Cookies represent text files of a small size that are being stored by various websites (including online casinos) on your personal computer or tablet/smartphone. As soon as you visit an Internet gambling establishment, it starts to set cookies on the device you are using provided you have given your consent. (You surely noticed a special window like Accept Cookies, which is usually situated at the bottom of your screen when you go to this or that website). What is the purpose of those cookies? In which ways do their types differ from each other? How do you manage them? Keep reading the article to learn all this information and more ‒ you are certain to find something new, regardless of your experience.
Types of Cookies
Although quite a lot of gamblers and Internet users in general do know what cookies are and what they are used for, it’s definitely not everyone who is aware of all the peculiarities and especially cookies types. In order to fully understand the principle of cookies and maybe even derive some benefits from the new information obtained, let’s find out what types of cookies there are and how they work.
So, one can differentiate between four principal cookies types. They, in turn, are divided into different smaller groups, each of them working for a specific purpose. Below we will describe the main types that you are going to come across on virtually any website.
The first category deals with the source setting cookies on the device.
- First-party cookies are set solely by the website that you’re visiting. This means that they can be read by this website only.
- Cookies set by some external services at the website are called third-party cookies.
From the point of view of how long cookies are stored, there are:
- Persistent cookies that are not deleted in an automatic mode when you quit the browser.
- Session cookies that are automatically removed once your browser is closed.
When you visit an online casino, you have to choose between accepting cookies or refusing them.
What Cookies are Used For
The essential purpose of cookies is to save and remember different details ‒ for instance, the language you make use of when browsing through the pages of a site, user name, preferences, and plenty of other things. Thus, for example, you don’t need to enter your password and name again and again each time you are logging in. You don’t have to repeatedly opt for the options that you already chose either. Besides, cookies are employed to establish anonymized statistics for improving website services. They also remember if you have previously accepted the privacy and cookies policy, participated in some surveys, and the like.
To sum up, here is a concise list of the main functions that cookies perform. These are not the only tasks that cookies are meant for, but they represent the general picture of the purposes.
- To make the website operational;
- To remember user preferences and details;
- To collect analytical data on visitor behavior.
How do Cookies Work?
As a rule, the cookies set by online casinos are first-party ones ‒ they are not linked to any external organizations. Still, it is possible for some pages to require the operation of third-party cookies that are to be accepted if you want to view those pages. Now we’ll take a look at how some of the cookies types actually work.
Analytics cookies help to assess the interaction with the website to improve its services. As far as these data are concerned, it is entirely anonymous, which means that no third parties are allowed to see this information.
Operational cookies normally don’t require your consent. They are used for certain pages to function properly. Such are technical and authentication cookies. The latter remember your name and account ID, accepted policies like those of privacy and cookies, region, domain, and other data provided. As for technical cookies, they determine if your browser has JavaScript enabled, keep the sessions secured, find the optimal bandwidth, and so on. All this is performed to improve the experience and make the website work as it should.
How to Manage Cookies
It is possible to manage the operation of cookies on your device. In other words, you can clear all the cookies that have been placed on your PC (tablet, smartphone) and/or completely prevent them from being set in the future. This relates to either blocking cookies from a specific website or any cookies altogether. There are a few methods to do all that: let us discuss each of them separately.
The easiest method to delete cookies from your device, whether it be a computer or phone, is to clear the history of the browser you are employing. By doing so, you will remove all the cookies from the websites you have visited. Keep in mind, though, that you may lose some data contributing to your convenience and making it possible for interesting propositions to be offered to you. For example, it will delete your login details, languages used, various preferences, and so on.
Deleting your cookies will not affect the further acceptance of them. If you’d like to completely block placing any cookies on your computer, phone, or tablet, you should open the settings of your browser and check the privacy and cookies section. There you can select the option to refuse cookies coming from all websites or stop receiving them from a particular website(s).
Remember that some services are likely to work improperly or not be able to work at all if you refuse cookies. Apart from that, you might have to adjust your preferences in a manual mode every time you visit a site.
