When you’re first looking for an online casino, chances are you’ll focus on a few things, ignore some others, and not even know to look for the rest. That’s where we come in; we’ll give you a crash course in the way that online casinos work, and tell you what to concentrate upon when making your decisions.

The most obvious thing is usually the least important. When you visit an online gambling website, you may (or may not) be impressed by the look, the design…but ultimately, it doesn’t matter all that much. Sure, some pictures and video of beautiful women and stylishly-dressed men looking happy and playing casino games creates the perfect setting, but you’ll be spending most of your time looking at the games anyway.

Don’t take this to mean that better-looking sites are to be avoided; often, if a company takes more care in developing the design of the website, you’ll probably benefit from increased user-friendliness. For example, Bodog’s sites (BoDog Poker and BoDog Casino), are packed full of style and extras – and they deliver a level of quality gaming that most online casinos and poker rooms can only hope to match.

Another excellent and unique example is the visually-stunning Aladdin’s Gold Casino. The full-motion animation on every page wouldn’t look out of place in a movie theater, but you won’t have a moment’s confusion when signing-up, downloading the software, and taking care of deposits and withdrawals.

However, some of our favorite sites are very basic, with no extra gimmicks to get in the way of finding and getting to the necessary information. Slots Oasis Casino is a perfect example of a high-quality online casino that streamlines the style and gives you all your options right up front. The subtle Egyptian flourishes never get in the way of what you came to do: play games (all games, not just slots!), and win money.