Windows is probably the most important brand name in the history of computing. Apple might be beloved and also have a good claim on some of the better innovations, but the majority of the world sees a Windows screen when they log on and open up their work machine. Is it the same when it comes to Windows casinos? Let’s see.
You can also use Windows to play, and home computer users – hopefully, you’re not gambling at work – have been enjoying online computer games on their windows machines for well over 20 years now.
As the world went mad – thanks largely to Apple – on mobile internet access, the online casino industry got stuck in with gusto and a slew of sites started to offer either downloadable apps that mobile players could use on their phone, and all casino sites started to offer adapted websites that looked just as good on mobiles as on a big screen.
The vast majority of casino games developers now style themselves as “mobile-first”, which means just what you think it does. New games, including new live casinos, the industry’s biggest innovation in recent years are designed for mobile users.
A load of those players still see a Windows start-up screen when they load up their phone as Microsoft moved into the mobile world and developed their own operating system that they used between 2010 and 2020.
Here we’ll get into the detail of Windows phone casinos, including how to find good Windows casinos, how to guarantee your safety on a Windows Phone casino and much much more.
Let’s start and get going.
Best Windows Casinos for 2021
How Can I use Windows Phone for Casino Play?
Windows Phones are still out there, but Windows Phone the operating system is dead.
In 2019 Microsoft released a new version of its tablet, the Surface Duo, that was a foldable, book-like device very like a mobile phone. And, it shipped these lovely devices with Android installed.
Microsoft had made phones for a few years from 2010, and they developed their own operating system to do it: Windows Phone.
Windows Phone wasn’t just installed on Microsoft’s own machines either. Nokia (which the company actually bought), Lumia, and HTC were among the makers who picked up the system. It’s no surprise that they did: Microsoft are enormous, it’s no bad thing to partner with them.
If you’re a fan of analysing capitalism you’ll know that this has very little use on whether Windows Phone was the worst operating system or not. “Free markets”, a pleasing little fantasy that’s about as much use in understanding the modern world as a spellbook, don’t really work like that. In the end, Google and Apple won out in the mobile market and Microsoft have given up fighting with them.
Hopefully, for the sake of sustainability, there are still a large number of Windows Phones out there though!
And where there are phones there are mobile casino players.
Let’s have a look at what they can still get out of their devices in the gambling world.
Windows Phones Casino Apps
Mobile customers have two choices when it comes to casino play. They can browse to a website using their website and play online. Or they can download an app and access a site from their phone homepage.
The majority of casinos used to operate by download, even on desktops. That market has largely died out now. Why burden your hard-drive with a clunky programme and stick yet more icons on your desktop when web browsers are so good and so fast. There might have been a marginal advantage in graphics or sound performance of app use on a desktop but it wasn’t enough to save that part of the industry.
In the mobile market, things are a bit different. Apps are much more embedded in consumer culture.
Apps for casino sites can differ widely in the functionality they offer. Some of them aren’t much more than a link to a mobile site.
Others offer special services, in-app payments, and exclusive content.
Whichever way you go, mobile browsing or windows phones apps, the first thing you need to be sure of is that the app you are downloading is of good quality and is safe to use.
The best way to keep safe is to use the Windows App Store.
Windows is a great system, it’s largely secure and stable, and using the Windows App Store is a great way to pick apps that are in the same category.
Downloading apps give you really quick access, and possibly those exclusive extras we mentioned above. They also forge a link between you and a casino site. This is a double-edged sword. If you have an app on your home screen you’re much less likely to shop around in our opinion. This may not be a bad thing. Compulsively browsing for the next big welcome offer or latest site innovation might not be the healthiest way to enjoy a hobby that can have negative impacts on your life.
Take a browse of the app store to see what you see. You can also find single games available as for-money games, so you may not even need to bother with a casino site at all.
How to Find Safe Windows Casinos
The safety of an app is a good start to a safe Windows Phone casino career.
You should also make sure that the site or game that you are using is completely safe.
In order to know this, you need to know that the site is licensed in the UK by the UK’s only recognised gambling regulator, The UK Gambling Commission.
No UKGC Licence? Don’t play.
A licence would guarantee that the site you have found is safe. That is, it will meet some pretty decent minimum standards for how it operates, how its games work, and how it guards your money.
It will not guarantee you a truly ethical site with all the games you really want to play.
If you actually check the licences of some of the biggest sites in the UK you’ll see that some of them have had sanctions taken out against them. These violations of gambling regs aren’t usually for actual “cheating” in the way that most people understand it but for violations around customer service or marketing.
That’s an issue we’ll cover fully in our safety guide later on.
A safe site should also be of good quality. It should also allow you to browse around and take a good look at things before you sign up. Take that opportunity, have a good assessment of the way the site works and if you like the design – it might seem superficial, but if you’re going to be using a site, and you hate pink, don’t pick a site that is themed around the colour pink!
Find somewhere where you are going to enjoy spending time.
Banking and Payment Methods at Windows Casinos
Once you know a site is safe you need to work out if it’s worth your money – and how you’re going to give them your money (and withdraw the winnings you’re dreaming of making).
Mobiles add a couple of extra dimensions to your payment options, but the biggest issue for most players is finding a safe payment method that they can use.
Payment methods come in four broad categories:
Banking. This is the most well-established method of funding a Windows Phone casino account. Banking methods include bank transfers (often made via third-party apps) and debit cards. They’re fast and easy to use and widely trusted. It is illegal to use credit cards to fund gambling via credit cards in the UK.
E-Wallets. An e-wallet is a payment processing system that works online. Most people will understand the way that these systems work through the sectors best-known brand, PayPal. You can link e-wallets to your bank account, or use a card or other method to juice them up. They’re quick and trusted, and can come with small fees.
Pre-paid cards and vouchers. Not everyone has a bank account. If you need a fast, portable way to get money around that can interact with the physical world then you might like a card like Paysafecard, which allows you to deposit in the real world to fund a card that uses a code to make online payments. You can find versions of these cards from big debit card providers now.
Mobile payment methods. Apps like Boku and pay by phone can be used to fund Windows Phones casino accounts via your phone bill or prepaid phone credit. Nothing could be more convenient on a mobile than a specialist payment system, but you will find low limits on payments.
When you check out the payment methods available at a site you need to consider the limits on withdrawals and payments and the time frames for payments.
Casino sites, for security reasons, prefer to make payments to the payment method with which the account was opened. This is another consideration.
It’s not a bad idea to assess a site on a Windows Phone but open your account on a desktop, using payment methods that you trust and giving yourself a little time. You may also need to provide scanned documents to prove your ID and you need to have the facilities to do this if you’re going to withdraw money.
Online Video Slots at Windows Casinos
Once you’re sure you’ve got a safe site that you can fund your account on why not consider whether or not you’re going to enjoy it?
The vast majority of online gambling on Windows Phones is based around slots. Slots are simple to play and it doesn’t take long to understand them.
There are literally thousands of these games on most online casino sites. These days most new games are designed by mobile-first designers. That means they’re made with small screens in mind.
You can spot these games. They tend to have a simple visual design. Controls vanish when they’re not being used and are large, diagrammatic and reduced in number. Many functions are hidden behind menu buttons or cog symbols.
There’s no substitute for a bit of research. Windows Phones are essentially out of date now so not all games are going to be available to you. Because of the historical lag between mobile and desktop platforms, mobiles do still have fewer games too. This is changing, and every new game that we’re aware of can be played on all platforms.
Table Games and Live Casino Games at Windows Casinos
Casino games come in two forms: simulators, which are basically computer games, and live casinos.
Live casino games are the hottest topic in the world of online casinos at the moment. It’s a simple concept, but it took high-speed internet via mobile to make it as universal as it is now.
Live casino games link players over the internet to a studio where a game is being played. Player instructions are relayed via a user interface, and the croupier or dealer and their colleagues operate the game and deliver the wins.
It’s a great innovation, and you can play most of these games via a mobile website on your Windows Phone.
Advantages of Windows Phone Casinos
Windows casinos come with all the advantages of any mobile casino play.
This is a high-quality operating system, and it is secure, trusted, fast and easy to use.
You have access to your games wherever you have the internet.
You may be able to access exclusive mobile or exclusive mobile-app content.
Disadvantages of Windows Phone Casinos
Windows Phone is an ex-operating system. It’s still out there and has a life of a sort, but experience with operating systems suggests that once the progenitor has removed the system from their own products then the OS will suffer in terms of updates and eventually performance. We feel Windows Phone is a time-limited OS now – it may not be around forever.
Windows Phone casino play also comes with the downsides that any mobile device has. They are usually reliant on battery power, and if your battery crashes out when you’re on the brink of winning a big prize then that’s seriously bad news. You also need a good quality internet connection, particularly if you’re playing live games, which are streaming video.
Most modern phones handle these issues with aplomb.
We like to give a lot of coverage to safety around gambling – because it’s important – and easy access to a device and funding at all times can be an issue for some people. Being on your phone all the time might be a problem in its own right, if it’s tied to a gambling problem then it becomes something you might want to take a strict linked with.
Playing Windows Phone Casino Games Safely
Windows Phones casinos, if they’re legitimate licensed sites, would be a source of great fun to you. But you need to have at least some idea of how to play gambling games safely.
This is not to say that everyone who goes near a slot machine is going to end up addicted – that’s not how addiction hurts – but just as a minority of people who drink alcohol have big problems, so a small number of people who play online gambling games will too.
A lot of work on safety – sadly – needs to be done by the player, but the industry does provide some tools that can help make your gambling experience on your Windows Phone casino site both safe and enjoyable.
You owe it to yourself to take this stuff seriously.
First of all, we would say take heed of the industry warning: when the fun stops, stop. This is great advice. Better still, play only with fun in mind and with little or no thought of winning money. If you have a financial slant to your play then it is probably most healthy to limit it to the budget limits you set on your play – the golden rule is to never play with money you cannot afford to lose, and never go beyond any limit that you set.
You should also keep an eye on you! Make sure you’re making good decisions for the right reasons. Addictions often develop as a coping mechanism that helps someone deal with – or avoid dealing with – difficult emotions or real-life problems. Keep an eye on your play, and the way you feel about it. This is serious stuff, it’s not the time to be pretending you’re a super-rational homo economicus from a libertarian fantasy – if you’re playing because you’re upset that’s not a good thing.
And use the tools that you are offered. Time limits, money limits, deposit limits, and tools that allow you to limit your internet access and your phone screen time can all be good tools. Information, if it’s good quality and from a source you trust is never a bad thing, and sometimes the best tool if family or friends, anyone who you can talk to or ask for help or advice if you feel like you’re going down a bad path. Industry approved advice is available just a tap away from any casino site front page.
If you play to enjoy your Windows Phone casino you’re in a good place to enjoy it healthily.