Picking a casino site is not a simple affair. There are several important criteria to take into account.

Biggest payouts

A 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.

Game Previews

Nobody wants to spend hours downloading software!! Especially without having some idea of what you're going to get. Better casino sites have a "Preview" sections that shows you snapshots of what their games look like, maybe even provide you with a description of how to play.

Withdrawals

How quickly can you receive your winnings? There are sites out there 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!

Support

What if you have a problem? How quickly can you get some service?

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. A good thing to look for is a freephone number to call.

Licensing

Online casino regulation is currently a "voluntary compliance" issue.

We recommend strongly that you look for the IGC logo on the frontpage.

Awards

Most Top Site awards are specifically based on votes. This is a useful way of finding a popular casino which has had few problems with it's customers and offers a good service.

That's a list of the major pointers which we think are relevant. There will be things which you can add yourself when you become more experienced.