Free casino sites

All online casino sites offer free games for visitors and members to play. There are no hidden fees or special catches; you can test nearly all online slots, table games and niche titles on offer before you even commit to wagering real money, and just play them for fun without gambling any cash at all.

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How does free play work at casino sites?

All modern online casinos worth your time and money implement what is called ‘browser-based’ or ‘no download‘ gaming interfaces on their sites. Free casino games software loads directly in your Web browser using Adobe Flash or Java technology – plugins built into browsers to load things such as YouTube videos. What this means is you can play your favourite pokies or table games without the need to download any special software onto your computer.

Due to the fast and snappy nature of playing casino games this way, casino sites often refer to this method as ‘instant play‘. To try out instant play for yourself at free casino sites, you don’t even have to sign up with your details, register an account or deposit any money first. All visitors need to do is follow these simple steps to get playing:

• Decide which platform to play on – desktop computer or laptop (Mac OS X or PC) or mobile smartphone or tablet (Android, iPad, iPhone, Samsung, etc).
• Make sure you have an active Internet connection to your desktop computer, either via ethernet cable connection or Wi-Fi, or a 3G/4G mobile roaming data or Wi-Fi on your phone or tablet.
• Download and open up your Web browser – we recommend Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox.
• Visit and navigate the ‘Games’ section of their chosen Internet casino establishment.
• Click (or tap if on mobile) on the title they wish to play for free.

What happens is the game will load directly within your Web browser tab, and prompt the player to choose between ‘Real Money‘ play which requires bets with real cash to proceed, and ‘Free play’, often also called ‘Practice Play Mode’ ‘For Fun’. Depending on your Internet connection speed, the game will load and you will immediately be given demo credits to play with, emulating real cash. You can play to your hearts desire until your credits run out, in which point you can simply re-load the game to replenish the demo credits amount.

All of the top-rated and regulated online casinos we recommend on CasinoSites.com.au have been thoroughly tested to ensure they offer free games.

Advantages and disadvantages of free play

Practice play or free play of online casino games is great for newbies or even regular casino visitors because it gives you the chance to test a game before putting your hard-earned cash on the line.

If you are a beginner, a major advantage is you can learn the ins and outs of complex games like blackjack, craps, poker or sic bo. For example, figuring out the types of bets, odds, house edge and little quirks of each rule variation available is a time-consuming process, and with practice play you can do so at your own comfortable pace with no money put down and without having to worry about holding up other players who would be waiting for you to proceed with your bets at a live table. It takes away a lot of the pressure but also gives a lot more flexibility in learning how best to play.

Practice play is especially great for testing out new online pokies releases, which often contain intricate gameplay bonuses and entirely separate bonus features which are like a game within the game. In our experience, free play has been especially great when a particular video slot catches our eye from its colourful theme but fail to hold us with sub-standard gameplay.

The one disadvantage of playing casino games for free online is obvious; any winnings you make aren’t real and cannot be withdrawn. It can take the thrill out of succeeding, especially if you get a huge jackpot prize, but ultimately you’re either playing for free because you want to play for fun or practice before you commit real money.

What casino games can I play for free?

As we mentioned earlier, all of the online casinos we promote carry instant-play, no-download games from a variety of the best software providers like BetSoft, Microgaming and Net Entertainment. Virtually every single online pokies game can be played for free with the click or tap of a button, while the following RNG electronic table games and their various rule variations (multi-wheel roulette or multi-hand 21, for example) can also be tested with free demo credits.

The sole exception to free online gaming is live dealer. For those who are unfamiliar, live dealer is a special type of casino game offered at multiple digital gambling venues we recommend here at CasinoSites, hosting games like baccarat, blackjack and roulette with real human croupier rather than random number generators. Games are streamed live to our computer or mobile screens (Internet connection is needed) and the equipment is handled by the dealer – the only digital part of it is when you place your chips.

Because live dealer employs real people in front of a camera handling games like any other dealer at a brick-and-mortar casino venue, operational costs are higher and unfortunately players cannot play these games with demo credits as a result to reserve the seats for real money players. Thankfully, you can still enter certain live dealer games without any money just to watch the games unfold and learn the rules and gameplay.

Where should I play casino games online for free?

The best free casino sites are the ones we recommend to Australian and international players. All of our editors and writers are members at the sites we write about, thoroughly playing and testing every game offering available and redeeming the same bonuses and promotions any other player would get from signing up.

• Slots Million – An extremely user-friendly casino specialising in everything pokies, it has a great search feature visitors can use to find over 1300 online pokies games from over 15 software providers – the most video slots of any other online casino out there. Every single game they host can be played for free with demo credits, and you can also enjoy over 520 of their games on their mobile site, 100% optimised for the smaller screens and touch-based controls of Android, iOS, Samsung and Windows smartphones and tablets.
• Mucho Vegas – A site dedicated to player entertainment, Mucho Vegas hosts a variety of free casino games not often found at other online casinos. With a simplified interface on both desktop and mobile, it’s highly recommended for newbies still learning the ropes about online casinos and who want to test the waters without any pressure of spending real cash.

We know the in’s and out’s of our top picks. If you need any more assistance in learning the ropes about online casinos, navigate through our site for more information on everything from rules to learning about how bonuses and deposits work and more in-depth reviews on the very best games and sites.