online casinos and slots

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 »

I have played at Club USA since it left the Chartwell sofwtare platform and signed up to Realtime Gaming and it’s one of only a few RTG casinos that a) I can trust and b) recommend. It’s not perfect - what casino is? - but the games are very good, slots in particular, and the service and cashouts fast. That’s what I look for in an online casino. Cashouts are processed every day, and while US players do have to be more careful about Read the rest of this slot article »

A mate of mine was playing at the Microgaming casino Roxy Palace (No USA players, although many US residents can play the same games at Lucky Nugget or Fortune Room) on Tombraider. He’d been on a good run already getting up to $9,000 from a $650 deposit, when he decided to bet big. So he set the spin to the max bet $37.50, and let it ride. Almost immediately he got the “holy grail” - 5 Wilds on line 10. What’s more, in the same session he got 5 scatters for $6,000 - and here’s the screenshot to prove it.

Personally, I’m not a great fan of the Tombraider slot - it’s OK, but I prefer Thunderstruck myself. But you can’t argue with this one. The slot rewards 10 free spins (wins are trebled) when 3 or more scatters appear in view, and here is a pick ‘em style bonus game built in too.

Thought I’d share a little story with you - couldn’t quite believe my eyes but the proof is in the screenshot below. So there I am, sitting at my PC when up pops a message to tell me I have $45 in “comp” points sitting in my account at Jackpot City - an online casino that, if I’m honest, I  haven’t played at much in the two years since I opened it. See, I have these accounts sitting around as my job is to review online casinos so I open one up, deposit, withdraw, test the various functions, games, yada, yada, yada. Then I tend to wander off and do the next.

Not to say I’m not a bit partial to some slots play it must be said, but that’s my “bag”. So yeah, anyway, there I am, still waiting for the casino win that will change my life after 4 years…and let’s face it, it’s a 1-in-a-million shot. Until now, my biggest success was at Intercasino, where I had $50-odd dollars sitting there and decided to play one of their low-denomination jackpot slots (Triple Olives). Boring as hell, but not when the 3 olives dropped in for just short of $17k! That was my “moment” and I’ll never forget it. But now I’ve eclipsed it.

Back to today - that $45 - so I think “what the hell”, let’s do 4 spins at $10 on the “Loaded” slot at Jackpot City. It’s a cool low-medium variance slot where the free spins bonus happens reasonably regularly .Sure enough, up it pops on spin 1 and a nice $600 win to boot! Good start. Play on! I moved over to my all-time favourite slot, “Thunderstruck”, start spinning at $11.25 - hey, easy come, easy go right? And whaddya know Read the rest of this slot article »

Thought I’d add a word on this as it’s often overlooked. If you didn’t already know, all of the reputable online casinos operate a “player protection” policy. What this means is that you can request or set limits on how much you deposit, either by the week or month, and in some instances to deeper levels.

For example, if you play a casino using Microgaming software, you can email support and ask them to limit your deposits by day, week or month. They will ask you the limit and a security question and set it manually. You will not usually be able to change it “up” for a minimum of 7 days.

At Wagerworks (Flash) casinos - IGT owned - every casino has Read the rest of this slot article »