You'd think that picking a casino site would be a pretty simple affair: where do I win the most? Or maybe: who's got the highest stakes? These are certainly relevant questions and do keep them in mind when surfing around to make your choice. But there are other things to consider, not all of which may be immediately obvious.

This is pretty difficult to determine because everyone wants to be in the list of "top 10" or whatever. The best thing to do is visit player resource sites, like this one for example, and read reviews.

Another helpful source, though by no means fool-proof, is to check out the winner lists at your favorite casino site. All the better sites have these lists. If they're an IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) member then they're supposed to be truthful in their advertising, which gives you a little more confidence in their reported payouts.

Nobody wants to spend 30-120 minutes downloading software without having some idea of what you're going to get. Better casino sites have a "Preview" section that shows you snapshots of what their games look like, maybe even provide you with a description of how to play. The software you download can get pretty annoying if you don't like its appearance or play action, so look for the "Preview" section and take a few minutes to check it out.

How quickly can you receive your winnings? Believe it or not, there are sites that only make their payouts on the last Friday of the month, for example. Or they may require that you send them email expressly requesting your winnings. Or maybe your withdrawal transactions have to be pre-approved and the site advises that that can take up to two weeks. These are examples of actual casino sites! The last Friday of the month?! Are they for real?

What if you have a problem? How quickly can you get some service? After all, it's your money we're talking about here. Let's say you are depositing $1000 into your Ecash account but the dog runs by and POP! your computer goes down halfway through the transaction. The debit appears on your credit card, but hasn't shown up in your Ecash account. Yikes! Who can you call? Believe me, you're going to want to hear from someone really, really soon. Support is like insurance: make sure you have it before you need it, because by the time you do need it it's too late to go fishing for it.

All the better online casinos have a support page at their website. They'll list the ways that you can reach them. Almost everybody offers an email address that you can mail to for assistance. Is that good enough? Not for my money it isn't. I want service numbers I can call, hopefully 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And toll-free too, please and thank you. Better yet, give me two toll free numbers, just in case. Can you assume that your casino provides this? Certainly not! Go look, check the details. Hell, I'd even call the toll free number just to make sure it's not an answering machine that's got so many messages on it that it can't accept yours. Sound outlandish? Not a chance! Been there, seen that. It's your money, so you decide how much this matters.

This is a pretty slippery issue but it boils down to this: online casino regulation is a "voluntary compliance" issue. In other words, the casino plays fair if it wants to play fair. A license in Antigua costs a site $100,000, for example, and then they can say they are "licensed". There is no follow-up required and no compliance issues to obey. If they advertise that they are audited, that's nice, but they don't have to do this.

There is an organization called the IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) whose members are expected to adhere to ten points of "Conduct" that essentially call for members to be legally licensed, be available for fair play testing, maintain privacy controls on their client's financial information, and transaction records for dispute arbitration. Again, membership is voluntary. But being part of the IGC is a show of good faith on the part of the casino, and there is some comfort to be taken from this.

As you've no doubt seen, many sites have a little icon where you can vote for the site if you like it. Service sites like Gambling.com collect these votes, assemble monthly rankings, and hand out "Top Site" awards to the winners. Typically, awards will be given for the #1, Top 5, Top 10, and Top 20 sites. Given the hundreds of online casinos, these awards can be a convenient way to find an established site that is popular with the gaming public.

Notice that these "Top Site" awards are specifically based on votes. If you come across a site that has a top ten list, but no indication as to how those ten where chosen, it may not be much of a top ten list at all. For example, there is nothing to keep a site from offering top ten ratings to whichever casino sites are willing to buy one of their top ten slots. So if you find a list that contains a lot of sites you've never heard of before and there is no indication of where the ratings come from, you may be looking at a clever advertising scheme and not a true indication of player popularity.

So there it is, a few things to look, and a few other things to consider, when you are looking for a casino. The online gaming world is big and getting bigger and that means you, the player, are the winner. There are many superior and exciting casinos to choose from and a little effort in making your selection can really pay off in terms of your gaming enjoyment.

And last but not least, check out our casino directory and casino review database.