So you’ve been following your favorite sport for a while and have thought about using an online sportsbook to bet on some of the games. You probably went online and did some searches and found a whole lot of sportsbooks, each claiming to be the best, and then become confused and overwhelmed at the sheer number of choices out there. You looked at the pros and cons of each one, and then you probably started getting second thoughts because you’ve heard that there are some companies online that are less than reputable. And you would be right. The last thing you want is to bet money with some company that won’t pay you if you win.

So what steps can one take to choose a legitimate online sportsbook?

The first thing is to make sure the company covers the sport(s) you want to bet on. Not everyone offers every sport. This probably sounds obvious, but it’s worth mentioning.

The second thing you want to do is make sure the site you are considering is financially stable. Think about it like this; with all the money that is being transferred into and out of this type of organization, you want to make sure they have enough assets to stay in business. Think of it like a bank. Would you get an account at a bank that was running out of money? If the company is public you can check their books. If they aren’t public, you can still try to see how long they have been in business and talk to people and see if they are honest and prompt with their payouts.

Number three: check their reputation online. If you’re reading this article then you’re probably already comfortable using the internet. Find some active sports betting forums and see what people there have to say. Pay attention to who the reviews are from and try to screen for fake reviews (some companies put up fake positive reviews to try and make themselves look good).

Finally, start small. You might be used to making big bets, but when you’re working with a new sportsbook for the first time, it’s better to use a small amount of money just in case something goes wrong. Once you feel comfortable working with them you can start betting more if you want.

Remember that betting on sports should only be done with money you can afford to lose, and if you feel like you may have a problem, there are organizations that can help.

Live dealer games are one of the more interesting and noted trends which have been happening in the last few years in the online casino industry. Live casino games were initially developed about 10 years ago as a niche type game primarily targeting the Asian markets, who expressed a demand for such a type of games. In the time that has passed since then, live casino games have changed, developed and evolved quite a lot, making them as popular, exciting and lucrative in the Western world, especially in the UK and Europe.

Live dealer casino games are in fact online casino games where the player is actually engaging in a real live game hosted either at a real B&M casino or at a studio. The cards are dealt by a real live dealer who has been especially trained to host such games and players can see exactly what is happening in the game and enjoy as much as possible the excitement and action similar to what they would experience at a bricks and mortar casino.

In the early days of the internet, many land based casino players, eager to try out the new medium of gambling online, didn’t do so for two main reasons. The first being that they did not feel comfortable with providing their credit card details to some online entity they could not see or touch. The second was that players generally didn’t trust the random number generators (RNG), which are the “engine” behind all online casinos. Many people believed that the RNG was fixed and in the favor of the online casino, thus making the chances of you losing all your money almost certain. At a land based casino, players could see the cards and the dealers and feel the action on the casino floor. The fact that they were dealing with real live people made the whole business believable. Having a machine deal the cards instead of a person was unthinkable in those days! This forced the online casino software providers to come up with a solution; live dealer games where the player could see the dealer and the action at the casino, just from the comfort of his own home while playing at an online casino.

The first live dealer casino games were rather limited and didn’t quite offer the player experience the online casino software companies hoped for, especially due to technical and technological reasons. Video streaming was extremely slow due to narrow the narrow band width that existed in those days and the result on the players’ end was not the excitement and glamour on the real Vegas casino floors. Due to this, live casino games did not become as popular as the developers and casino operators hoped for. Luckily, developments in bandwidth and video streaming have contributed largely to the ability of software providers to improve and enhance live casino games closing the gap between the dream and vision to reality.

Most online casinos don’t develop their games in-house and purchase a license from a company that develops the software for online casinos. The leading software developers that offer live casino games are Playtech, Microgaming and Evolution Gaming and they generally operate them for their licensees, either from a TV studio or from a real land based casino. This means that you will probably see the same live casino games at different online casinos. The reason for this is that the operating costs are higher than the standard RNG powered games. The result is that this is the only business model so far that has proven itself profitable to both the software developers and the online casino operators.

Online casinos generally offer a narrow selection of live dealer games, namely roulette, blackjack, baccarat, sic bo and casino hold’em. Roulette and blackjack are the most popular by far.

When getting started with live dealer casino games you are required to choose the table and dealer you prefer. Dealers are usually very good looking women; however there are also a few handsome men around to keep the ladies coming back for more. The live dealer manages the game, just like at a land based casino and they are all extremely well trained and knowledgeable as they need to deal with many things at the same time. If you have the sound on the computer turned on you will be able to hear all the ongoings in the studio and even the live dealer wishing you luck.

Almost all live dealer casinos are regulated and are based in the UK, Ireland and Eastern Europe. The hands dealt to players are random and the game is super fair just like at a land based casino and you can see everything with your eyes.

Bonus and promotion wise, there are rarely any offered by online casinos, however the regular bonuses and promos apply to the live casino games, just like any other.