South Dakota is the latest state to make a push for slots gambling. What legislators cannot debate is that slots perform well. The games have a long-standing history of bringing in millions of dollars. It was almost under the nose of casino operators too- for long time the perception is that it was the big game that were bringing in the top dollars. Operators were putting their biggest payouts and dollars into the high-priced poker tables and big-dollar blackjack tables. These were the tables that brought in huge dollars a few times a day. For example, a good poker tournament may bring a casino $50,000 in revenue and if the casino holds two a week, that means they are bringing in an additional $100,000 on poker that week. Operators were dazzled by the immediate gratification of poker and banked that it was a top performer on their casino floor. Once they did the numbers though, they realized the story was very different. Sure the slots games don’t bring in $50,000 in a few hours, but they do bring in that much over the course of a week consistently. That consistency is the difference in revenue streams for slots and other gambling games. It is what puts them over the edge. Sure the poker tables bring in $50,000 twice a week, but when the numbers are tallied slots bring in $50,000 every day. Particularly larger slots parlors understand the power of the games they have on their floors and are working with them to make sure that they continue to develop them.

The state of South Dakota is realizing the power of slots gambling and are trying to expand gambling in the state to offer classic-style slots games. There already are gambling games operating from blackjack, Keno, bingo and poker. The terminals bring in millions of dollars but legislators believe that if they can continue to expand into the world of slots, they can maximize their overall wins. Legislators are debating, but they are showing signs of accepting the games easily and readily into their economies right now. They need some solution to the financial problems that are arising and without gambling, there are few other options.

In the US there are numerous race tracks looking for revival. The racing market was taken down by the recession and is showing no signs of turning around any time soon. Race track owners have long been petitioning for ways of bringing customers in and they all seem to be pointing to slot machines. It cannot be denied how popular the slots are. The games come in a huge variety to cater to as many people as possible. The games also have a great history of paying out. Whether you have a bankroll of just $10 or $1,000 you can have a great time at a good slots parlor. The games are versatile and customizable to your wager preference, your theme preference, your reel preference and your payline preference. You can find a game that mirrors exactly what you want as a gambler with ease. This is perhaps the biggest draw of the slots market. Remember that the internet has given rise to a completely different style of shopper. Now that the internet is so prevalent, people want what they want when they want it in terms of retail. The same is true with gambling. Gamblers are fully aware of what the internet can do and they want as much immediate satisfaction as they can get from purchasing something else online. They know full well the amount of options that the internet brings them and are more than willing to keep pushing for exactly what they want from their gaming experience.

Now racetrack owners are aware of what the slots can do for them, but so are gamers. A new study is showing that gamblers love the thought of having slots at race tracks becuase it will increase the number of games they can play. States can have one, two or up to four huge race tracks in their borders. This means that gamers coudld take advatnage of up to four new locations for slots gambling. Casino owners are well aware of the benefits of slots gaming and are more than willing to oblige. All they need is the consistent support and approval from the states they are operating in.

Part of the criticism of the games is that they are highly addictive because of their varying wager. A gamer may shy away from a $50-per spin game or a game with a $100 buy-in, however they may not think twice about a game that requires $1-per spin. How could $1 hurt you? Then they put the game on auto-play (a feature that allows the game to spin on its own until it needs human intervention) and away they go. In a half hour that machine could auto-spin over fifty times and they have lost $50. If they keep playing for the normal gaming session which is about three-and-a-half hours, that means $350. Even if they win, research shows that may skim $50 off the top of that wager amount, but it won’t negate the entire amount. Experts are warning that people need to be extra cautious when it comes to slots gaming. No other game is as innocent as slots…or as addictive.

In an effort to fend off problems anti-gambling activists are requesting some contingency plan if legislators are going to go through with full legalization. They are hoping that there are the proper safeguards built right into the system. For example, some states already have a “black list” or an “opt-out list.” These are lists of gamers who cannot enter a casino to wager. The casinos have a database and as people enter, they check their name against the list. If it is on there, they are denied access. The reason is because some gamers already know that they have a problem and want casinos to do the responsible thing and cut them off. The opt in to these lists. This plan is in place in the western part of the country but there have been some lax casinos that have let them in anyway. This is definitely an issue and casinos in the future have to be more mindful of ways to protect the gaming public…in particular, the gaming public that has already asked for assistance with monitoring their gambling. The market has a long way to go to protect slots gamers from going overboard, but they are well on their way to the right legislation needed.

If you are wagering online hopefully you are never going to need customer service. Hopefully the games and payouts will always work. Hopefully the bonuses and extras will show up as scheduled. But what if they don’t? What are you going to do if you are wagering at two o’clock in the morning and don’t get the payout you were expecting? Who do you call? How do you call them? Hopefully everyone who is wagering online will never have to deal with this problem, but if you do you are going to need a good customer service to back you up. When you first sign up with a casino make sure that their customer service department is prominent. There should be a page on the website that offers help for any of your issues—slot related, money related, bonus related, etc. You should have multiple ways to contact customer service and they should commit in writing how long they take to get back to you with a solution. Every good casino has a toll-free phone number and it is available twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. When you are first contemplating signing up at a casino, call the number. Make sure that they offer you live operators when you call. Some companies have an 800-number but they put it to a voicemail for a certain number of hours and say they will get back to you. Premiere companies don’t have this—they are available to their customers around the clock.

You also should look for companies that offer you an email contact number. This is where they should write how long they normally take to get back to you. It should never be longer than 48-hours, and if you have to test it they should answer your question much sooner. Other companies have an instant-chat option. This works just like it would for a technical support chat. You click on the button and a window opens up and signs you into a chat with an agent who can help you. This is another important way for contact. A good casino should have all of these options and make sure that you check before you sign up to make sure they do. You hopefully will never need them, but you want to be prepared if you do.

You also want to make sure the casino you are eying is legal. Remember that in the world of gambling today the laws are changing. Particularly if you are in the US, things are up in the air. Legislators are trying to find a useable code of laws that will bring in billions of gambling tax dollars, but still protect gamers. It hasn’t happened yet though. This means that a lot of casinos you find online won’t take US players for “real money” accounts. You can sign up and play the games, but they are going to be just for fun and not for actual cash. Make sure that if you do find a casino that accepts you, you are still operating legally. Do a search for the laws in your state, city and county. Not all of those laws are the same either and checking with each one is the best way for you to avoid problems in the future for your gambling needs. You don’t want to risk breaking the law. You want a great gaming session and making sure you aren’t in danger of causing problems for yourself is a priority way to do this.

Finally, when you are picking a new casino, be sure that it features the games you like to play. If you are a completely new gamer then this doesn’t apply to you. You haven’t yet formed an opinion on what types of slots games you like the most so your best bet would be to stick with the free-play games and test some out. There are a lot of choices in the market and finding the games you prefer isn’t going to be hard. You may have to skip around to a few different casinos, but this can be a lot of fun. On the other hand if you are already an avid gamer then most likely you already know what slots you like best. Make sure the casino you pick for your next gaming session features these types of games. You may also pick games that have tournaments built around your favorite games. This is another way to make sure you have a great gaming session at the next online casino you pick to spend a few hours of your time at.

If you have ever wagered online then most likely you have become adept at sorting through games that you don’t want to play. Though some games come with free-play options to test them out, some you have to just jump right into to play. So how do you manage? One of the first things you have to do is set a strict bankroll. You want to set the total amount of money you are going to wager at the online casino. This is a strict number and you should never rethink your decision when you are gaming. Trust that the casino’s operators know how to make a deal look inviting. They know how to make sure you want to participate in the games and possibly go overboard with your gaming. The casino only operates under the premise that the more they encourage you to wager, the more then win. They don’t concern themselves with your limits or what is safe for you to wager. That is all your responsibility and you have to take it seriously. Make sure that your bankroll dictates at all times. You also should set that bankroll well before you log in. Calculate it based on your residual income. Remember that you most likely are going to lose most, if not all of your wagered money. The odds are always in the House’s favor.

The next thing to do when wagering is to always make sure you find casinos that offer great bonuses. Not all bonuses are alike. Some casinos require that you make a long-term commitment to take advantage of the entire bonus. For example, a casino may offer you a “100% match bonus of up to $7,000” but when you read the terms and conditions, you see that this is extended over the span of twenty deposits. If you plan on sticking with the casino this is fine, but what if you planned on just seeing what games it offered and then moving on? This isn’t the best casino for you. Make sure before you take advantage of a bonus you read the terms and conditions. Some are as simple as they sound, but others have strict conditions that you have to live up to before you can take advantage of them.

Part two coming next.

When wagering on the slots, you aren’t going to have to worry about much. The games run themselves. Still—there are some things you should know before you start wagering. There are some key terms to understand. There is the “jackpot coin value.” This is a term that refers to the maximum number of coins that you can get from one winning combination on one payline. Make sure you read the machine and understand the coin requirement to play and the number of paylines. Be sure to play a game that you can afford. There also is the “jackpot money value.” This is the same as the “jackpot coin value” but it is transferred to the monetary value. This is actually how much money you are going to get for that winning combination as a result of the one payline. This is good to know because it lets you know how much you can get in returns as you wager. You should know this as you choose games so you can give yourself the best chances at a good win. Next, there is the bankroll. This is probably the single-most important term you are going to learn in the world of gambling. The bankroll is the total amount of cash you are allowing yourself to wager. Here is where you decide what you can afford to lose—never go over your bankroll. Once you set it, stick with it. It is one of the most important decisions in wagering whether you are in an online or land based casino.

Payline is another term you should be familiar with. A payline is a line of reel symbols. Some games come with just one payline and other games have one-hundred paylines. Of course you are going to have to activate them with additional coins, but if you are feeling lucky test your luck at the bigger wagers. Paylines are just chances at a win and as you increase your payline activations, you are increasing your chances of a good win. In slots gaming, you want to take advantage of as many ways to increase your odds as possible. This is how you increase your overall wins at the end of the day.

Part two coming next.

For anyone new to the online casino market the number one thing you should look for after security is customer service. Sure everyone hopes they never need customer service, but what if you do? It used to be that if you needed help then you had to email a casino and wait. Some took up to a few days to get back to their customers. Of course once the market started to explode and get more and more competitive, that changed quickly. No longer did operators find it sufficient to get back to their valued customers “in a few days.” They realized that with all the competition out there, if they didn’t step up their own games and provide the best response times, they would end up losing out. That is the great thing about competition—it pushes companies to offer better service because they know how many options the customer has in the market. So what did companies do when they realized what they were up against?

Companies rethought their customer service plans and expanded them greatly. If you are looking for a good casino be sure to check out the ways they have for gamers to contact people. The casino should have a 24-hour and 7-day a week customer service toll-free phone number you can all. This should be available at all times. Consider that gamers wager around the clock, so they should be able to reach a live person throughout any time of the day as a result. The casino should also offer you an email option. This is most likely for your simple concerns that aren’t timely. Normally a good casino will print their timeframe for a response at anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. This is standard and if the concern isn’t immediate is should work find. The final option for contact is the instant-chat feature. Gamers should be able to click a button and be able to chat with a customer service rep. in the market right now this isn’t full-time and normally a live operator is available during business hours only. The casino will tell you the exact hours they are available. As long as they have the 24-hour toll-free number, this shouldn’t be an issue. Do some research on a customer service department before you sign up with a certain casino. If you have problems, this could save you from hassle and time-consuming searches.

One of the biggest trends in the market of racing is the move to bring slot parlors into their establishments. The recession has been particularly difficult on race tracks. Though some people lost their jobs, they could still put away some money to get to the casinos and wager on small wager games. Though casino numbers were down considerably, they still managed based on cash reserves to continue operations as normal. Sure some had to lay off workers and make some cutbacks, but overall they were able to sustain themselves in the market. Then there were race tracks. People all but cut race tracks out of their budgets. Many owners started creating hefty discounts and promotions in an effort to come up with more customers and maintain their budgets. It didn’t work for a lot of race tracks and they had to close. The larger ones were able to sustain themselves throughout the recession, but still had quite a bit of financial setbacks to deal with in the end.

So how did race tracks decide to respond? A lot of them tried petitioning their home state for the approval to bring slots gaming into their businesses. A lot of legislators allowed it, wanting to keep the racing industry alive. The merger was called “racinos”, a combination race track and slots parlor. Gambling was set to help to maintain the market and turn it around. The theory being, if people are drawn in by slots they will be contributing more money to the business, and may even stay and wager on the races. Either way, it is bringing in more money for the businesses to work with. The racinos that have opened thus far are successfully operating. It may take some time for people to get used to wagering on the slot machines at race tracks, but it is making the market more exciting. The bottom line is that slots are popular everywhere. They are Las Vegas’ biggest money makers and proving to be power houses when it comes to pulling businesses out of a slump. Hopefully more race tracks will make the transition into racing and form top notch racinos for the gambling public.

Slot machine attendants are highly respected in the market. If you have ever gone to a casino then you know who they are…they are the people in uniform who walk around the slots parlor. They walk to and fro making sure that gambling games are in the same shape they were when you first came. These are the groups of people whose job it is to make sure the slots parlor is up to par. If you are new to the games, it’s always good to keep up with a slot attendant. Identify them when you first enter a casino so that if you have problems you can easily get help. In particular if you are a new gamer, it is always good to find a helper who can tell you what games are the best ones to test out. For example, let’s say you haven’t been to a casino before. You may want to stick to the penny-slots first and then test your luck. A good attendant can show you how to find these games if you are confused about where they are or which ones have specials.

The thing about slots parlors these days is that it is hard to keep up with all the specials going on in the market. Remember that casinos are highly competitive and they are creating more and more good specials to draw in bigger numbers of customers. Some of those specials can get intricate. A good slot attendant is going to give you the lowdown on what is going on and direct you to the games you want to play. They also can help you play a game if you don’t quite understand it. Again, remember that games are getting more and more complex. This means that if you do end up needing some help, the slots attendant is the one who can explain anything about the games to you. If you do end up winning, it’s a good idea to remember to tip the slot attendant if he or she was instrumental in helping you to pick the game or explain it to you. The slot attendant is there to help you, so just like any other “helper”, pay them if they do a great job.