The UK’s gambling industry is huge with over half the population said to enjoy a flutter. People’s reasons for gambling vary with many citing thrill and winning potential as their sources of motivation. This piece, written exclusively for Online Casino Bonus Expert will look in detail at some of the most common reasons that motivate people to gamble.

Winning Money

Winning money, obviously. The main reason that many people try out and continue gambling is the fact that they could potentially win money. The idea of winning cash for playing a game or placing a bet on something can be very appealing and it can often be a source of adrenaline and thrill. Although this is not the main reason for everyone – it does tend to be a motivating factor.

Convenience

Gambling these days tends to be a lot more convenient than it was in the past with players able to play on their mobile devices and even use a pay by phone casino to make their deposits. The convenience of the whole thing makes it easier for players to get involved and this is often the main reason for many people who start playing at online casino sites – it cuts out the hassle. (more…)

Football is arguably the most popular and watched sport on the planet, with fans from all over the world tuning in to watch their favourite team. Sports betting sites have benefitted from this popularity as football betting is one of the largest markets for fans to bet on.

With so much money being thrown around in football, it’s difficult to understand how clubs can keep spending like this without getting into serious financial problems. Clubs tend to receive most of their money from transfer fees, match day revenue and TV deals, but a significant part of their revenue comes from sponsorships. Some of the largest sponsorships tend to be from kit manufacturing companies such as Adidas and Nike. This infographic looks at the most lucrative kit deals and how much revenue they bring in for each club.

Fans of poker know that it is a game which requires a lot of skill to compete at the highest level, but also requires some luck. The Betfair Casino site allows you to compete against players of different skills levels from the comfort of your own home.

There are different card combinations available in poker, some of them which are more likely to occur than others. The best combination a player can achieve is a Royal Flush. This is considered the best hand in poker, however the odds of receiving this around 649,739/1. This is why there is a certain amount of luck in poker. Even though players will mainly win based on skill, if an unskilled player manages to get a Royal Hand combination they have essentially won the game due to the luck of the draw.

For those that are unfamiliar with poker, this infographic recaps the different types of winning hands and the odds of a player receiving them.

Casinos have been popular for centuries and are only getting bigger and bigger in the 21^st century with the expansion of mobile and live casinos online.

The online and mobile versions of casinos allow you to play all your favourite games from the comfort of your own home.  The graphics are fantastic and provided you have a decent internet connection the games run smoothly.

Playing live casino games means you can stream actual live dealings with a live dealer you can interact with, giving you the feeling that you’re actually playing in person without having to dress up, pay the taxi fare and waste your time travelling to and from the brick-and-mortar casino.

Casinos and casino games are older than you and I and here are some facts about some of the popular games that you’ve never heard before:

Blackjack

• A Blackjack Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to honour the greatest blackjack authors and professional players in history. It is located in San Diego, California.  There are currently 21 inductees.
• The actual date Blackjack was invented is unknown but it is believed to have come from the game twenty-one at the start of the 1600s.
• Casinos in more than 140 countries worldwide offer blackjack.

Slots

• The precursor to the modern slot machine was developed in 1891 – players would insert a coin, pull a lever in hope for a good poker hand.
• The demand for slots in Las Vegas is so great that they have overtaken the casino floor – one in every eight Vegas residents could sit and play at the same time!
• Japan has more slot machines than the United States – there are close to 5 million slot machine games in the country.

Craps

• Craps was originally known as Hazard which was a game played during the time of the Crusades.  Its popularity grew during World War II when soldiers played in the trenches during downtime.
• In the 1990s, gambling extraordinaire Archie Karas turn a $17 million fortune into an incredible $40 million over a couple of months playing craps.
• Dealers are not allowed to handle money directly from players. Cash must be placed on the table.

Roulette

• Mathematician, philosopher and physicist Blaise Pascal invented the game of roulette.
• Roulette is sometimes called ‘The Devil’s Game’, partly because all of the numbers on the wheel total up to 666.
• European-style tables have a single zero square, whilst the American-style roulette table includes an additional double-zero. This gives the American house edge almost twice as much as their European counterparts – 5.26% compared to 2.7%.