Online casinos vs. traditional, land-based casinos: Which is better?

Online casinos have been around for more than 20 years — and they’ve greatly evolved over the years.

Many of these early casinos were based in the Caribbean, played fast and loose with players’ deposits and generally operated in a shady manner.

In 2013, New Jersey decided to leverage its highly regulated and licensed brick-and-mortar gaming commission into a governing body that could also regulate real money online casinos. The decision was made after facing both a budget shortfall and complaints from those stung by offshore online casino shenanigans.

Once New Jersey proved that these types of operations could be both regulated and a safe and massive driver in state revenue without killing Atlantic City, other states began to license and regulate online casinos in their jurisdictions.

As of early 2024, seven states have legalized the online casino industry, and many more, including New York, may soon follow their lead.

What Are Online Casinos?

Online casinos operate much like land-based casinos. They have online slots and other table games that you can wager on. Most real money casinos also have sportsbooks or online poker games for users to play.

These games are played exactly as they would be in a brick-and-mortar casino, with online slots and other casino games using software and random number generator chips to determine winners and losers.

In the case of slots, that’s how it works in land-based casinos anyway. But for games like roulette, the RNG determines which number the ball will fall into instead of physics.

Since not everyone is as happy with RNG chips on the table game side as the slot players are, we have seen the rise of live dealer games where a dealer on an actual roulette wheel will spin a real ball and let gravity decide. The online casino software then takes over and pays your bets. This can allow hundreds of people to play at one live dealer table.

Online Casinos: Pros and Cons

Real-money online casinos have many advantages over land-based casinos, but there are also some drawbacks. Here, we will discuss the pros and cons.

Pros of Online Casinos

Lower table minimums at online casino games
No need to travel to the casino
Higher signup casino bonuses and better ongoing promotions
Always a spot on the table
No need to interact with others

Cons of Online Casinos

Not the same level of excitement
Online gambling often involves using RNG software instead of real cards or dice
Not able to interact with others

What are Land-Based Casinos?

The history of gambling and land-based casinos in America predates the first colonists. Settlers at Jamestown write about the various Native American gambling games, and dice made from bone or peach pits have been found at numerous Native settlements. Lotteries funded the Revolutionary War, and by the 1800s, full-scale gambling houses could be found in New Orleans, New York and most major cities in between.

The modern era of gambling began in Nevada in the 1950s as all eyes turned to Reno and Las Vegas as the only remaining places of any kind where gambling was legal; the proximity of Las Vegas to Los Angeles soon saw it begin its phenomenal growth, both in casinos and population.

In 1978, Resorts Casino opened in New Jersey after gambling was legalized there two years before. Casinos also proliferated there, but it was another two decades before land-based casinos started their relentless march across the country. Now, all but a handful of states have casinos licensed either by the State or Tribal Casinos run by Native Americans.

Land-Based Casinos Pros vs. Cons

While land-based casinos certainly don’t have as much going for them as time progresses, there are still plenty of pros and cons when it comes to using them. Here’s how we see the debate.

Pros of Land-Based Casinos

Mood: Land-based casinos have that electric atmosphere and sense of excitement in the air.
Social Scene: Land-based casinos allow you to play with or near others; this personal interaction heightens the experience and builds camaraderie.
Fast Cash: Even the best online casinos can’t get you your money as fast as putting your ticket in the validator or walking your chips to the casino cage.
Complete Package: From fancy restaurants to gorgeous rooms, relaxing spas and nightly entertainment, most land-based casinos encompass your every need and desire, and if you play big enough, they’ll comp you for free.

Cons of Land-Based Casinos

Getting There: Unless you live next door, you’ll have to travel to get there.
Minimums: We get it, inflation. But having $25 blackjack or roulette minimums on the weekends is a complete buzzkill.
Game Spread: If it’s 4:00 am and you want to play some casino games like Ultimate Texas Hold’em or Three Card Poker, you are likely out of luck til they reopen in the morning. Even on a busy night with all the tables open, most casinos don’t have the games or the game types to accommodate everyone.

Benefits of Playing at Real Money Online Casinos

Since we believe that most people will find excellent benefits from online gambling over visiting brick-and-mortar casinos, we will go into more detail about some of the advantages you can expect at a real-money online casino.

Easy Signup Bonuses With Online Casinos

The most tangible benefit of playing at online casinos is that they offer huge signup bonuses, which you will never find at a brick-and-mortar casino.

For instance, Caesars Palace Online Casino offers up to a $2,500 match on your first deposit and 2500 Caesar’s Rewards Points after signing up with the promo code NYPCASINO2500.

Almost every online casino provides some sort of bonus offer at signup; most are a 100% match on your initial deposit for online casino games like slots or blackjack.

FanDuel Casino has a different style of signup bonus. They will refund up to $1,000 in losses in the first 24 hours you play and throw in 200 free spins when you register using this link. Can you imagine going to your local casino and asking for a refund on your first day of play?

Variety of Gaming Options

The best online casinos will have slots and casino game libraries that are more than 1,000 options strong. They will feature classic slots from a bygone era that are hard to find on a land-based casino floor and brand-new titles that haven’t even made it to widespread release at brick-and-mortar casinos.

They will have as many as two dozen different blackjack games with multiple side bets and variations. Many of these will have house advantages as low as half of a percent. Many of these will be live dealer games where you can play with a real dealer dealing real cards streamed to your desktop or mobile device.

Or perhaps roulette is your thing; most major online casinos will have as many as a dozen roulette games, including French roulette, which reduces the house advantage from 5.26% down to 1.3%. Good luck finding that in a land-based casino here in the States.

Whether it’s Carnival games, like Let It Ride or Mississippi Stud, or Video Poker games like Jacks or Better, not only will online casinos likely have it, it’s quite likely that they will have it with lower house odds and at a much, much lower table minimum. Additionally, most online casinos also offer free slots, free roulette, free blackjack, and other demo options for players to test out new games and take some free spins without risking any real money.

Play From Anywhere

With online casino games, you can play from anywhere, any time. If you are stuck at a doctor’s appointment, you can play some blackjack. If you’re lying in bed at night and can’t sleep, maybe some penny slots will help you doze off.

You can play from anywhere on your schedule whenever you want. No jumping in the car, driving for half an hour, and then spending another 15 minutes finding parking in subzero temps; you can just pull out your phone or turn on your desktop.

Quick Cashouts

When New Jersey first kicked off this grand experiment in online gaming ten years ago, the banking industry was woefully unprepared. But deposits and withdrawals have become much easier and faster in the decade since.

Typical deposits from bank accounts or credit and debit cards are instant. Withdrawals after the first one or two are usually processed in less than 24 hours and sometimes much quicker than that.

While it doesn’t quite match the speed of getting paid at the land-based casino cage, think about the wait in line for the cashier and then getting that cash back into your bank account, and it may seem a bit more reasonable.

Real Casino Live Dealer Experience

The innovation that has gone into live dealer games in the past couple of years, not just in the technology but in matching real-life gameplay, is extraordinary. Live dealer versions of games like roulette are very close to the real thing; they live stream real dealers on real roulette wheels spinning actual balls, and then the payouts are sorted by the software. If you’ve ever bet the Horses down at the OTB, this is a similar experience – almost as much fun and a lot less of a headache.

While other games like blackjack and especially craps still need a bit of work, it’s evident that the future of table games will be online. But even slots have taken on a much more authentic experience, sometimes even with the faint background noise of a real casino intermixed with the soundtrack.

Online casinos know that players want some of the same thrills as real-world casinos, and they are innovating new ways to make players feel more at home while online every day.

Benefits of Playing at Land-Based Casinos

Land-based casinos offer a unique experience to bettors worldwide. Let’s lay out the case for traditional land-based casinos as well.

Classic Casino Experience

People have been using casinos and gambling to socialize and get closer together for thousands of years across every continent. Much like drinking, gambling is not as much fun as a solitary activity. It is meant to be shared. Even slot players will tell you they still love the action around them and the noise and electricity in the air.

Cash Payout Options

While lines at casino cages have gotten a bit out of hand, you can still wait patiently for five or ten minutes and cash out for real cash. If you have a slot ticket, waiting a few minutes in line will get you to a redemption machine that will spit actual cash out at you. This isn’t possible with online casino games. The ability to have real money in hand almost immediately is a clear draw.

Visit Historic Casinos

Even the best online casino will never measure up to Las Vegas and all that it offers. It’s a complete world built around real-money casino games. You can visit the original Flamingo Hilton, wander downtown to Fremont Street, and see classic casinos from the 50s like Binion’s.

In Atlantic City, you can visit the Borgata, and in places like Colorado and South Dakota, you can visit some of the old-time saloons from the 1800s that let cowboys blow off steam and professional gamblers pick up some gold.

Other Entertainment Options

And not just in Las Vegas or Atlantic City, but most land-based casinos now offer a dozen or more restaurants to choose from, concerts and other entertainment every weekend, luxury pools, decked-out hotel rooms, and gorgeous golf courses. These kinds of amenities are impossible to replicate on a mobile device.

Helping the Local Economy

As a society, we’ve seen the “Eat Local” movement grow, with an emphasis on sourcing and supporting local food and businesses. Similarly, spending money at local casinos strengthens local economies. Many of these, even regional local casinos, employ several thousand employees, while very little to none of your gambling dollars at an online casino stay to help local communities or schools.

States With Legal Online Casinos

So far, we have seven states where online casinos are legal, though each state has taken a slightly different approach to how licenses are granted.

New Jersey

New Jersey kicked off the online casino boom back in 2013. Now, there are almost 30 fully licensed and registered online casinos in the Garden State. New Jersey allowed many operators to compete, unlike states like Delaware and Rhode Island, which chose monopolies for their online casino operations.

It would be hard to argue with the success that New Jersey has seen with their often emulated online casino model, however, and they are home to a vibrant online collection of casinos, including the world-famous Caesars Palace Online Casino, BetMGM Casino, and Borgata Casino. As usual, the bottom line tells the story, and in this case, New Jersey’s bottom line from online casinos was $2.1 billion in revenue in 2023 for their diverse list of operators.

Pennsylvania

In comparison, Pennsylvania started relatively late, with the first real money casino opening online in 2019. They also chose to allow fierce competition and now have over 20 online casino operators with the best online casino names in the business such as DraftKings Casino, FanDuel Casino, BetRivers Casino, and the ever-present BetMGM Casino.

Despite their later start and somewhat smaller pool of online operators, Pennsylvania online licensed casinos also raked in $2.1 billion in revenue in 2023.

Michigan

Michigan‘s first online casino opened in 2021. There are currently 19 of them; some are from the eight tribes that operate numerous casinos across the state, both land-based and now online.

While tribal casinos flourished, the state only allowed three brick-and-mortar casinos in Detroit. Perhaps learning from their mistake, they wisely opened Michigan online casinos with much more competition and have reaped the rewards with $1.9 billion in gross online casino revenue. You can even find Golden Nugget with a casino online. Poker Stars Casino is another online real money casino operating in Michigan with all your favorite casino games.

West Virginia

West Virginia introduced its first online casino app in the summer of 2021. While not as wildly competitive as some states, it allows all five of the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos to have three separate online sites or skins, up to 15 online sites in total, but all must partner with a traditional land-based casino.

Online gaming has proven very popular due to the rugged terrain throughout the state and hazardous winter travel. Unfortunately, it lacks the population and interstate travel that most of the other legal states possess, so they only have issued nine online licenses out of fifteen so far, and online casino revenue for 2023 will come in just north of $150 million.

Besides the more prominent online casinos we’ve mentioned, West Virginia has a brand new Fanatics Casino you should check out if you are travelling through.

Other Online Casino States

Delaware took an entirely different approach to online casinos, allowing each of the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos to partner with the state lottery and offer online games run by the highest bidder. This lack of competition and variety has not exactly exploded the online casino market in Delaware.

In Connecticut, which only has tribal gaming, each of the two tribal casinos were allowed to partner with one online casino operator; Mohegan Sun chose FanDuel, and Foxwoods chose DraftKings. Online gross revenue will approach $400 million for the year ending in 2023.

Rhode Island has yet to begin its adventure with iGaming. While the law passed in 2023, it will be Spring 2024 before Bally’s, the only operator allowed in the state, begins operations.

Many other states, including New York and Maryland on the East Coast and Illinois and Indiana in the Midwest, will discuss legalizing online gambling in 2024.

Social casinos are online casinos that offer you the ability to play mostly slot games for free with some version of a gold coin, which is just for entertainment. Social casinos do not offer real money prizes. At the same time, they also award you sweepstakes coins, which can be “cashed out” for gift cards, prizes, or even cash if you gamble them and win.

By using this sweepstakes loophole, these social casino sites, which you can find in the app store, will sell you gold coins and give you these sweep coins as a bonus, which can also be gambled on slots, just like you would at an online casino in a legal state or a brick and mortar casino. You can play anywhere but in Idaho, Nevada, and Washington.

Social Casino vs. Online Casino

While many small-time slot players enjoy the opportunity to wager for small stakes with sweeps coins in states that don’t yet allow legal online casinos, one should approach these social casinos cautiously. Some have been licensed because they produce slot games for legal online casino sites, but most don’t have any license or oversight.

Also, the Ninth Circuit has already found that these social casinos violate at least some state gambling laws, which is why you can’t currently place wagers with these types of casinos in Washington, Nevada, or Idaho. New lawsuits have been filed accusing companies like Google, Amazon, Apple and others of being complicit in helping spread these “illegal” gambling sites via their app stores.

We would suggest that if you want to play these games for actual sweeps coins that can be turned in for gift cards or cash, you only play with popular and trusted sites like WOW, High 5 Casino, or Pulsz Casino and that you keep your account balances on the lower side due to the potential fallout from either legal issue.

Casino Responsible Gambling

No matter where you play, you need to set time and cash limits. Maybe you aren’t even gambling real money, but perhaps you are spending 8 hours a day playing slot machines for free on a social app. That could still mean you have a problem.

If you or someone you know thinks they might have a problem, information and help are available. You can call 1-800-Gambler or reach out to their website, and remember, all of the real money online casino operators have software available to help you set and stick to limits.

Online Casinos vs. Land-Based Casinos Conclusion

Whether you prefer land-based or online casinos, they both have much to offer. Grand integrated resorts like Borgata or Wynn are jaw-dropping multi-billion-dollar casinos that are must-see attractions in their own right. Fabulous restaurants, eye-popping rooms, thousands of slots, and hundreds of table games, all with some of the best concerts in the country, make these monuments worth the trip.

Online casinos are just now coming into their own. No longer just animated depictions of cards or roulette wheels, today’s online casinos can live stream real table games, offer gameshow-like betting contests, and even live sports where you can bet on each play or pitch.

Online casinos also offer great signup bonuses as these huge gambling companies compete to sign up new players and wow them with their latest offerings. Whichever style of play appeals to you, now is a great time to be a gambler.

Online Casinos vs Land-Based Casinos FAQs

We know you have questions about online casinos vs. land-based casinos, and we like to think we’ve got answers, so here are some of the most commonly asked questions we’ve encountered.

What is an online casino?

An online casino is a mobile app or online site where you can play real-money casino games like slots or blackjack. They are currently legal in seven states, mainly in the Northeast, and are closely monitored and licensed.

If you are physically located in that state’s borders and over the age of 21, you can download the app or navigate to the site, register and begin gambling online.

Can you win real money at online casinos?

Of course, online casinos are closely regulated by their State Gaming Control Boards. They are legitimate real-money casinos with the same chance of winning as any land-based casino. Whether it’s online slots or other casino games, you can win real money.

Are online casinos safe?

Real-money online casino games are some of the most heavily regulated and inspected forms of gambling in the world.

Every licensed online casino is thoroughly and professionally vetted, from their finances and past corporate history to their software and the background of everyone working there.

Any casino that makes it through this tight of an inspection should be considered a reputable online casino.

Which is better: online casinos or land-based casinos?

There are pros and cons to each one. Online casinos have many advantages: they are digital, minimums are often lower, and house advantages are smaller since they don’t require as much overhead as land-based casinos. The same is true of promotions and bonuses. They are generally much more generous at online casinos. It is also far easier to find a table online.

However, studies have shown that the cross-section of people who both play online and gamble in real casinos is not that high. Those who prefer real casinos must like the noise, action, and camaraderie found in real casinos, and that’s where they prefer to play.

Those who prefer real-money online casinos may be playing for the reasons we discussed above, or they may be playing online because they don’t enjoy the social obligation that comes with real-world casinos.

What are some of the best online casinos?

BetMGM Casino, Caesars Palace Online Casino, FanDuel Casino, and DraftKings Casino are some of our favorite places to gamble online.

What is a slot RTP?

Return to Player is exactly what it sounds like. Over the hundreds of thousands of spins, the RTP is how much of each dollar wagered will be returned to the player. If a slot machine advertises 97.5% RTP, you should get back 97.5 cents of every dollar wagered in the long run. The 2.5% is house advantage.

Please note that it is not what you put in the machine but what you bet. $100 into the machine is your buy-in. Betting $3 a spin for 500 spins is $1,500 in wagers. If we are getting back 97.5 cents of that, we are theoretically losing $37.50 at this point( # of spins times x house advantage).