Selecting a suitable online place to spend leisure time is very important. Many factors are necessary to be taken into account to find a place that suits the most. In this article, we are talking about how we define the best online punters’ houses based on what criteria. We’re also talking about what games are popular with South African gamers today and what is the history of gambling in this country.
The list of available games in every entertaining facility is of utmost importance. People would like to see at least several hundred games to be happy with the choice. Types of games also matter. Nowadays, these types are very sought-for:
As for slots, many online gaming developers specialize in slots for South African punters. So today, it is not a problem to find over 1,000 slots in one place, with a usual amount of them in one gambling place starting with 100. So if there are fewer than 100 slots in the casino, such a place isn’t worth the attention of punters in the third decade of the 21st century.
Customer service is comprised of guys that should resolve the issues and problems of gamers. The gold standard of modern gambling is when this service works 24/7 and nearly 365 days a year. The normal rate of resolved issues should be as close to 100% as possible, and the response time for online channels (textual chat or video chat) shall be several minutes. Response time for not immediate channels (like email) shall be within 24 hours.
Every casino shall have a FAQ section, which normally covers nearly all questions of punters. If something isn’t found on FAQ, then addressing customer service shall make the problem resolved. If a gamer does not receive a satisfactory result when addressing the support service, then such a gaming house is not worthy of attention and play.
Bonuses are the things, which people search for in online casinos over everything else. They are generally divided into 3 types:
No-deposit bonuses are given for, practically, nothing – only for mere registration in the online facility. A gamer enters some fields of personal data and contact information like phone & email and is given free spins or bonus money for creating an account in the casino. As a rule, everything that’s given as a no-deposit bonus is very humble in numbers and has a significant wager attached. Also, there is no possibility to withdraw the given bonus money immediately (as wagering requirements have to be met first).
Deposit bonuses are the most flamboyant part of all giveaways that casinos offer to their gamers. They can be as generous as the casino’s administration decides to make them. It can be, for instance, from +100% to +1,000% to the deposited money and from tens to hundreds of free spins for each deposit. Conditions and wagers will change depending on the casino. Periodic cashback is also a type of deposit bonuses, as they are rigidly connected to money people put on accounts of those gambling facilities – with no deposited money, punters don’t lose it during bets and, therefore, there is nothing to give back to them.
Rewards for bringing a friend is a referral program, which supposes that a person will have some payments for inviting an active friend (following the referral link of an inviter), which will mean that such an invitee will spend money in the casino. A portion of the spent money is given to an inviter. With many friends submitted to a gambling house, a referral program can be an additional nice source of income.
Quick payout is an opportunity to have a gambler’s account in bank or e-wallet replenished promptly with money he or she has won in the gambling house. Some casinos tell they’re able to make withdrawals for several minutes or hours – and that is their advantage. Others, on the contrary, tell they are doing it only during days – sometimes, up to 30. Nobody wants to wait for a month to have the won money on an account, right? So we’re rating online casinos higher if they have quick payouts that are done within the limits of one day.
Security issues are very important. They are comprised of the following:
We’re estimating all punters’ amusement houses based on the abovementioned security and safety parameters. There are quite many unreliable casinos out there – people would be amazed should they find out how many of those are scams.
Let’s talk about popular games on South African online gambling sites.
Slots are made today by tens of various companies globally (we’re covering the most popular and reliable below in this text). Not every slot manufacturer should be trusted, the same as the games those companies produce (for the reasons of small RTP, biased mechanisms of winnings that do not allow players to win big, and generally outdated gameplay).
Slots are highly popular not only in South Africa but also globally all over the world because of the following features:
Blackjack is a card game that’s highly popular in South Africa too because of its simplicity. The rules of it stipulate the impossibility to lose largely, but it’s also impossible to win large. Nevertheless, this game allows feeling the shades of gambling satisfaction and to feel the adrenaline rushing in veins and arteries.
The rules are simple: a player has to collect 21 to win or to have more points in cards in a hand than a dealer has. There are many varieties of Blackjack, including those that allow many players to compete with a dealer and with one another (there are even some varieties, where gamers are allowed to help each other against the dealer).
Roulette is a game of rich people, as it has the lowest chances of winning for a player yet highest possible winning rates should a number in the game be correctly guessed by a gambler. Roulette is a game of pure chance and it allows various betting combinations with various chances of winning.
Bingo is the game of chance with many opportunities to win. As this is also a relatively simple game, people in South Africa are very prone to playing it. As it can last smooth and slow, it is popular amongst the elders, which find it exciting to play without large agitation to their nervous systems.
The goal of bingo is to collect the full line of numbers horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Various rules can apply to various bingo games.
Sports betting is extremely popular in South Africa. It is hard to find a country, where sports betting would be as highly sought-for as here. There are hundreds of types of sports events, which are betted. Also, every online casino offers ‘virtual’ sports betting – games that are launched by players in the casino’s gaming shell, trying to guess the outcome of each game. That can be anything, from football to bicycle racing.
Let’s now consider the most reputable gambling providers in South Africa.
RTG is otherwise known as Real Time Gaming. This company has been operating in the market for over twenty-two years. Today its headquarters is located in Costa Rica. It makes all types of gambling games for online and offline casinos, as well as it offers complex solutions to run gambling platforms in whole – like reporting and accounting systems, software to calculate and deal with risks, doing bookkeeping, and handling communication with players.
Playtech is another important company in the market of online gambling. It was formed in 1999 and today it is the world’s biggest casino software manufacturer, with its stocks rated on the London’s Stock Exchange, making it having huge market capitalization.
Microgaming Company is the oldest on the market, as it has been operating continuously since 1994. It is known as the maker of the world’s most giving slot, Mega Moolah – it gave such huge wins to several players as $6.4 million & $20 million. The last one is even in the Guinness World Records book. Millions of gamblers all over the world like playing Mega Moolah today, as it keeps giving exciting jackpots, many of them around 1 million dollars.
NetEnt is known to have published over 200 games for the history of its operation. It is also one of the oldest and most reliable companies (the year of formation is 1996). Its slots, however, are very often copied by scammers and hacked to deteriorate the winning rates, so one should be careful to make sure slots really belong to NetEnt in an amusement facility.
IGT was once an independent company named Lottomatica. Then it was in the cycle of purchases and mergers, including Gtech and International Game Technology. In all cases, the company changed its name to the names of the bought companies. It is a huge manufacturer, which currently employs over 12,000 people all over the world and has an annual revenue of more than 4 billion dollars, whilst all assets of the company are estimated to be 15 billion. It elaborates software not only for casinos but also for various lotteries, including national.
Let’s now consider the division of casinos by types that are comprehensible for users in our country.
New casinos are the places that operate on the market for not longer than 2 years. They are attractive, first and foremost, for their exciting bonuses, thanks to which they make promotions. Generous no-deposit bonuses are considered widespread in them.
Whilst we live in the era of technologies, still, not every gambling facility today is mobile friendly. That’s why those gaming houses that provide a mobile app or mobile-friendliness of their websites are ranked higher because they’re accessible to more people.
Fast payouts are ones that are made within 1 working day but even more than that – some casinos promise instantaneous payouts (within minutes). Most part of such casinos does payments within hours. However, if some gambling facility promises to complete withdrawals within several banking days – it is also okay and there are no reasons to worry.
Also, bear in mind that if a player opts for a fast payout, then this casino may have disadvantages in other parts of its activity – like a worse list of games or bonuses.
VIP players often receive better bonuses, betting limits, terms for withdrawal, and others. Becoming a VIP often requires large sums of money to be spent in the gambling house.
In fact, nearly every casino out there allows players to try games without registration. That, however, is only for demonstration purposes, as no real money is won during such play. Register and deposit to gain an opportunity to win real money.
Gambling in all its forms (except sports betting) was prohibited in South Africa for over 4 centuries. In the late 20th century, game-changing legislation was adopted in South Africa, which allowed the functioning of land-based casinos. Still, online gambling is considered out of law even today. So, everyone playing online casinos is not protected by law and relies solely on the decency of gambling houses’ administrations.
Read the section in this text about technologies used by online casinos. If they all are met in an online casino, it is safe to gamble there. But remember not to disclose data about a credit card used on the Internet – to avoid hacking it.
Currently, no online casino in South Africa is legal. People gambling there also breach the law. However, cases of punishment for this activity are rare.
Yes – if only to bet real money. Otherwise, it is practically impossible.
Yes – for those casinos, which tell they have a mobile-friendly website or offer a downloadable app.
Bonuses can significantly leverage punter’s gaming experience and sums of bets. They also frequently lead to larger winnings. They, however, are subject to wagering, which may shrink the winnings significantly or even completely take them away if a player is in bad luck. So it is up to the player – whether to use bonuses or not.
