• Archive for March, 2010

    The Various Ways of Starting Your Online Account

    Saturday, March 27th, 2010

    To begin gaming online you are going to have to be aware of a few things. First of all you’ll have to register for an account, which is a very simple process. Most websites lead you through the process seamlessly and let you set it up quickly. There may be an email confirmation but this will just be a link you have to click on or a code you have to enter. It’s a normal way of confirming you are who you say you are. Next, you will have to fund your account. Again—most of the set-up steps are self-explanatory and automatic. You will have to download or install the software, or if you are playing the instant-play option, just click on the application you want. You will also be able to decide if you want to play for “real” money or just use the free play option. Remember that if you are downloading a program, be sure you trust the website you are working at. It is necessary to make sure you don’t end up with spyware or adware.

    A lot of people don’t like to use their credit cards for funding, or an account that directly ties to their bank account either. This is where e-wallet options come in handy. There are a wide range of options out there like NETeller, MoneyBookers, eWalletXpress or Click2Pay. Each one is a reliable way to fun an account without exposing your personal information. You have to set up an account with each service you want to use, you can make deposits to the account anytime, you can withdraw anytime and you can use it just like any other funding account. The benefit is that it’s a third-party watch dog for your money. Each one is a reputable company and offers a wide range of benefits. If you love to game online, then you need a safe way to manage your money. Remember that the internet is mostly anonymous and though many problems with online gaming have been cut back by stricter regulations, there is still a responsibility for gamers to protect themselves. The above eWallet solutions all offer protections that are invaluable.

    Trusting an Online Casino

    Saturday, March 27th, 2010

    In today’s age it isn’t hard to locate a trustworthy casino. In fact, all you have to do is a quick Google search and you are sure to find hundreds of casinos vying for your business. Finding a reputable casino isn’t difficult at all—but narrowing them down can be a task. There are hundreds of virtual casinos available online today but it still takes some time to sort through websites that may not be reliable. First of all, you want to check and see that the casino you want to play at has a history of success and reliability with other gamers. That means that every casino you log into should have top-notch security and encryption, outstanding customer service, fair games and be transparent with their rules and regulations regarding play.

    Nowadays you can trust that there are third-party watchdog organizations whose job it is to regulate online gaming websites. You can be sure that it is best to only trust online casinos that have been thoroughly researched and have been in business for a while. The hope is that if they have been in business for a while, they have worked the kinks out…they have had problems and overcome them. When you look for an online casino, you want to look for those that have forums. In the forum, you want to make sure that people talking about the casino are positive. Or, if they did have issues, their issues were quickly solved. You want to make sure that problems were not with payouts or general gaming. A problem with software is much less of a sign than a problem with a payout. Remember to always do a little research on an online casino and see what other people are saying about it before you jump right in. It’s important to know where your money is going and to support casinos that deserve your patronage. Be aware that online casinos are businesses and the standards you’d hold for a business is the same standard you should hold up for your chosen online casino.

    Because of their popularity in the market, websites are taking heavy precautions to use the most secure software available. They are aware that keeping things legit in the world of online gaming isthe only way to keep players coming back time and time again. In past years due to no regulation, some people fell into problems with online websites that were frauds. The gamer would play and win, and then the company would mysteriously either refuse to payout based on some technicality or the company would disappear altogether. Now things have changed drastically and you can be relatively sure with some basic research on a company, that it can be trusted. Safeguard yourself, do research but then have fun. You may get lucky at the next casino you pick.

    The Virtues of Online Slots

    Saturday, March 27th, 2010

    One of the biggest draws of the online casino gaming is the convenience that is involved with playing. When you do not have to worry about leaving home it becomes much easier to play and play often. This is a particularly big benefit for those who do not live close to a land-based casino. It also can help people who live by a very popular casino– you won’t have to struggle with parking or lines. With online gaming, all you have to do is log-in and a virtual website can handle as many customers as come to the location on the world wide web.

    Another advantage to think about when it comes to playing online slots is that the jackpots can be considerably higher in payout.  Remember that online casinos don’t have to struggle with huge overheads that land-based casinos do. Virtual casinos don’t have staff, maintenance, utilities, repair technicials or table handlers to pay. Because of this disparity in cost, virtual casinos normally can create bigger payouts for customers. They can put a higher percentage of the overall revenue right back into drawing in more customers– both new and returning. Contrary to popular belief, online games can payout a lot of money – sometimes more than you may expect. Believe it or not, there are progressive slots games that easily topple six figures. How does that sound to you? Do not let anybody tell you that playing online will hold you back from winning any real money; this is definitely not the case. You will never fully understand the benefits and advantages of online slots until you begin to play. There are many online casinos to choose from and that means that the number of slots available are enormous. The world of online gaming is highly competitive and that means that game developers will continue to bring the top games to the market. You will benefit greatly now a days from the changes going on in the world of slots gaming, and gambling in general. Take advantage of the competition and see for yourself how much online gaming casinos have to offer these days.

    Percentage Points and Slots Play

    Saturday, March 27th, 2010

    There are many misconceptions in the world of slots play. One major problem is players who believe that the payout percentage is irrelevant to the gaming session. This is definitely a mistaken idea. Of course you will find machines that are just one or two percentage points apart in percentage payouts, but that small percentage means a lot in the world of gaming. To be a good slots player, you have to look at those payout percentages with a fine tooth comb. It is important to understand that though it may be “just 1%”, that is a huge change in the world of gambling. The biggest advantage of working with the payout percentage is that it inches you closer to a win little by little. If you find a machine with a 97% payout and another one with a 98%, that 1% will give you considerably larger chances of winning. Remember that it is the little things in gambling that are going to edge you towards a good win. You aren’t going to find a huge difference in gaming. You are going to find 1 and 2% maximum percentage differences in slots games.

    To locate the slots that offer you the biggest payouts, you need to know what to look for. Normally, the more you wager, the more you can bring in in a payout. Generally, dollar slots offer a higher payout than the penny slots ever will. There may be instances when you find a penny game with a special bonus due to a holiday or the addition of a new game, but it is not typical. Remember that always use the specials to increase your chances of a good win. Try the maximum payout percentages to make sure you are giving yourself the biggest opportunity to walk away with a good win. It is easy to find the games– just be sure to read the machine’s payout percentage or read the instructions for an online slots game prior to playing. It will offer you a lot of valuable information on the slot and tell you which game you need to pick first. If you are looking for a great win, follow the biggest payout percentage. Though there may be a small difference in games, it still means that the tiny percentages will bring you a potential bigger payout if you get lucky.

    The Ups and Downs of Slots Play

    Saturday, March 27th, 2010

    Playing slots means winning and losing— a lot. Remember that with the slots game, everything is run via the random number generator, or RNG. That means that you never know when you will hit a win or when you won’t. of course that’s what makes gaming fun, but it is what also can cause you to run through your bankroll quickly. The biggest thing to enjoying gambling is to enjoy the experience– including the wins and losses. Overall your gaming experience is what you want to focus on and if you set a wise bankroll, you won’t lose too much.

    If you are new to the game of slot machine gambling, remember that you are going to lose. In fact, you may lose a lot. The entire industry of slots are based on a random number generating machine in each one and that is the only thing that dictates what your wins and loses are going to be. Since the house always has the edge, expect to lose a lot. So why do people play? Take a look at any games you will see why. They are great ways to game. The visual appeal is usually noteworthy. You’ll feel like you are in a real casino but from the privacy of your own home. You’ll not the sound integration and wonder how developers replicated the true in-casino feel. Then take a look at the bonus games-within-the-game. These are special games that you have to gain access to with a particularly lucky spin of the reels. Once you get to the bonus games, you’ll notice how different they are from the actual game and how much they contribute to the overall gaming experience of a slot machine.

    That really is why people play slots– they want a great gaming experience. Slots vary widely in wager requirements. A lot of the high-end tables in a casino are not accessible to the average player. In particular due to the recession, many people look for the smaller tables. Slots never have that problem because you can find penny-slots, nickel-slots and dime-slots. In fact, during the recession, it seems that slots felt very little of the same decline in usage that other games did. At the height of the recession, the high-roller roulette table was empty, but the slots never waned. Test out slots and see for yourself how much these games can offer.

    The IRS and Your Slots Play

    Saturday, March 27th, 2010

    When it comes to earning money, the IRS cares. That includes any money– from wages to tips and gambing wins to lotteries. You are going to have to report any thing you do and any money you earn to the IRS; anything, that is, related to cash. Now that tax time is upon us, a new question is coming up now that slots gambling at land-based and internet casinos is so popular. “Do I have to pay taxes on wins?” The answer: a resounding YES! You have to pay income taxes when ever you bring in income, and that includes earnings that come in via wagering at casinos. The good news is that you can also take a deduction on any money you spent gambling. The bad news is that you can only deduct that money up to a specific portion of winnings. Federal Income tax law states that casinos have to withhold income immediately when you win any payout over $1,199. Any casino where you win that amount will send you a 1099 form to fill out and you should do so as soon as possible. This tax is relevant on a per jackpot basis and not to total winnings across many games. Remember that the casino monitors any earnings you get and that means they keep track of what you win.

    One mistake people make is that most don’t keep track of how much they wager. The most efficient way to overcome this is to get a player’s card at the casino. That way keeping track of what you wager will be automatic and you won’t have to worry about it. You can call the casino, give them your player ID number and they can send a detailed listing of your total wager, how much you won, and how much you lost at that particular casino. It’s the easiest way to keep track of all your wins and losses. That means the good old IRS will have the paperwork needed to tax you on any winnings over that amount. Be sure to keep your own records and know how much in taxes you will have to concern yourself with. Remember that the overall tax is going to be your responsibility to live up to when tax time comes.

    Using Standard Deviation when Playing Slots

    Friday, March 26th, 2010

    For anyone who loves math, slot machines could be the natural game to play. If you have ever studied math then you know about ‘standard deviation. If you want to use standard deviation when playing slots, you have to utilize the theory on the equal ration slots. To do it you have to seek out the games that have the same payout ratios for every reachable level of play. For example, if you are playing $1, at $.25 each, then the payout is four times what you would have gotten if you were playing at a $.25-payout slot. The equal ratio slot machines are the ones that standard deviation will work on if you are going to try to use the strategy. You also should couple the method with the highest percentage payout you can find. Remember that the payout percentage is important because it increases your chances of a win. Minimizing the house’s edge is the biggest goal of any gambler. 

    When you are playing, you should begin with the smallest amount of coins to spin the reels. Then, you need to count every spin until you end up winning. For example, if you have ten wins, then you should write down how many spins you needed to make each win. You should write down the number for each win. Your numbers may read something like 4, 7, 17, 3, 11, 5, 20, 12, 8, 16. That means on the first win it took 4 spins, on the second spin it took seven, etc. If you add the numbers together in the sequence, and then divide it by the number of wins, you get a specific number. The total of the sequence is 102 and if you divide that by the 10 spins recorded, then the standard deviation of the sequence is 10.2. The way this is translated into future play is that on your next gaming session, you should start playing the maximum coins at the tenth reel spin. Of course this isn’t a 100% method, but it helps to give you a window of opportunity where the numbers show a win may occur. Using standard deviation in playing slots is just another technique to employ when you go to a casino– either land-based or online casino.

    Common Slot Machines Mistakes to Avoid

    Friday, March 26th, 2010

    When it comes to playing slots, there is room for error. Of course the games are pretty self-explanatory, but there are ways of managing them that can thwart your plan for a good gaming session. Here are some of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to slots gaming and how to avoid making them yourself.

    ·         Going over your bankroll. This is the number one problem people have with online and land-based gaming. They get into the game—whether they are winning or losing—and forget about their former rules in terms of spending. This is the worst thing you can do and doing it more than once can seriously jeopardize your budget for the month in terms of affording your bills! Be sure to be strong. Set a limit for yourself well before you get to the casino and then stick to it!

    ·         Picking the wrong machine. This is another problem a lot of slot machine players have. Let’s face it, when you get to a casino or log-in online there are hundreds of options to sort through. You are going to find 3-, 5- and 7-reel slots with varying numbers of wager requirements and varying numbers of paylines. You want to make sure that you are playing on a slots game that fits into your budget and has what you like in terms of theme and payout.

    ·         Throwing your winnings right back into the machine. This is another issue many slots players have. Some players take all the money they win and put it back into the machine because they think this will help them win even more. There is nothing wrong with “reinvesting” some of your winnings, but you want to be very careful about how far you take this.

    These are three common slots mistakes. If you have faced them in the past, then you know full well how difficult they can be to avoid. But, if you want a great gaming session then you have to be mindful of them. You don’t want to do anything that will take away from your gambling session. Be sure to continue assessing games and then make wise decisions on gaming.

    Test Out New Slots Games Periodically

    Friday, March 26th, 2010

     Anyone who has visited land-based casinos knows how frequently new slot machines are brought to the casino floor. These games are always intriguing because you have never seen them before. But should you be playing them? This is a question that all players have to answer. The primary benefit of a new slot machine is the mystery. How much is the jackpot and how likely are you to win it? Are there any cool bonus games? Who manufactures the game? These are all questions that you want to ask because they can seriously affect your gaming experience.

    Of course, the inclusion of a new slot machine isn’t always a good thing- for the casino or for the player. For example, you may begin to play just to find out that the game is entirely too expensive. Or maybe you will learn that you have no real chance of winning a lot of money. If the payout percentage is low and it is a high-wager slot machine, you may want to ignore it and opt for the games you always play. Remember that although new slots are attractive, you want to make sure you take a step back and give the game a quick review before you sit down to play. It is much better to know what you are getting into than it is to jump in blind. Still, at the very minimum you should take a look at the newest games on the casino floor.  Machines are improving every month in this industry and what you didn’t like about a game last month, could be completely gone in the new games you find this month. This way you can see what they have to offer, both good and bad. From there, it becomes much easier to make a decision on whether or not to play. New slot machines arrive at casinos from time to time. Do some research on them and see what the deal is. Then, if it benefits you, wager at the new slot machine and see how much fun it can be. You just may find a game that hands you a big payout, or at minimum a game that becomes your next “favorite” slot machine to play at the casino!

    Deciding on a Video Slot or a Reel-Type Machine

    Monday, March 22nd, 2010

    In the world of slots gaming there are two types of games to concern yourself with. There is the video slot game or the reel-type slot machine. The video slots games are much flashier and give a great gaming session to any player. These are the games that are usually filled with excited players when you go to a land-based casino. Another thing to remember is that manufacturers of video slots are consistently adding paylines to make the games more exciting. They are also adding to the number of coins you wager per payline. They do this because it adds to the time it takes per spin. Casinos are losing revenue because of the more time needed to spin per person so by increasing the odds and benefits, they are hopingthat gamers continue to play more. They are trying to make it more beneficial for gamers.  

    The general gaming public is now left with not only an added number of paylines, but also the ability to play more coins. Many of the latest video slots games work with a minimum of 9 paylines and players can work with a varying number of coins from 1 to a maximum of 10 on each line offered. The average on the newer machines is 5 individual coins per activated line and that means a maximum wager of forty-five coins. That means that the new gives give you a maximum bet of $2.25 for a 5¢ machine and $11.25 per spin for a 25¢ machine. Remember that it can cost a little more to play video slots, so be sure that your bankroll is ready to handle the extra coins needed to play for a consistently long period of time. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t play video slots, it just means that you should consider how much you can play over time and then portion out your entire bankroll so you can. You may have to stretch your budget or alter your gaming habits, but the games themselves are worth the added bonus. You’ll find that video slots are a lot of fun and offer some great gaming in addition to table games and other strategy games you enjoy at an online casino.