vast range of slots but also on casino games such as roulette and many of the dice games. Online casinos have low overheads and no space restrictions, they can and do therefore enable customers with relatively low budgets to enjoy playing casino games for very little cost. Most online casinos also offer their customers the option of playing casino games for free, so they are encouraged to try new games without risking their hard earned cash while they learn the game.