Top Real Money Games Casinos

What is a Real Money Casino Game?

A simple definition of a real money casino game is one that ‘pays out’ real money. Let us roll through the examples to give you a clearer understanding of what we actually mean.

When you sign up to an online casino, you’ll see that virtually every game— with the exclusion of live dealer games— is available in free play mode. This is akin to a practice game, giving you the chance to test out titles using casino credits. Needless to say, demo games are not played with real money.

When it comes to real money online casino games, however, you’ll need to pay to play. The cost of each spin or hand comes directly out of your casino balance which you funded with your own money, using one of the many payment methods available at the UK’s top casino sites. If you win, you end up with more money, the reverse applies if you lose.

Whether you want to play online blackjack, slots, roulette, craps- or any other casino games for that matter- you’ll have a pick of the lot when you’re playing with real money. But it’s not just the selection of games you’ll be spoilt with- the best online casinos give players the chance to play live dealer casino games and games with progressive jackpots when they make real money deposits.

Real Money vs Free-to-Play Games: What’s the Difference?

Almost every online casino game gives players the chance to test the waters with free play casino games. This means you can still enjoy the fun of online casino, without the pressure of real money on the table. But there are some differences between free and real money games that are worth taking note of.

While you’ll be able to play virtually all of your favourite slots titles for free— even branded video slots— you might not get to access all features and bonus rounds. Of course, you wouldn’t win real money with free games anyway, but if you’re playing casino games for fun, you wouldn’t necessarily get to enjoy the full extent of each game’s features.

Live dealer games are pretty much out of the question when it comes to free play casinos. These immersive casino games are almost always exclusive to players gambling real money due to the increased costs of these games in comparison to computerised random number generated (RNG) casino games. You might be able to watch a game of live dealer roulette or blackjack, but but your chips need to be real cash for you to take a seat.

Types of Real Money Games

There are many different types of games to win real money on. Here are some examples of what you can find at the top UK casinos. 

Real Money Skill Games

Although luck will always be the deciding factor in any form of gambling, some real money games also incorporate elements of strategy and skill. Rather than being purely down to a roll of the dice or the luck of the draw, success will partly rest on your ability to assess hands and make good judgement calls. 

Online poker is a perfect example, as players have to decide which cards to utilise and whether to raise the stakes, play it safe or attempt to bluff their opponents. Blackjack is another card game with a skill element, as players must make key decisions on whether to draw more cards or stick to what they’ve got.

Real Money Games of Chance

Online casinos offer games of pure chance alongside skill games. They’re rather like the lottery – you’ve got to be in it to win it, but you won’t have any influence on how a game unfolds. 

Examples of real money earning games that rely on luck alone are online roulette and bingo, where your fate is decided by which numbers come up at random. Online slots and scratch cards, both hugely popular draws at casino sites, are also games of pure chance, with the spinning reels being determined by random number generator (RNG) software.  

Real Money Online Tournaments

Many UK sites give you the chance to play games for real money through online tournaments. These include esports tournaments, where avid gamers connect online to battle it out in games like League of Legends and Fortnite for real money prizes. On the casino side of things, poker is the game most associated with online tournaments, with a wide range of events you can enter at the top poker sites. Real money poker tournaments usually require an entry fee, though some will be freeroll tournaments that don’t have buy-ins but still pay out real cash. 

Real Money Free Play Games 

Free games to win real money may sound like a pipe dream, but they effectively become a possibility when bettors score no deposit bonuses. These promos provide players with free casino credits or slots spins with the potential to win real cash prizes. However, there are usually strict wagering requirements attached, meaning you need to bet a certain number of times before you can draw any bonus winnings out of your betting account. 

Staking Limits – Choosing the Right Level

When playing with real money, it’s always important to play within your means. This means understanding which tables are right for you. A crucial part of enjoying yourself playing at online casinos for real money is to find the right staking limits for your bankroll.

bankroll. You can play video slots 10p a spin, but there are also certain Playtech slots that will go up to £1,000 a turn. The same applies to table games. You have games you can play for pennies or high-roller tables with maximum bet limits in the thousands of pounds range. It helps to keep it real, if you only enter the site with £10, the chances are you aren’t going to walk away with £1,000,000 -of course, it isn’t impossible, but it is unlikely.

Low Stakes Games

Low stakes games are the best place to start, no matter the size of your eventual budget. Low stakes games offer a good dose of excitement and enjoyment with less pressure than big money games. With penny slots offering you a slice of the slots action for just 1p per line, you can win real money without putting big money on the line. These slots might not have the same array of bonus features, wild symbols or progressive jackpots as games with higher stakes, but they certainly give you a taste of the action.

Over in the table and card games section, Playtech casinos offer penny roulette which is the lowest stake you’ll find for this game. Netent Professional Series has a range of card games such as blackjack, baccarat and punto banco that can be played in low, standard or high limit variants. Not all casinos offer all these options, so check out the library before signing up to see that there are games available to suit your budget.

High Stakes Games

At the other end of the spectrum, you have games for high rollers. Those players that like to spend tens of pounds for each spin on a slot machine or play roulette at £100 (or more) a bet. These games are identical to the low stakes games, with the only difference being there are higher maximum bet limits, and you have the chance to win more money. For instance, slots normally payout a multiple of your line bet (or total bet), so if the jackpot is 1000x the line bet and you are playing for £0.01, your return is £10. Of course, if your line bet is £10, the jackpot is £10,000. It goes without saying that you should only play with high stakes if you can truly afford to lose the money you wager. Gamble only what you can afford to lose, and that makes winning much more pleasurable.

Look for the Licence

If you’ve visited TopRatedCasinos.co.uk before, you’ll have noticed a common theme – we only recommend casinos that hold a valid UKGC licence. No matter if you’re playing with penny stakes or at high roller tables, it’s vital that you’re playing at an online casino that holds a valid licence. We only recommend casinos that hold a UKGC licence for one simple reason: to protect you from shady operators. These casinos are held to high standards when it comes to ensuring the safety and well-being of players and are subject to regular testing to make certain that games are fair and random.

Licenced casino sites must only offer safe and legal payment methods, and clearly state the measure they take to protect your funds, should the brand experience any financial difficulty. This means you can rest assured that your personal financial information is treated securely, and you understand exactly what you’re signing up to.

Real Money Bonuses

Always eager to attract new customers and keep existing members happy, the top UK casino sites will offer a range of bonuses to bolster your bankroll.  

Casino Bonus

Casino bonuses come in different shapes and sizes. They could include free spins for specific slot games like Starburst or Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead, or a certain amount of bonus credits you can use to play your favourite table games and live dealer titles. Helpfully, many casinos have a dedicated page listing all of the bonuses available at any one time, so you can easily get up to speed on the latest offers.  

Welcome Bonus

Welcome bonuses are there to reward new customers for signing up with a particular casino. If you’re lucky, you may be given a no deposit bonus, which means you can start playing games like roulette, baccarat, and craps to win real money without any financial outlay. Other types of welcome bonus include free spins and matched deposit bonuses, which we’ll talk about below. When comparing welcome bonuses, remember to check the small print for conditions like winnings caps and wagering requirements.

Matched Deposit Bonus

Probably the most common type of bonus out there today, the matched deposit can significantly ramp up your bankroll at online casinos. Say there’s a 100% up to £250 matched deposit bonus – in this case, depositing £250 would give you an extra £250 in bonus funds. In this instance you could deposit more money, but the bonus amount will cap out at £250. You can use this added credit to play games for real money but, as ever, wagering requirements will apply. You may also encounter other restrictions, such as time limits, winnings caps, and game restrictions, to name a few.

No Deposit Bonuses

A no deposit bonus is the perfect stepping-stone between free casino games into the world of real money. As the name suggests, you don’t need to make any financial commitment before claiming one of these offers. The most common no deposit bonus is free spins, but a few sites also have no deposit free money offers available. As a player, you get to taste the thrill of having real money on the line, while the casino benefits, knowing that a percentage of players will make a cash deposit to continue playing when the bonus runs out. Most no deposit bonuses come with wagering requirements, which does significantly reduce your chances of profiting from the bonus, but they’re a great way to enjoy the fun of casino nonetheless.

Wager-Free Bonuses

More casinos these days are turning to wager-free bonuses in an attempt to secure your business, especially when it comes to new online casinos. What the wager-free part means is that any winnings you get from the bonus is instantly put in your real money balance- no jumping through hoops to get there. However, most wager-free bonuses are tied in with a deposit. For example, deposit £10 and get 10 free spins with no wagering requirements. The free spins are usually only worth the minimum line bet amount, so snagging a fortune is perhaps out of the question, but any wins are real money so you can’t knock that.

Banking Methods at Real Money Casinos

As you might expect, the best casinos featuring real money games make it as convenient as possible for players to transfer funds. Here are some of the most popular banking options you’ll encounter at top online casinos.

E-Wallets

E-wallets offer an easy way to manage your money online, as you can link different cards and accounts to one platform. The other great advantage of e-wallets like PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller is that they allow you to move money in and out of betting accounts without having to share sensitive banking information. E-wallets are typically the best option at fast withdrawal casinos as they have a short processing time, meaning you could get hold of your cash sooner than you would with a debit card.

Bank Transfer

A secure option for moving cash into your betting account to play real money games is via bank transfer. While this method generally offers the slowest withdrawal speeds, it’s still a perfectly viable way to fund your casino account. If you’re a high roller looking to make large deposits, another positive is the high deposit limit offered by bank transfers.

Debit Cards

As the majority of players already use debit cards for their day-to-day shopping, it’s easy to see why this is a popular way to make deposits and withdrawals at online betting sites. Withdrawals can take a little longer compared to e-wallets, however, and some players may prefer a method that doesn’t involve sharing card details with online casinos. While regulations ensure that all transactions are encrypted at licensed online casinos, no security system is completely foolproof and you may prefer the added layer of security provided by sharing limited personal information.

Real Money Casinos vs Social Gaming Casinos

Real money casinos and social gaming casinos look pretty similar at first glance. The key thing that separates them is that the former offer the chance to win real cash prizes, while the latter are generally about playing for fun, usually with some form of virtual currency.

What can be confusing is that there’s often a very similar array of chance games on offer at social casinos, including colourful and immersive video slots and table games like blackjack and baccarat. There may also be a lot of hype about “big coin prizes”. However, all of this usually refers to virtual currency and gifts, rather than anything you can draw out for real.

Real Money Social Games

As we mentioned above, social casinos are largely for entertainment only, with no real money games available. However, there are exceptions here, with some social casino apps offering mobile players chances to enter sweepstakes and cash prizes without having to deposit and bet real money funds. Let’s look at three examples. 

Play to Win

A highly-rated social casino app that’s available on Android and iOS, Play to Win offers punters daily, weekly, and monthly cash prizes that can climb into the thousands of pounds. It works by letting you enter sweepstakes for free, with more entries provided to the users who log in most frequently. These prizes are funded by ads that run on the app, meaning you can potentially win something with no financial outlay whatsoever.

Millionaire Mansion

The challenge of the Millionaire Mansion game is to renovate your uncle’s old estate. As part of this gameplay, you can enter free sweepstakes which can provide real money giveaways. The random draws take place daily and weekly, with hundreds of pounds potentially able to be won in an instant. Millionaire Mansion, which generates revenue by inserting ads into the action, is currently available on both iOS and Android devices.

Lucky Chest

Another social app that’s funded by obligating users to watch ads, Lucky Chest keeps things simple with its free scratch cards and raffles. By taking part in the draws, and playing the scratch card games, you can build up virtual currency that can eventually be redeemed for gifts like Amazon and Spotify gift cards. Lucky Chest is currently only available on Android devices.

Play Real Money Games on your Mobile

The world has gone mobile and so has real money casino gaming. All casinos either offer a mobile-friendly website or a native app to cater for mobile players. Many of the games that are now developed have a mobile-first approach, so the number of titles available to play on the go is ever increasing. If you want to play progressive jackpot slots, video poker, blackjack or high stakes live roulette, your mobile now has it all.