One of the key decisions you will have to make as a new player is to choose which casinos you trust with your hard-earned money. With over 1.500 casinos to pick from this is not an easy task. The main part of the online casinos are serious and fair enterprises. Unfortunately there are some casinos that are cheats. They do not live up to the promises they make and/or come up with stupid explanations why you cannot withdraw your winnings at their casinos. Others are legitimate but do not live up to the highest standards in the industry. Every new player should steer clear of the black sheep's in the online casino industry and the low quality casinos. But how is that done? My answer to that question is to follow advice from experienced players like myself. Especially about which quality criteria online casinos should live up to and which casinos that best fulfil these. That is what this section of the guide and the next section is all about.

Deciding which quality criteria online casinos should be rated upon and how these are to be weighted against each other is not necessarily easy. Some online casino players are only interested in playing at the casinos that offer the highest bonuses. Others want to play with a specific brand of software which they prefer to the rest. Then there are players that value casinos that arrange regular events and competitions. There seems to be about as many reasons for choosing casinos as there are players. None the less I have taken it upon me to point out the most important criteria when choosing between online casinos. I have picked out nine quality criteria or topics that I believe online casinos should be rated upon. The nine criteria will be described next and I will rate each of the criteria on how important they are in the casino selection process.

This is due to the fact that I believe that there are some criteria that are more important than others. The most important criteria will therefore be weighted higher that the less important ones. The importance of the criteria will be rated on a scale from 1-5, where 1 is lowest and 5 highest. This importance rating will be used as a multiplier in the casino rating process described in the Recommended Casinos section. My nine quality criteria for online casinos are:

Bonuses: (5) Every online casino player wants to play at the casinos where the chances of winning are the best. The primary way a casino can improve their players chances of winning is by awarding substantial bonuses. The best casinos offer large welcome bonuses when players make their first deposit. A 100% match of the first deposit is not unusual at the top casinos. If you deposit $100, the casino will add $100 of their money to your account thereby improving your chance of winning. Apart from the welcome bonus the best casinos also offer monthly bonuses, bonuses on your following deposits or have some kind of system where you get points when you play casino games. Points that can be turned into real money or with which you can participate in drawings of big prices.    

Software: (5) It is also extremely important that online casinos use quality software. Casino software should randomly produce the gaming results so that neither the casino or player receives an unfair advantage. Unfortunately not all online casinos live up to this standard. Some online casinos simply rob their players with rigged software. The best casinos however use software from well-known suppliers, offer in-dept information on the software and explain which efforts they undertake in order to secure fair play for their players. The casino software should enhance the gaming experience and it should be functional and easy to use.  

Reputation: (4) Over time online casinos develop a reputation. The way online casinos treat their players gets around on message boards, casino portals and gambling magazines. If online casinos treat their players well they get a good reputation. The best casinos get nominated and even win awards when leading magazines evaluate the industry. If online casinos treat their players bad this will also get around. The worst get blacklisted by casino watchdogs.

Customers Support: (4) Nobody is perfect. Neither are any casinos in the online gambling industry. Something unexpected can happen. The player might have problems getting the casino software to work or maybe the player needs to get a question answered. This is why it is extremely important that online casinos have fast, friendly and competent customers support. A quality casino will answer your questions truthfully and do everything they can to help you, and they will do so through a variety of ways such as Live Help, Telephone and E-mail.

Events And Jackpots: (3) Regular events and large jackpots are another characteristic of the best online casinos. "Blackjack Monday" or "Slots Sunday" with special promotion offers on these games are examples of events that adds to the gambling experience. "Win a Trip to Las Vegas" is another. The best online casinos have large jackpots where you can win 100.000's of Dollars. In extreme cases you can even become a millionaire. You will probably not win the jackpot, but wouldn't it be nice...

Games: (3) Even the smallest online casinos offer Black Jack, Video Poker and Slots games. But the best casinos offer a large number of variations of the most popular games and then some. The best casinos offer 100 or maybe even 200 different games. With so many games to choose from there must surely be something for every player. Choice matters.

Website: (3) An online casino's website is its mirror the world. Here you should be able to read just about everything about the casino and its activities. Casino websites should be easy to navigate, have an logical build-up and the content should thorough and clear.

Payouts: (2) When you win at an online casino you would like to receive your winnings as fast as possible. The best online casinos will pay out your first withdrawal in 3-4 days while slow casinos may take up to as much as a week. The subsequent withdrawals will be processed a lot faster than the first withdrawal. They should not take more than 1-2 days to process.

Deposits: (2) The number of different ways you can fund your casino accounts differ a lot from casino to casino. Some casinos offer only a handful of different possibilities while the best casino offer a minimum of 10. The best online casinos offer their customers the choice of depositing via Credit/Debit Cards like Visa and MasterCard, E-Wallets like NETeller and FirePay or Bank Transfer.