Category: Gambling and Casinos

* Understand the BONUS

This is always hard to understand for newbies – “$1000 bonus? Just for nothing?! Yay!…” – hoo-ooold it right there. There’s lots of casino money given away in the industry, but no operator is such a fool to give it away for nothing. Come on, they want something back. They want your money! The calculations have been made which say that the average value of the depositing player is $600-$700…

Every time when choosing a casino you have to make sure what certain bonus stands for. Is there a limit to how much the bonus is applied to? Sometimes there are “sticky bonuses”, which means that you can withdraw winnings that are above the amount of bonus. There are also bonuses which insist you to play for certain amount of money before you can withdraw.

My suggestion is that never choose a casino on how generous bonus they offer, because in the very end you’ll always lose a bit. After you’ve made sure that the casino is reputable, the biggest argument when choosing a gambling place should be the atmosphere. I rarely play blackjack to win big, but I enjoy the crowd sitting at the blackjack table when playing with or against them. That’s what it is – entertainment, socializing!

* Avoid SPAMMERS

You can rarely see a spamming gambling business nowadays. Anyways, there are some affiliates using this tactic to get players. It’s a shame – these cases should be reported immediately.

* About WITHDRAWING

Always study carefully withdrawing terms. There are some casinos out there who don’t want to pay you right away, giving you all sorts of reasons. Well, don’t believe any of them. If the amount is reasonable, you should receive your winnings right away via Neteller, Paypal or Moneybookers – unless you want to receive the money with Wire Transfer or paycheck, this takes more time.

If you like the casino and plan to stay their customer for longer time, always test their withdrawing speed with smaller amount of money. If you notice any problems, quit playing there and if you’re kind enough you’ll drop me a line about those stinky manners 😉

…and there are few things more * LEARN THE GAMES before playing them

This may also come as little primitive, but there are some games out there that demand a above average knowledge of the game – not everything in the casino makes you a living “97% slot machine”.

I myself was very lucky, because when I first went to casino to play blackjack, I didn’t know any rules, but that didn’t stop me to win big. After I had made five times the amount I started with, I was sober enough to withdraw the money. Few days later I started learning the game and got really hooked. I haven’t doubled my 8+6 against the dealers ace ever since… 😀

It’s a bit awkward and strange when total newbie sits at casino table and starts asking silly questions.

Situation is a bit different in online casino. Newbie won’t annoy anybody there, only thing is that he/she may lose money because of little or no knowledge of the game. Even if you win with your inadequate skills, you should take in mind that you would have win bigger if you had more knowledge of the game.

Quality internet casinos are not interested of you losing your money quickly, because you probably would quit playing there! Loyal players, who win some / lose some, but keep coming back, are the root of this business.

* Don’t let strangers near your computer

This also might become as extremely logical thing to do, but there are still people who are not aware enough! Letting your drunken friends fooling around with your computer is one thing, but even more bigger threat is if your computers gets infected with scumware that saves your passwords and gambling habits.

* Other recommended action (which I don’t use)

Some casino watchdogs advise players to make a copy of their passport or drivers license as a jpg file. They also recommend to keep the copy of utility bill and credit card handy.

They say it’s needed before depositing to the casino – you should send e-mail with this data to the casino, doing this you avoid sending your credit card information or banking information separately each time. Some online casinos request this information before sending out your winnings. It is more convenient to get this thing settled BEFORE you hit a lucky strike and start winning, because waiting winnings to appear in your bank account can sometimes be a pain in the A$$!

I myself have never send any jpg files to casino operator and have not been ripped off so far. Probably I’ve just been lucky because I don’t change casinos often.

Online Sports Gambling is a growing business with thousands of new players opening their accounts every day. There are new online sportsbooks and wagering establishments created every calendar day of the month, which is quite confusing for new players. It’s hard to decide and choose the best sportsbook out there. Here’s my quick guide for an unexperienced sports bettor, who is ready to roll and dive into action.

The very first thing to keep in mind is to take some time off to do some research with search engines. There are many watchdogs and webmasters who write online sportsbooks reviews and are active in several different sportsbooks forums around the world. If you notice complaints about certain sportsbook being unable to pay in time or just communicate with customers, beware. If you notice sportsbook to be blacklisted, forget that bookmaker – better safe than sorry. Even if their sign-up bonus appears to be tremendous.

We also advise you to check the location of the bookmaker. Always try to make sure that the company is legal and licensed under the government which they operate. There are some bookmakers that have limited accessibility and server uptime because of the government restrictions. Do not deposit there – it may turn out to be extremely annoying experience!

Okay, you’ve finally found a bookmaker and deposited few bucks. Now you have to test the customer service. Write them an e-mail and wait for an answer. If they’ve promised to be available 24/7 but reality is different, forget about them too. And if you are still not sure, you may also want to call them. If they don’t have a phone number at all (or it’s forwarded to cellphone), your landed on lousy sportsbook that can’t be trusted. Move on!

Trust is the most important aspect in this business. Even if everything seems to be ok, what does your gut say to you? If you’re still not sure, maybe you should stick to well-known land-based sportsbooks, to known brands. Good luck with those!

If you are new to online casino games, it can often be confusing which games to try out first. Whilst most people who play at online casinos for the first time already have a preference for a couple of games, some are still unsure where to start.

Opening up an online casino for the first time can be daunting. You are immediately bombarded by lists of games, special promotions and flashing jackpot lights. The temptation will be there to heads straight into playing a progressive slot, which is a good place to start. Let’s face it, the potential of winning a life changing jackpot is appealing to everyone.

The casino game you choose to play will depend largely on your personality, and ultimately, the type of game that you enjoy the most, given that gambling is something you’re doing for fun as well as money at the end of the day. First you’ll want to look at the options. If you prefer card games, then there’s blackjack and baccarat. If you tend towards machine-generated games of chance, you’ll obviously head for the slot machines, and those with a poker bent will choose the video poker machines. Dice players will head to the craps tables, and that leaves the roulette fans, arguably the most glamorous casino game.

Having decided which form of game you want to try first, you’ll now need to choose a table or machine. The way to decide on this is to look at the bet limits. In other words, be realistic about what you can afford to bet each time. Once again this is a trade-off. You may prefer to make small bets and play for a long time, without much short-term deviation in your bankroll, or you may be the type of person who wants more of a thrill from gambling, and will make bigger bets to make it more exciting, at the risk of losing more. The same principle applies to slots. There are many multi line slots available at online casino that can be played for as little as a penny per line. these are a great way to stretch your bankroll to the limit, but you will have to accept that your potential wins are much smaller as a result. Nevertheless, you will probably be able to spend a lot more time with a relatively small bank roll.

Another factor that you should keep in mind when choosing a casino game is what is know as the “hold”. This is the house edge, the percentage that you can expect to lose over the long run, assuming you don’t have a big win. Different games have different hold percentages, ranging from 94 to 98 percent, or thereabouts. This means that you have a 2 to six percent chance of beating the house, depending on the game you choose. The game with the most favourable hold for the player is blackjack, and games like Keno and Casino War have by far the worst hold for you. Slots fit in somewhere in the middle.

Whatever you decide to do, gamble within your limits and decide how much you are prepared to lose, and stick to it.

Before you start gambling at any new online casino, it would be very much worth your while to check out a few simple details about the casino site. Hey, you’re trusting them with your money, so they should disclose certain key information to you! Knowing this information in advance could save you some headaches.

* Is the casino licensed?

To qualify for a license, an online casino must meet certain standards set in the country where the site is hosted. License fees start from about $50,000 and are usually valid for at least 2 or 3 years. According to estimates, some 20% of online casinos don’t have licenses. Here’s the golden rule: If they’re not licensed, don’t play there!

* Does a reputable accounting firm certify the payouts?

A casino that values its good name will commission an accounting firm to audit and report on the percentages of payouts. PriceWaterhouseCoopers, for instance, reviews the historical payouts to gamblers by Microgaming and its licensed casino sites. You can usually read the reports on the casino websites.

* Does the casino belong to a reputable watchdog organization?

There are watchdogs and just plain dogs; you can’t trust all of them. Many times the so-called “watchdog” is nothing more than an online advertising gateway to a group of casinos. If the watchdog organization is any good, it will prepare a set of best practices that must be observed by all participants, including casinos, software dealers, casino portal sites and online gamblers.

Here are a few more things you should check out before you start gambling:

The important gambling message boards should reflect trust and faith in the casino.

Any online casino should be affiliated to a physical, non-digital casino.

There should be a self-labelling system for users to rate the contents of the casino site.

The recognized and well-known casino portals should support the individual casino website.

A casino that intends to succeed in the long term will go to the trouble of building a well-structured site supported by reliable software.

It will be monitored by an accounting company, and of course it will be licensed.

This is the type of casino that doesn’t have to crook its customers to make a profit. It’s the type of site operated by owners who honestly and professionally work to entrench a trusted and popular brand name.