online casinos and slots
I was playing at a casino in England yesterday (Rendezvous in Brighton) and came across the Diamond Queen slot machine, an IGT game I had never previously seen, yet alone played. Not sure if this is a brand new game or, more likely, one that has just made our shores and been around in the US for a while. But I didn’t see it in Vegas in November at Encore or Green Valley Ranch.
Diamond Queen is not available as an online slot yet (Upd Feb 2012: it is due online later this year) but it definitely has the potential to be popular. The free spins bonus is quite original and unusually for an IGT slot, has expanding wilds. You trigger the feature on the Diamond Queen slot like you do with Kitty Glitter or the Cats slot - the bonus scatter symbol visible on reels 2, 3 and 4.
When you get the free spins, you get awarded 3 which initially you think is a bit crap. But there are two things that really make it very decent. Firstly, every time the Bonus symbol appears you get an extra spin and secondly you get Diamond Queen wild reels! On the first spin, reel 2 is wild. On the second spin, reels 2 and 3 are wild and on the 3rd spin, reels 2,3 and 4 are all wild. If you get an extra spin awarded, the wild reels stay as they are for that spin.
December 30th, 2010: As I write, many American online casino players will be only too well aware that IGT have a block in place on their online slots for residents of the USA. Although this means online IGT slots for Americans playing for real money is not currently an option, not quite all have been blocked for free-play - more on this in a bit!
Update December 27th 2011: An early Christmas present from the DoJ saying that they no longer believe the 1961 Wire Act blocks online gambling with the exception of Sports Betting means things could start getting interesting in the US market. This effectively removes one of two barriers to online gambling legislation on a State By State basis, the other being the UIGEA which prohibits banks from allowing online gambling transactions. Will be interesting to see how this develops and I’d suggest that online slots players can look forward to a rosier future, if not for a little while! Read the rest of this slot article »
This article is primarily aimed at inexperienced online casino slots players although those of you who have already played online might still find something of interest. It basically goes into detail on the fairness of online casino slot games along with the expected returns (RTP) and explains how you know which online casinos have which slots.
The Casino Software
The first thing I should point out is that the majority of good, safe online casinos licence their software from one of 4 recognised and very reputable software providers: Playtech, Microgaming, Wagerworks (IGT) and Realtime Gaming. You will often see references online to “Microgaming casinos” or “Playtech slots” for example which is primarily because the suite of games supplied by each provider is available at many casinos. Read the rest of this slot article »
A brief update to this article (June 2011) is now available.
Some exciting news regarding new online slots arriving in Q4 2010: WMS, the well-known land-based slot game manufacturer best known for their Jackpot Party progressive game and who also produce games such as the Zeus slot, Palace of Riches, Wizard of Oz and the amazing Adaptive gaming slots Star Trek and Lord Of The Rings are about to launch an online casino and bring some of these games to the online community.
In Q4 2010, WMS launch a new online casino featuring Zeus (the original - Zeus II will follow probably in 2011 I’m told), Palace of Riches II, Enchanted Dragon, and Samurai Master among other games. They will also have some video poker games alongside traditional casino games and are expected to expand their slots offering as time goes on by bringing onboard some of those familiar WMS slots that you will probably have seen in Las Vegas.
With the situation in the USA regards online gambling grey bordering on murky, it’s important for US online casino players to be able to get a reliable list of just which online casinos are safe, reputable places to play.
The “A-Z of Online Casinos” website has a dedicated USA Casinos section which provides information in list form for all the top, safe casino operators who take US players. You can filter and sort the lists, highlight and lowlight and save your lists for future reference. Use it and abuse it!
For players that are new to online casinos and have a Facebook account, you might be interested in my new online casino guide that I recently launched there.
The intention of the casino guide is to point online casino players and prospective players at resources that will help them make decisions about where to play. It provides educational resurces, strategy guides, game videos and much more and ONLY deals with safe, reputable online casinos.
Players can interact with the articles: add comments, take part in discussions or simply read.
Check out the online casino guide at:
A new online casino from the highly regarded Club World Casinos group has recently launched. Manhattan Slots Casino is a Realtime Gaming software powered casino which accepts USA players and has a variety of good free spins slots. You’ll see various videos and articles on RTG slots elsewhere here on Online Casinos & Slots [.com] and while the name “Manhattan Slots” might suggest it’s only slots here, it does in fact have the whole RTG suite of casino games. It follows on the heels of the very popular (and lovely looking!) Aladins Gold Casino which is also operated by Club World and like that one, Manhattan Slots has the same suite of games.
As an opening offer there are two things to note. Manhattan Slots casino has a signup bonus (match) of up to $747 which you can claim twice on your first two deposits. Of course there are wagering requirements and like the other casinos in the CWC group, most bonuses come with fairly strict terms, although it’s worth noting that many of their No Deposut loyalty bonuses can come with as little as a 2x WR! Read the rest of this slot article »
A number of slot game manufacturers have made their games available as “free play” versions now although a few, like Wagerworks, even restrict access to their free slots from countries like the USA, Canada, France and Germany to name a handful (minus the thimb!). It’s due to the grey online gambling laws in those countries if you are wondering. And the vast majority of online casinos will of course ask you to register before you can even play slots for fun.
However, there are a few websites that put these slot games up and if you know where to look, you can spin away for the hell of it. For example, in the USA, Realtime Gaming and Rival powered casinos are the only options left and RTG have a load of good 5 reel “free spins” bonus slots that can be played (without the need to register) on sites like Free Slots For Fun. Some of the games take a few seconds to load, but you get a $5000 starting balance and they are a great way to get a feel for the games in the real casinos. Read the rest of this slot article »
Realm of Riches is a free spins slot game available at RTG casinos and not one I played originally. But one day, bored of Cleopatra’s Gold, I thought I’d give it a spin and it is now one of my favourite online slots. Read the rest of this slot article »
Royal Vegas Casino Review
Royal Vegas casino 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 »