Online Casino King Blog

Today we thought we’d take a look at one of the least well known casino games you can find online. Most people have an inkling of how to play roulette and blackjack- but can you play Casino War?

This is a game that is loosely based on the children’s game of War. The game is probably the easiest card game around to understand. The same is true of its casino cousin.

Casino War is typically played with six full decks of playing cards. The game uses a standard poker ranking for the hands- with the exception that aces are always high.

The game kicks off with 1 card dealt to a dealer and 1 to a player. If the player’s card beats the dealer (ie has a score higher than the dealer), he or she wins. If the dealer and the player have cards of the same value, the game is tied. In this sceanrio, there are 2 possible outcomes:

1. You can surrender, in which case you lose half the bet.
2. You can go to war, - you must lay down a bet equal to your first bet to continue.

In scenario 2 (going to war), 3 cards are burned (discarded) from the deck and an additional card is drawn. If you card has a value that is greater or equal to the dealer’s, you win an amount equal to the amount of your 1st bet. If the dealer wins this second round, you lose both the 1st bet and the “going to war” follow up.

The odds for both dealer and the player winning are 46.3% on the 1st card. It is what happens after a tie that gives the house its edge.

Look out for casinos that give a bonus payout when there is a tie- the house edge in this variant of Casino War is lower which makes for happy punters.

Also watch out for the number of decks that the casino plays with. Play with more than six and the house edge goes up. Steer clear of casinos that play with too many decks or you may end up looking like a doe eyed labrador at vaccination time.

If you surrender, you are also increasing the house edge, so players should always “go to war”.

32Red Casino made an announcement last week that one of their players- a certain Kelly Merlo from Canada- had won 2 big jackpots (each of amounts in the 5 figure realm) on the same slot game within the space of 6 months.

We were wondering here in the office- as we are prone to do- what are the odds on that?

Well- either 32 Red is telling porkies (they weren’t- we checked with our independent source at Microgaming- the company that networks all the jackpots and develops the online software that runs the games) or Kelly is a lucky, lucky punter indeed. She was playing at 32 Red’s sister casino: Dash Casino” when she first scooped a big one on Lots of Loot- which is a progressive slot with an accumulating jackpot. Then in November, she logged in to play the same game and won again.

So does it actually make any difference which machine you play? How do the odds on slots work? You might think that you need to avoid a certain machine if you have just won a big jackpot (or even a small win), but is that actually the case? Well…..let’s go under the slot machine bonnet, as it were.

An online slot machine, or electronic slot at a casino, uses a Randon Number Generator or RNG to determine who wins and who loses. Basically, this is a program that generates random numbers. Say the machine uses the number 32 to generate RNG sequences: the odds on scooping the jackpot on a 3 reel machine would be 1 in 32 x 32 x 32 or 1 in 32,768. Slot machines that are progressives, such as the one that Kelly won on, will have bigger numbers to play with, such as 64, 256 an 512. The odds of scooping the big one are longer.

The RNG should be audited by gambling regulators to make sure that the payout on the game falls within industry standards. The payout is normally around 95%, but they can go up to 97% and be as low as 91% (choose your slot wisely!)

But does it matter which machine you play- ie do you need to play a different machine if you have just won? On electronic slots or online slots it really shouldn’t afect your odds. The results are driven by a computer chip which has no memory- there is no way of “tightening” or “loosening” the slot machine. You may want to switch games on a progressive, of course, because by definition- if you have won the jackpot, then the pot is reduced to its starting amount. Progressive jackpots get fatter and fatter as time goes on- if no-one wins. On the other hand, you might want to stick with your “lucky” slot- like Kelly. It seemed to work for her, in any case.

´Tis the season to be jolly, la la la la la, la la la la etc etc. In the run up to Christmas, just like on the high street, many of the UK online casinos are coming up with new and fresh ways of tempting you to play at their sites. Here´s a look at the best of the offers:

1. Littlewoods:

Christmas has come early at Littlewoods casino. All the way through December they have goodies on offer to tempt you to play on their games, with daily casino events, free entry into high stakes tournaments, and festive prizes as well as £500 FREE in deposit and loyalty bonuses all through the last month of the year.

For the full Christmas promotional calender, click HERE

2. Intercasino

Christmas players will have the chance to win $1,000 before Christmas, with a “Safe Cracker Promotion”. Just discover the combination and open the Inter Casino safe to win the readies. Fifteen lucky punters will scoop $1,000 on 23/12/2008.

3. Betfair Casino

Betfair is giving out Christmas Stocking fillers every week, with prizes worth over £100k including an all expenses paid trip to Lapland in Finland where you´ll sip cocktails at the famous Ice Hotel. The fun runs till the 21st. Click HERE for Betfair

4. Platinum Play

And last, but not least, we have heard of a great sounding promotion at Platinum Play Casino. Design your own slot game at a new game called MY SLOT. You can build yourself your ultimate slot by customsing the reels and setting your own music. Check it out at the new games section of Platinum Play.

The Global Gaming Expo was held last month, and all the buzz around the show was on the slots which are taking a steer from online casinos by targeting younger players and running Internet based progressive jackpots. The big guns were all there:  International Game Technology, Bally Technologies, Aristocrat Technologies and WMS Gaming — and while their main market in land based casinos is the over-65s, they are increasingly coming up with games that will appeal to a yournger audience.

One of the new developments is the so called “server-based” slots which allows casinos to download games on demand and run off the cuff tournaments — all ideas that have migrated across from the online slots world. With the new machines you´ll be able to flip into a new game in around 20 seconds. You´ll also be able to order drinks on a touch screen pad, as well as manage your finances and book tickets for shows at the casino resorts. No need to get off your stool then!

In the drive to attract younger players, the manufacturers have taken inspiration from the gaming sector, so now you´ll be able to play in a community with other gamblers and play a bonus round together or win a series of jackpots. There´s a slot where players at a line of machines can compete in a boat race for instance.

3-D effects are all in and the sound effects become ever more realistic.

Then there´s the themed or licensed games like “Jaws” and “Sopranos”, another “Star Wars” and even a Star Trek machine.

Most industry watchers agree that the traditionally slow to evolve land-based casino market is having to be more creative in the face of ever increasing competition from online casinos.

 Macau- the former Portuguese colony on the south-east coast of China- is back in the news again, but this time for different reasons. We have become used to hearing the incredible growth rates in this Special Administrative Region of China (SAR) thanks to its booming gambling industry, but now it seems even the Mighty Macau has causght a cold in the current economic downturn.
The Cotai Strip is a man made casino mecca, linking two former islands in days gone by- but now the cranes on one of the biggest construction sites in Asia- the Las Vegas Sands’ have gone quiet and there is an eerie silence settling over the 3 huge skyscrapers that have been built so far. Many of the workers that have been bustling around the site like ants have gone and the weeds are starting to gain a grip in the dirt.

The Sands group- heavily in debt thanks to its construction projects around the globe (a mega casino complex is also planned for Singapore) insists that they are delaying the project, not cancelling it.

Macau has always been a gambler’s paradise- formerly the market was pretty much contolled by local tycoon Stanley Ho, but since 2002 the peninsular has experienced a spectacular boom thanks to the growing Chinese economy, more freedom of movement between the Mainland and the territory and a huge influx of investment from Las Vegas gaming corporations.

But before you comnpletely discount the place, remember that there’s a new mega complex opening up here in 2009: the City of Dreams which is a a joint venture from the new generation: planned and built by the sons of Australian high rolling tycoon Kerry Packer and local gaming supremo Stanley Ho. Macau is still the only place in Cathay (the old Occidental name for the Middle Kingdom) where you can legally gamble (and remember- China is still growing albeit more slowly) and it also has a huge advantage in terms of its geography.
So should you visit? Well, we reckon that there has never been a better time! Macau is situated across the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong, (so that you can combine your trip with a visit to this famous city (it’s a short jet foil trip across the delta on one of Mr Ho’s fast boats.) And the fact that supply is outstripping demand at the moment means that there are some great deals to be had. Stay in one of the luxury suites at the Macau Venetian and you’ll pay a fraction of the money that you would in Las Vegas- and the Chinese food is better!

A Very Brief History of Macau

“Macau” is called “Macau” thansk to a Chinese goddess called A-Ma or Ling Ma.
Legend has it that she saved a junk sailing across the South China Sea that became trapped in a fierce storm- probably a Typhoon the likes of which hit these shores in the summer months as the fierce Asian sun warms up the South China Sea. A striking young woman boarded the ship at the last minute as it was setting off before the Typhoon and quietened the storm when it was at its most furious. When she got off the boat, she walked gracefully up to the top of a local hill and ascended into heaven in a blaze of light and incense. Portuguese sailors liked the story and called the peninsular A-Ma-Gao (Bay of A-Ma), which subsequently became Macau.
It’s this mix of Chinese and Portuguese cultures that makes the place so interesting. It’s always been a popular weekend away for HongKongers- somehow the Portuguese influence has left a calming influence and slower pace on the place and although there’s a lot more Las Vegaseque buzz about, it has still managed to retain its charm.

You’ll find Macau on the south eastern coast of China in  Guangdong Province, 40 miles west of Hong Kong and 90 miles south of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province. Macua is not an especially big place- it’s a peninsula and two islands, but it does pack alot in.

Macau was at first populated by fishermen from Fujin and Guangdong. The Mediterranean influence began when Jorge Alvares stepped ashore in 1513. The Portuguese later set up a trading post which, with the permission of the Emperor of China, controlled the trade between east and west in the early years. Macau also served as the springboard for Christian missionaries setting up shop in China and Japan. Macau was eventualy lose out to Hong Kong in the trading wars but it contined to flourish alongside its sister city across the water.

Head to Macau in October and November for the best weather (during the north-east monsoon, dry winds sweep in from the north and the weather is generally sunny and warm.) The summers are hot and humid (which won’t bother you inside the casino palaces, and we’d avoid January and February which tends to be cool and damp.

While you are there, check out the Lisboa Hotel, which has all the history going back decades (this is where Bond heads to in The Man With A Golden Gun), visit the Bella Vista hotel (another institution) and make sure you head to Fernandos on the islands for garlic prawns.

Below is a list of our favorite gambling quotes. Add your own if you think we are missing any.

George Bernard Shaw
“If you eliminate smoking and gambling, you will be amazed to find that almost all an Englishman’s pleasures can be, and mostly are, shared by his dog”.

(Actually our dog loves to guess which hand the treat is in as well, so you can combine 2 pleasures here.)

Gloria Steinam
“Women’s total instinct for gambling is satisfied by marriage”

(Men gamble too on marriage, but they also like a flutter on the tables.)

Mitch Hedberg
“I love blackjack. But I’m not addicted to gambling. I’m addicted to sitting in a semi circle.”

Pope John XXIII
“Italians come to ruin most generally in three ways: women, gambling, and farming. My family chose the slowest one.”

Benjamin Disraeli
“There is no gambling like politics.”

Well, except maybe corporate finance….

Paul Newman in The Color of Money
“Money won is twice as sweet as money earned”

Unknown
“A Smith & Wesson beats four aces.”

Every time……

Kin Hubbard
“The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket.”

Chinese Proverb
“If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.”

VP Pappy
“Casinos and hookers have the same thing in common; they are both trying to screw you out of your money and send you home with a smile on you face.”

Henry Youngman
“I bet on a horse at ten-to-one.  It didn’t come in until half-past five.”

Steve Allen
“I used to be a heavy gambler. But now I just make mental bets. That’s how I lost my mind.”

One of the big developments in Online Casino World over the last couple of years is the growth of the so called Live Casinos online. So what are they, these live games, and how do they differ from other online casino games?

When you play roulette online, for example, you can play a virtual roulette game that is basically a computer program that accurately mimics a real wheel. Or you can play live roulette, where you place your bets on your pc just as you would at virtual roulette, but the action takes place in a casino on a real wheel. You watch the action over a webcam.

In addition to roulette, other popular games that can be played live include baccarat, blackjack and sic bo. Slots is obviously not on offer (actually, come to think about it this would be quite good! You bet and watch someone pull the arm on the one armed bandit). Anyway, you get the theory.

So what is the appeal of live casino games? They are slower to play (but no slower than playing in a real casino) and the visual appeal will depend on where you are playing.

Well, for some people, a computer simulation is not enough and live casinos offer a more entertaining expereince and one in which you can interact with the dealer and other players.

Webcam casinos solve this to a certain extent. You can see the reactions of your fellow players: there is more of a feeling of “being in the thick of it”.

Another reason that many players prefer the live casino option, is that they do not trust casino games run by a computer. (On this point we would have to see that their fears are ungrounded. As long as you play with a reputable company, the odds you receive should be equal to or better that those that you would get at a casino in Las Vegas or Monaco. It is in the casino´s interest to ensure that they provide fair games and the good ones all employ independent auditors to monitor the pay out rates of their games).

But a fear like this is not a rational one, and is unlikely to be smoothed by numbers from accountants. The live games seem more real somehow, and they go along way towards assuaging people´s fears.

The final reason that players often cite for playing at cam casinos, is to do with dealer signature, card counting and game bias- this is particularly relevant for roulette and blackjack of course. It is widely believed that physical roulette wheels cannot be manufactured 100% perfectly and will have a bias (ie very slight fluctation in the odds for different numbers and sectors). And the other theory is that a croupier will inadvertently impart a “dealer signature” onto the wheel. Again, this is not going to happen on a virtual roulette table, as there is no croupuer, but it may on a live roulette table. Once again, the belief is that this gives a bias to the wheel. Of course the difficult thing and some would say impossible thing) is to be able to identify such minuscule biases and turn it to your advantage.

It´s been done with technology in the past (like the Hungarian team who won £1,000,000 at the Ritz casino in 2004- they got caught but kept the cash), but whether or not you can spot the variations on a live game, let alone when you are sitting 3 foot away from the wheel, is a mute point.

And if you are a card counter at blackjack, you are not going to want to do this playing virtual roulette. you are going to want to see when the deck is shuffled, or replaced so that you can estimate how many 10s, jacks, queens and kings are sitting in the pile. Playing single deck obviously helps. And the beauty of doing this at a live blackjack game, is that no-one is going to see you doing it. (Casinos are not espcially fond of card counters.)

So should you play live or virtual? Well, if you like speed play virtual. If you like atomsphere play live- or test both.

Following a number of discussions with our visitors on this subject, we thought that we´d give this topic some “airtime” or some “keyboard time” or whatever you call it on a blog, and run through the pros and cons of bonus offers.

The online casino market is incredibly competitive and there are many companies trying to attract customers to their sites. One way of doing this, and arguably the most powerful tool in the casino´s bag of goodies, is the casino bonus.

These come in many shapes and sizes, of course, ranging from a free cash giveaway, to a match offer (where the casino will double or even triple your deposit) to the so called free hour promotions, where you don´t have to make a deposit immediately to play with the bonus, but you´ll need to eventually if you are going to collect any winnings.

Let´s talk through the match offer, as this is the one you are likely to see the most of, particularly if you are playing from the UK. Typically, the casino will match your first deposit by a certain percentage. Ladbrokes, for example, does a 100% match. So if you make a deposit of £100 at the casino, they will also throw in £100 and you should have £200 to play with.

Sounds good eh? But the old adage: “there´s no such thing as a free lunch” is a good saying for a reason! There are terms and conditions attached to these bonus offers to stop you from being a smart alec and withdrawing the money immediately (well, you can see their point on this one, much as we would prefer them to operate differently).

Here are the main ones.

1. You´ll need to make a minimum deposit to qualify- this is normally between £5 and £25

2. You will need to make a certain amount of bets before you either get the bonus, or you can withdraw it. Today we checked the offer on Ladbrokes, for example, and we note that you´ll need to “turn over” or make bets to the value of six times your initial chip purchase before they open their wallets and you get the bonus. Then you´ll need to play through the bonus a further 4 times before you can withdraw it. (Actually, this is not a bad deal compared to some). Spin Palace casino offers a 100% match as well on the first deposit except theirs is up to £150 as opposed to the £100 at Ladbrokes. BUT, you´ll need to play through the bonus 30 times before you can withdraw it and the minimum deposit is £20 whereas you´ll can have a £5 flutter at Ladbrokes and still expect some goodies.

3. We have talked about wagering requirements (where you have to turn over the free money a certain amount of times). You also need to watch out for any restrictions on the types of games that you can play to meet the requirements. If you play slots, chances are that you will be covered, as most casinos allow play on fruities to count 100% to the play through requirements. If you play roulette, baccarat or blackjack, however, you will need to study the small print as this is where the casinos tend to “pass on their round”.

Going back to the examples above, Ladbrokes only count 10% of bets on Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Baccarat, and All Aces and Holdem High casino games. So if you bet £10 on Roulette or Blackjack £1 of this play will count towards the playthrough. Turnover on Casino War, Sic Bo, Table Poker, and Red Dog games count 50%. Slots count the full 100%.

On Spin Palace, on the other hand, you´ll achieve 100% on all Slots, American Roulette and all Parlor Games, 50% on all Table Pokers, Red Dog, all Roulettes (except American), Casino War and Sic Bo, 10% on all Video/Power Pokers (except All Aces Video/Power Pokers) and all Blackjacks (except Classic Blackjack), all Craps and all Baccarats and finally 2% on Classic Blackjack and All Aces Video/Power Pokers.

Complicated isn´t it?!

So basically what we are saying is that all casino bonus offers weren´t born equal. If you are an American Roulette player, the Spin Palace offer beats the Ladbrokes offer even though the overall playthrough requirement is higher- and that´s because you´ll get penalised for playing American Roulette at Ladbrokes.

No time to read the small print?

Well, we advise you to read the small print, but understand that you might not have the time, or just find them incredibly dull, so here is our quick advice on bonus offers:

1. If you play slots, they are worth going for.
2. If you play table games like roulette, don´t bother unless you are prepared to read the T´s and C´s and hunt down a site that is favorable to your favorite game.
3. If the offer is a “Free Money and 1 hour Free” type bonus where you don´t have to make a deposit to play with a virtual balance, then take the offer. What´s to lose? You can make a decision on whether to make a deposit later after the hour is up. Any winnings you transfer (from the free play account to a real account) will also be subject to a play through requirement, so check the small print. Jackpotcity run one of these types of promotions. The free period is 30 minutes last time we checked.

Our one liner on this?: “If you don´t have time to read the small print, don´t take the offer”.

OK- we are going to spend some time on our soap box today, so I apologise in advance. I have lost count of the amount of emails we have had from people who have pressed the wrong button/bet too much by mistake/lost money due to a silly typo.

The moral of the story here is ALWAYS practice for free on a guest account before you play at an online casino (or online poker or bingo for that matter). Particularly if you have recently signed up and aren´t especially familiar with the software. Most casino sites offer their customers free accounts with which they can test out the games on a guest account. You don´t have to bet for real or lay any money down- you just get a virtual balance with which to make bets. The software is identical to the real play version and you can spend some time getting familiar with the buttons and the layout so that you don´t make silly mistakes.

And when you are playing for real, be methodical about your betting (this is good practice- always play within your limits and don´t go crazy- this will minimise the chance of you pushing the wrong button). Always check the amount of the bet before you press “BET NOW” and remember to clear your last bets if you are running a progression system or a system where the bets ramp up on subsequent rounds. I have been playing roulette when I forgot to clear the previous rounds bet on a Martingale progression and realised halfway through the spin that I had bet £64 again when I had meant to bet £2. Luckily my colour came in, but it was a heart in the mouth moment for a moment.

In fact, many people actually use the free practice accounts to test systems, particularly on roulette and blackjack. The guest account uses the same RNG (random number generator), so you can use the account to track the effectiveness of one system over another. Track the results on a piece of paper or spreadsheet (or download a roulette tool like Roulette Xtreme for example). You can quickly build up a log of your play.

Games like roulette are pretty straightforward, but some games like craps and baccarat are less so. Learning how to play them online is ideal- but again use the practice account before you bet for real. The beauty of learning the game in this fashion is that you can do it in your pyjamas without feeling self concious with your skill levels. Once you are comfortable with the game, you can have a real flutter online or indeed at the tables in Monaco.

And of course, you might just want to play fro free and not be interested in betting for real. And there´s is nothing wrong with that. Just sign up and off you go!

Well, now that Barack Obama has achieved what he has been promising for all of these months (how long is the process to elect the US President?), one of the interesting questions being considered, is how this will affect the online casino industry.

The Bush administration basically took the polar opposite path to the UK government on online gambling. Faced with an industry that was growing strongly thanks to demand from players and casino fans, and unable to tax an industry that was largely operating offshore, the US government took the decision to try and strangle the business at source by making it difficult for companies to mangage financial transactions online.

The UK government took an entirely different route and have moved to regulate the industry to protect casino players online with rigid guidelines and bodies set up to ensure that businesses were being run in a fair and ethical way. Many UK businesses were hurt by the US approach of course, as this is an area in which British companies excel- just think of some of the big names out there like Ladbrokes, William Hill and Paddy Power who have been forced out of the US market.

So are things going to change now that Captain Bush’s watch is nearly over? Well problems in the US all started in September 2006 as a result of a piece of legislation passed by the House of Representatives and Senate (an amendment to the unrelated Safe Port Act) making transactions from banks to online gambling sites illegal. This upped the ante from a previous bill that built on the famous Wire Act.  It was sort of slipped in through the back door, if you like.

Will Barack Obama reverse the decision? Well, he may look more favorably on the regulation route given that he always talks about “change”, but this is unlikely to be his first priority and nor should it be with the financial crisis in full swing and wars being waged on 2 fronts. What the industry is hoping, is that the Barrack admistration will look at the whole situation intelligently and come to the conclusion that regulation is better than an outright ban- for consumers, casinos and the financial industry. Not only will it raise important tax revenue, but it will also enable the powers that be to ensure that their citizens are getting a fair deal and dealing with honest and ethical companies.