The 21st century has witnessed a radical shift in the way people keep themselves amused during their spare time.
For example, the notion of playing online slots was an alien concept as recently as the early 1990s, but things have progressed massively since then and now playing online is way more exciting.
The current landscape is awash with websites or apps where you can play hundreds of different casino games via digital devices such as smartphones and laptops.
Before the internet arrived on the scene, anyone who wanted to take part in such activities had to travel to brick-and-mortar venues in their local towns and cities.
Read on as we look at some of the key advantages of playing online slots on websites or apps rather than visiting a traditional casino.
Bonuses & promotions
The success of the online casino industry since the turn of the century has largely been driven by vibrant advertising and marketing campaigns.
These are designed to encourage new players to open accounts on casino sites and ensure that existing ones remain loyal to the brand on a long term basis.
Welcome bonuses and ongoing promotions play a big role in enticing players to sign up for accounts and play regularly at an online casino.
By contrast, traditional casinos are not usually in the habit of giving away something for free to their customers – a cup of tea or coffee may be as good as things get.
Convenience
Visiting a traditional casino can be extremely expensive, with travel costs, accommodation, spending money and your gambling bankroll amongst the factors to consider.
Online casinos offer a much greater level of convenience to players – just login to the site via your chosen digital device, make a deposit and start playing.
Unlike most land-based casino venues, online sites are open 24/7. Traditional casinos simply cannot match this level of convenience.
If you want to play in your back garden on a sunny afternoon, you can do. On holiday in your swimwear? No problem. Convenience is the name of the game where online casinos are concerned.
Range of games
One of the biggest advantages online casinos have over their traditional counterparts is there are no limitations placed on the amount of games they can offer.
Land-based casinos can only operate in the floor space they have available, which means they have to think carefully about the layout of their venue.
Online casinos have no such restrictions in place – if they want to have hundreds of table games and slots on their website, they have the freedom to do so.
This gives players a far greater range of games to choose from, thus making online sites much more appealing than traditional casinos.
Overall cost
Visiting an online casino can be an expensive affair when factoring in the associated costs – Image via Pexels
Not everyone has the luxury of being able to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a trip to a traditional casino.
When you factor in associated costs such as travel and accommodation, a night out at the casino can put a massive dent in your bank balance.
Playing the games can also be expensive, as traditional casinos do not tend to have many slots where low unit stakes are available.
On that basis, online casinos offer better value for money as there are no additional costs involved and plenty of games to suit every budget level.
Payout rates
The difference in overheads between running a traditional casino and online casino plays a major role in how each one is able to operate.
Land-based casinos have much higher overheads, which means they need to make more money from the games they have in their venue.
From a slots perspective, this results in them rarely offering games that have a return to player (RTP) rate higher than 95%.
The best online casinos generally offer slots with over 96% RTP. On some sites there are games with an RTP of over 99%, giving players even more hope of winning.
Online community
A night out at a traditional casino is great fun, particularly if you have the opportunity to meet up with friends or family.
But what if no-one from your social circle is available when you fancy going to the casino or has no interest in playing casino games?
You can not only meet up with friends and family at online casinos, but they also offer you the opportunity to be part of a massive global community.
This point is particularly pertinent for people who may have difficulties getting out and about, making online casinos a great way to stay connected with the outside world.
Live games
Traditional casinos historically had one major advantage over online sites, but even this has been eroded in recent years.
Many players crave the in-person element of land-based casinos, with venues offering the opportunity to interact in real-time with other human beings.
Online operators have responded to this by leveraging video streaming technology to their advantage and adding live casino games to their sites.
While these largely focus on table games, emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR) are being added into the mix to add live slots games into the equation.
