Many of us had been playing a few casino games such as roulette and blackjack for a number of years before online casinos were introduced, because we had access to a real casino. In those days of course the term casino games was only used to describe the traditional games found in real casinos all over the world, whereas now we tend to use the words casino games to cover almost every type of gambling game we can play online. The first online gambling sites were all established by the leading bookmakers we know from their betting shops on our high streets, and they were all primarily targeted at their existing sports gambling customers and any potential new sports gambling fans who did not have easy access to a betting shop. Having invested heavily in the technology and the software necessary to operate an internet site however, the bookmakers began to look for ways to increase their returns on that investment so they decided to try adding a few games to their sports gambling sites in the hope that their customers would perhaps spend more time and therefore more money on the site. That decision however began a whole new online gambling experience which we now call the online casino sector. Whether the bookmakers knew at the time that making casino games accessible online would prove to be so popular we will probably never know, but there is absolutely no doubt that it was an immediate success. Since then we have seen a huge increase in the number and variety of online casino games featured on every online casino site, and of course also in the number of different online casino sites we can choose from. As we have already explained the first online casinos were all just parts of large online sports gambling sites operated by the big high street bookmakers, and even when they were joined in the sector by the new internet only bookmakers the casino games were still just part of a much wider online gambling site. It is only relatively recently that we have seen the introduction of specialist online casinos concentrated solely on their range of casino games rather than attempting to satisfy the whole spectrum of internet gambling. These new online casinos have undoubtedly improved the range of online casino games we can play because they have introduced us to a number of new casino software companies bringing with them a whole new range of casino slots we have never seen before.
Clearly the range of casino games offered on every online casino site is predominantly made up of slots games and video slots, but we should not overlook the fact that the introduction of online casinos has also provided us with the opportunity to play far more of the traditional casino games than most of us have ever been able to access before. Unless we have been able to visit one of the big casinos in mainland Europe for instance, we have probably never played the game of baccarat. It is also possible that even if we had been given the opportunity to play baccarat on holiday in Monte Carlo for example, we may not have tried it because of its reputation as a complicated games played primarily by the high rollers of the gambling world. This reputation has been reinforced to some extent by how the game is portrayed in some of the big films in recent years, now that we can access baccarat online that myth has been well and truly crushed. Online baccarat is in fact one of the easiest online casino games featured on the online casino sites and is no more difficult than the Hi/Lo dice games or even calling the toss of as coin. Backgammon on the other hand is a totally different sort of traditional casino game. This is another game with a bit of a reputation, but in this case there is an element of truth in the generally accepted perception that the game requires a lot of thought and some skill to play successfully. There is of course an element of luck involved as there is with almost every casino game, because the number of moves each player has in backgammon is determined by the throw of two dice. The skill and experience lies in how the player then moves the checkers around the board in response to the moves they are allowed by the throw of the dice. Anyone looking for a traditional casino game which requires a bit of thought should certainly have a go at backgammon.
There is another somewhat traditional casino game which has a reputation for rewarding skill and experience, and that is the game of poker. Of all the traditional casino games we can now play online the game of poker is the one which has increased in popularity more than any other since online casinos became widely available. Although poker has quite a long history as a popular gambling game, it had almost disappeared from view in Ireland and in many other parts of the world, and poker tournaments in particular were solely the preserve of professional poker players. The introduction of online casinos and in particular the specialist online poker platforms which enable serious poker players to compete with each other online have changed everything in the world of poker. Texas Hold’em poker in particular is now one of the most popular of all the traditional gambling games and almost every poker tournament in the world is now oversubscribed as enthusiastic amateurs want to try their luck against the professionals. There are of course a whole range of different poker formats available to play at most online casinos, all of which can be played against the house for fixed odds and for small stakes, so if you would like to learn to play poker that is a good way to start. We cannot of course end any discussion about traditional casino games which are now available to play online without talking about the game of craps. Every casino in America and in the Far East has at least one craps table and it is as popular as roulette in many countries.