Best online casinos for beginners in the USA

Over the decades, we’ve played in so many casinos. Some disappeared, but others have stood the test of time. Choosing the right brand can make or break your experience as a newbie. You've likely encountered lists of casinos to avoid. It's for good reason, and unfair rules, lack of response from casino support, and incredibly slow payments top the list of reasons for casino players to avoid certain sites.

How can you tell which are the best online casinos for beginners in the USA? It's hard to avoid having a casino with any rules, but some are fairer than others. Keep reading to learn our tips for finding a great casino for beginners and what our top picks are.

Tips for Choosing a Casino

How do you pick a U.S.-friendly casino that's perfect for newbies? Follow these tips.

Look for Free Chips and Spins

Claim freebies that allow you to thoroughly test out a casino before you commit to it. If you try it out, don't agree with the rules, or find that casino support is lacking, you haven't deposited any of your own money. It’s an experience that costs you nothing but time. Walk away and try another.

Carefully Read the Terms and Conditions

Some casinos love to add unfair or unrealistic terms and conditions, especially on bonuses. After all, they want the bonus to work in their favor not yours. Suppose you find a casino with a 500% deposit match on your first deposit. The welcome bonus sounds amazing because that's a lot of free cash, but is it?

If that 500% welcome bonus has a wagering requirement of 45x, you'll spend so much more money before you can claim any of your winnings. Suppose you deposited the minimum $30, which is standard in many casinos, and got the $150 free, you now have $180 to play with, and that does sound fantastic.

However, the casino may count the 45x on just the bonus amount or the bonus money and amount you deposited. The latter is much more common. Take that $180 and multiply it by 45. You have to wager $8,100 before a withdrawal. Is that something you can afford to do?

You also want to go over the terms and conditions very carefully and ensure you are allowed to play there. If there's a ban in place for people from your area, you might be able to sign up anyway. If you start playing games, win a lot, and go to withdraw, the casino is within its rights to deny your casino payout and confiscate your winnings.

Read Other Player's Reviews

When we test a casino, we know what terms and conditions are unfair. We've played in hundreds of online casinos and know what we're looking for, but we can't encounter everything in the hour or two we're in an online casino.

Read other player's reviews and see what they experienced. If you come across a review where someone expresses anger because their withdrawal was denied due to a misunderstanding of the casino rules, it's best to skip that review as the mistake was that player's and not the casino's. If you come across a player who never claimed a bonus, won money, and the casino keeps denying their casino payout, that's more concerning.

Reach Out to Support

Test the casino support team. Email or enter into a live chat and check the response times. You don't even need to have a question in mind. You can simply ask if there are any secret bonus codes that they can share.

As you waited, did the response time seem unusually long? If you sent an email, did you get a response? It's surprising how many emails "get lost" or receive a delayed response that takes days. There's a casino out there that even lists in their FAQ that players should allow a minimum of 10 days to get a response from casino support, and we find that excessive and would avoid that casino.

Check the Licensing

Every legitimate casino should display license and registration details. At the bottom of the home page, you can find information about the casino's licensing and the specific rules and regulations it abides by. Make sure the casino uses random number generators (RNGs) to ensure games are fair.

Sweepstakes Casinos

Every player should start with a sweepstakes casino to get a feel for the structure, gameplay, and betting options. With a sweepstakes casino, no purchase is necessary to win prizes.

When you sign up, free gold coins and sweepstakes coins to play games with. Return each day to claim your daily rewards. If you win with either coin, your coin balances increase. Sweepstakes coins are redeemable for things like gift cards and cash rewards.

Chumba Casino

Return each day and get another 200,000 gold coins and 1 sweeps coin. If you run low, a free GC top-up is available. If you want to buy gold coins, you can and some of the bundles come with free sweeps coins. You never have to, however. Here are the things we love about Chumba.

Players from most of the U.S. are welcome, excluding Idaho, Michigan, Montana, Washington, and U.S. territories and possessions.
Registration is simple.
The game selection is plentiful.

Fortune Coins

Its bonuses make Fortune Coins stand out. Claim the Daily Entitlement Bonus to get 600,000 gold coins and 300 fortune coins each day. You also get 10,000 gold coins and 100 fortune coins for verifying your phone number, 100,000 gold coins and 300 fortune coins for consenting to marketing emails, and 120,000 gold coins and 300 fortune coins for agreeing to SMS. The sign-up bonus is 100,000 gold coins and 200 fortune coins. Other benefits are:

Hundreds of games, including popular Megaways games, are available.
Players from the U.S. are welcome, excluding players from Idaho, Michigan, and Washington.
New slots come out throughout the month.

Pulsz

Once you verify your email, daily bonuses give you free gold coins and free sweepstakes coins. Plus, the casino has a VIP program that leads to better rewards and a refer-a-friend program worth 6,000 gold coins and 30 free coins for each friend that signs up, with a limit of 10.

Play thousands of games, including Hold & Spin, Megaways, and Cluster Pays games.
Exclusive titles are always available.
Players from the U.S. are welcome, excluding Idaho, Michigan, Nevada, and Washington.

Online Casinos With Real Money Betting

After you’ve honed your skills playing in sweepstakes casinos, move on to real-money gambling sites. These are casinos where you deposit funds, play for real money, and win money that you can withdraw. These casinos typically allow you to play for fun, too, though some make you register and sign in before you can access demo play.

Bovada

The Bovada brand is well-known in the casino world. Many can sign up, but players from these states are excluded: Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York. The site offers casino games, online poker, and sports betting. We have a lot we love about this casino, but there is one negative. Second and third deposit welcome bonuses made with crypto increase the wagering requirement to 50x. That’s not exactly advantageous, and you might want to skip out on those offers.

The selection of Bovada games isn’t found anywhere else.
Crypto is available for banking.
The poker room has $2 million in weekly guarantees.

Ignition Casino

Ignition Casino has a long history in the online gaming world. It’s been in business since 2015 and has a great reputation with thousands of daily players. More than 300 casino games, live dealer games, virtual sports, and poker room options are available.

Players from many states are welcome, excluding Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York.
Wagering requirements of 25x on the bonuses are favorable.
Ignition Casino’s fairness and RNG testing methods are clearly laid out.

Lincoln Casino

After opening in 2013, this is one of the longest-running online casinos. When the deposit bonus is less than 100%, the wagering requirements are a minimal 20x, otherwise, it’s 30x, which still isn’t bad. Hundreds of games fill the site’s catalog of games.

All new players qualify for a no-deposit bonus to check out the casino first.
Certified fair gambling policies are available to view.
Free loyalty bonuses every month.

There are hundreds of online real-money and sweepstakes casinos available today, so you have a massive number of choices. Read reviews. Explore the terms and conditions to ensure you understand the rules. Most importantly, take your time. We recommend testing out at least a dozen casinos to find the one that’s the right fit for your style.