online casinos and slots

Royal Vegas casino [royalvegas] is an online casino that has been around for years and has a sterling reputation as part of the popular Fortune Lounge group of online casinos. Like all casinos using  Microgaming casino software, Royal Vegas does not accept players from the USA.

Microgaming software is (arguably!) the most popular online casino software, with over 350 games, including some 200 video slots. As primarily an online slots enthusiast I find the choice almost overwhelming to be honest but a bit of playing around and you soon start to find the best slots for you. That’s not to say that *all* the slots are great, but some are among my all-time favourites, most notably Thunderstruck, Isis and the newer 100-line Cashapilla. They all have the free spins bonus, as do probably around 100 other slots in the Royal Vegas online casino software. The Flash version has around 150 games - less than half Read the rest of this slot article »

Things move on, slots get better, old ones start to look old…you know the drill. So I thought I’d just do a quick run-down of my current “top slots”. If you don’t recognise any of these, and like me you appreciate the free spins bonus rounds, then do check these out.

1) Fortune Falls at 3Dice. A totally unique slot - at first I wasn’t sure, but now it’s my first stop when I have some funds available. Oh and the casino takes US players too by the way. This slot just keeps you going and when you get 4 or 5 scatters, which actually isn’t that uncommon (see the picture for proof!), you can get a very decent payday. Love it!

2) Cleopatra. That good old IGT favourite which I play at Virgin casino. You can’t beat Cleo Read the rest of this slot article »

A lot of people may not have heard of the independently run 3Dice casino, but I’ve been a player here for well over a year and it’s one of the best online casinos out there IMO. The games choice is smaller - for example there are only around a dozen slots, but the games are 100% unique and very, very playable. In fact I’d go as far as saying a couple of their slots are in my all-time Top 10 (”Fortune Falls” and “Super Suits”).

I’ve been trying hard to think of negatives to balance this review, and quite honestly, apart from some of the slots being streaky, I can’t think of any! So I’ll stick my neck out and say it’s probably the best US friendly online casino I’ve ever played!

Every slot is uniquely designed and most have the free spins bonus game, with one or two exceptions. 3Dice put a twist on all their games - graphically you will immediately notice just how rich the slots are, and when it comes to the bonus rounds, again they tend to put a spin on it. All the free spin bonuses can retrigger and all are triggerred by scatters, but some of the multipliers and payouts lead to a great payday. Read the rest of this slot article »

And a decent one at that! Aladdin’s Gold is a new RTG casino from the excellent Club World, who also run the very popular Club USA and the more recent Lucky Red Casino. It has fairly much the same games with a few extra slots for good measure, but different bonuses. I’ve not tested those out yet by the way but reports so far are pretty decent and like Club USA, they process cashouts at least once every weekday.

As far as games go, the Real Series slots are where the action is at. There are some 50 or so free spins bonus slots with a mix of stacked wilds, free spins with retriggers and randomly awarded jackpots (minimum $1,000) which can go up to 6 figures on a good day! All three Club World casinos use RTG software with around 250 games.

Check it out: Aladdin’s Gold Casino

By now, most US slot players who are familiar with the IGT slot Cleopatra will know that a) it is available online and b) US players are blocked from playing it for real money. But not everyone will know that there is a copycat slot called “Cleopatra’s Gold” available at Club USA casino, Slots Oasis, iNetBet, Rushmore, Cherry Red and Bodog that, while not identical, is very similar.

Like IGT’s Cleopatra, Cleo’s Gold has 20 paylines and a bonus round which is triggered by 3 or more scatter symbols in view which awards 15 free spins all wins trebled. It also has Read the rest of this slot article »

VERY IMPORTANT! (well, quite anyway)

From the 10th November 2008, USA residents will no longer be able to open accounts at any online casino that uses Microgaming software. This is a huge proportion of the casinos represented on this and many other websites. However, any Americans who have opened an account on or prior to the 9th November 2008 (Sunday) will be OK to continue playing.

See this list of USA casinos for up-to-date information on a State By State basis.

Interesting promo running at Microgaming casino 777 Dragon (no USA) this month. All players can get 10% cashback (rake) on all games up to $10,000. A nice bit of insurance if you lose, and let’s face it, most of us do ;)

I guess you could argue that you play to win and take the positive approach. On the other hand you can argue that you play to win, but usually don’t and get a small wad back to have another go with.

Oh and this is a neat touch - the Cashback is credited once a week on a Tuesday so one assumes that it’s cumulative only over the week which is better than the month. Means you could win one week, lose the next, and still get 10%. Or that’s how I read it anyway.

In addition to the Cashback promo, there is also a 200% signup bonus (currently to a maximum of $50) and a “1 hour free play” promotion with $750 in the bank, no deposit required.

Visit 777 Dragon

Now I’ve played a lot of slots, trust me. Everyone from Playtech, RTG and Wagerworks, through Microgaming, OddsOn (Vegas Tech), Cryptologic and Chartwell. And up until now Chartwell slots were by far and away the most appalling slots I ever played to the extent where I wouldn’t have a Chartwell casino anywhere near my PC.

But guess what? I just found a contender for their (un)coveted crown and unbelievably, these slots seem to be everywhere! Correction - “this slot” would be more appropriate because from what I can see Orbis basically produce one slot and give it some different graphics (which generally aren’t too bad at all). Which probably means it’s cheap to produce, thus cheap to licence, ah…which probably explains why so many online casinos have it. Hey ho. Anyway it’s true, you should never judge a book by it’s cover… Read the rest of this slot article »

A new online casino on the Microgaming platform to play with this week (excluding Americans I’m afraid). Player’s Palace casino uses the excellent MG software and has over 350 games in the download version and 150+ in the Flash version. They are also offering a free play promotion with $2,000 and an hour to see what you can hit.

I’ve not had a chance to play myself yet, but thought I’d slap this up just in case you are looking for a new online casino to check out. But being Microgaming, I can be pretty confident it will be a very safe place to play. More info when I have it.

Goto Players Palace Casino

I recently learned that Sky Vegas casino accepts Canadian players, although quite how easy depositing will be bearing in mind the current banking climate on that side of the pond I can’t vouch for. But a Canadian player I know said she’d managed to sign up no problem, and a call to the casino backed up the fact that they do accept players from Canada (but not the USA).

Now, why is this unusual? Well, basically Sky Vegas has recently started taking onboard more of the IGT slots from subsiduary Wagerworks. Up until now, players there were limited to Cleopatra and players from Canada only had the option of playing Cleopatra at Paddy Power, and even then only via their “Games” product rather than the casino. As of today they have added Cleopatra II, Davinci Diamonds, Triple Fortune Dragon and Wolf Run, all popular Read the rest of this slot article »