How Online Casinos Operate
Have you ever wondered how online casinos work? Keep reading to find out what goes into starting and running an online casino.
How do Online Casinos Work?
If you’ve ever played at an online casino, you probably haven’t put a lot of thought into how everything works.
Like any other business, starting an online casino starts with a vision and a plan. Perhaps the vision is having a huge selection of live dealer and RNG games. This means you have to select reliable software providers. Microgaming, NetEnt, BetSoft, and Yggdrasil are just a few of the many software studios that provide high-quality online casino games. Operators who wish to provide live dealer games will need to partner with studios like Evolution Gaming, Ezugi, or Authentic Gaming that provide the best live casino platforms.
Perhaps the hardest part of starting an online casino is getting an operator’s license. This entails providing the regulatory body with an extensive and detailed business plan. The potential operator must also prove that they have the financial capacity to actually operate an online casino. The operator must be prepared to undergo thorough audits on a regular basis in order to maintain their license. Of course, website design, security, and arranging secure verified payment methods is also part of the drill.
These are just a few of the key factors that go into starting an online casino. We could go on for days explaining every little detail, but you should have a general idea. We should, however, also mention that operators face hefty bills after they launch their sites. Some of these ongoing fees pay for things such as:
- License Fees
- Taxes
- Game Providers
- Marketing
- Security
- Staff
- Software Support
- Other
Once an online casino is up and running, they are subject to constant scrutiny from the licensing authority and other agencies. The operator’s finances, software, security, and entire enterprise are regularly audited. For example, auditors ensure that an online casino’s operating funds are kept separate from player funds. This ensures customers can withdraw their money in full at any given time.
How Do Online Casinos Make Money?
If you are new to the online gambling scene, you might want to educate yourself first with how an online casino operates. To give you a better understanding, you can find all you need to know about how an online casino operates and what it offers. Now, do you wonder how it makes money? After all, they pay out vast amounts of winnings and they are always giving money away left and right with their welcome bonuses and promotional deals. So, how do they amass such obscene profits? Well, the answer is really quite simple.
Have you ever heard the phrase “the house always wins”? This is not some meaningless adage. It is a mathematical and statistical fact. The online casino holds a distinct advantage no matter what game you play. Sure, some online casino players might have a lucky streak, but the law of large numbers ensures that the casino will come out ahead in the end. It simply can’t work out any other way.
This is where the term “Return to Player” comes into play. Return to Player, or simply RTP, is the amount of money that a player can expect to recover over a certain period of time. For example, a video slot game might have an RTP of 95%. This means that anyone who wagers, say, $100 over the course of an hour can expect an average return of $95.
Why Do Online Casinos Offer Welcome Bonuses and Promotions?
Online casinos don’t offer bonuses out of a sense of altruism or philanthropy. No. Their motives are entirely self-serving. There are countless online casinos currently operating and the competition within the industry is fierce. An online casino must give potential customers a good reason to sign up with them instead of at a competitor’s site.
The reality is that most welcome bonuses are extremely hard to make anything of. A 100% match deposit welcome bonus up to $1,000 with 100 free spins thrown in sounds like a great deal. However, it’s not like the site is going to let you keep that bonus cash and the winnings from your free spins without a fight. There are wagering requirements, time limits, and game restrictions to consider. Each additional bonus term or condition makes it tougher to cash in on the deal.
Let’s say you take full advantage of that match bonus up to $1,000 plus the 100 free spins. Now, let’s also say that there is a 40X wagering requirement on the bonus money and the winnings from the free spins. For starters, you need to place a whopping $40k to redeem that $1,000. If you were to attempt to wager through that 40k playing a game with a 95% RTP, then you can realistically expect to lose about $2,000 in the process. In other words, it should wind up costing you $2,000 to get that $1,000 in bonus money. The same principle applies to any earnings from the free spins.
The wagering requirements for most online casino welcome bonuses give you full credit for playing slots. If you bet $1 on a spin, then 100% of that wager counts toward the rollover. However, you will usually find that each wager you place on a game like Blackjack or Roulette only contributes 10% or 20% of each dollar wagered. Some bonus offers don’t even count table game wagers at all. If you wanted to meet the 40X wagering requirement playing Blackjack, then you may have to place 200k or more in bets to get that $1,000. You need to ask yourself if the offer is worth the effort.
You’ve got to give those talented marketing teams a lot of credit. They sure know how to make you feel like a winner when you’re really losing.
Payments
You can’t play casino games for real money if you can’t fund your account. Naturally, online casinos want you to fund your account which is why they give you so many payment options. This means that an online casino must enter agreements with multiple payment providers. Most online casinos do a good job of this. They make sure you have a way of depositing even if you just have cash on hand or cryptocurrency floating around cyberspace.
Security
Security is a primary concern of online casino operators. All it takes is a single breach to severely damage or completely destroy a brand name. This is why sites must integrate multiple layers of security. Additionally, they must always keep ahead of the curve by implementing new security measures and technology before the old ones even approach obsolescence.
As you would expect, online casinos don’t only answer to licensing authorities. They must comply with a variety of laws and regulations that relate to, among other things, security and data protection.
Summary
A highly-rated online casino is like a well-oiled machine. It’s comprised of several components with each one serving an important and unique purpose. The whole thing ceases to function properly if just one of those parts fails. If you can’t get access to quality games from leading providers, then you’re doomed to fail. If you can’t provide secure payment options or protect players, then the venture just won’t work. Of course, failure to secure the proper license is immensely disastrous.
Opening an online casino is an expensive and time-consuming proposition. This is especially true for operators who want to do business in a highly-regulated market like the United Kingdom or the United States. An online casino having to invest so heavily is good news for the end customer.