Online Gambling in the U.S.

Online gambling is a touchy subject in the United States, to say the least. Before joining any online casino, make sure they are based offshore and accept U.S. players. The legalization and regulation of online gambling may be coming to the U.S. In July, the House Financial Services Committee passed Congressman Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2267). The bill aims to legalize and regulate online poker and other forms of online gambling. It would effectively eliminate the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). Many states are currently in a budget crisis and are considering legalizing forms of online gambling on the state level to combat the deficit.

More than 70 countries have legalized gambling such as Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, South Korea and Canada. There are pros and cons to legalization and regulation in the U.S. You would be more protected from crooked online casinos trying to steal your identity and money. But, there may be less casinos to choose from if they must be licensed. Also, offshore casinos won’t be happy about the taxes and fees they would have to pay for the American audience.

This isn’t to say Americans don’t gamble online. There are plenty of reputable online casinos based offshore that accept U.S. players through alternative online payment methods other than VISA, which stopped accepting payments. Other payment methods include check and wire transfers, electronic money services, etc. These online casinos provide the same service and include the same games, bonuses and promotions comparable to anywhere else in the world.

The watchdog for U.S. online casinos is eCOGRA (e-Commerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance). Established in 2002 as a non-profit by Microgaming and 888.com, it reviews hundreds of gambling sites for fairness and security. It serves as a liaison between players and casinos. Look for the eCOGRA Safe and Fair seal before signing up for an account.

Best Casino Bonuses

You probably won’t get any comped hotel rooms, but online casinos offer some pretty fantastic bonuses to new and loyal players. Most online casinos offer a free cash bonus after joining. All you have to do is sign up for a free account. But be careful, because sometimes it isn’t as free as it first appears. There are strings attached with almost every bonus, so always read the terms and conditions before joining an online casino. The terms and conditions should be linked to the homepage. Usually, you must deposit money into an account and play through to a certain amount before receiving your bonus. These are the different types you should be aware of.

The match bonus is the most widespread online casino bonuses, especially for an initial deposit(s). The casino matches a percentage of the deposit. The matches could be 50% or 100%, for example. Find an online casino with a 100% match on your first deposit. It will only be worth up to a given amount and may only apply to certain casino games, but they are pretty widespread online. The amount will fluctuate with the current promotion they’re running. Look for a casino that is offering a similar match on your next few deposits in addition to the first deposit. Those are the kind of welcome bonuses you should take advantage of.

A cashable bonus is one where you must hit a given wager requirement before you can withdraw the bonus money from your account. The restrictions involved might be up to a certain amount of money or only playing on certain games. On the plus side, the bonus money is additional to your winnings upon withdrawal. A sticky bonus is similar but tricky. The bonus may not be withdrawn but any winnings from playing the sticky is. Got it? The last bonus is hard to find but it’s one of the best. It’s the cash back bonus. They are given following a loss, as in a portion of the stake is returned to your account. Depending on the promotion, you could get 20% cash back each week. That means you would get 20% of your losses back from that week. Obviously, a winning week would not qualify.

Types of Online Casino Games

Any game you find at a land-based casino can be found online. There are even some games at online casinos that you can’t find at land-based casinos, such as certain types of slots. That means that popular games like poker, blackjack, roulette, slot machines, baccarat, craps, bingo, keno and more are all at your disposal. Decide which game you know most about and try it for free. Once you’ve practiced, thoroughly understood the game and gained some strategy, it’s time to wager some money. Online gambling is that easy. Below are descriptions of some of the most popular casino games that can be found on the Internet.

Poker: All your favorite poker games are available at online casinos, including Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Five Card, 7-Card Stud, Caribbean and more.

Blackjack: This is one of the most popular games because of its basic rules and many strategies. It’s amazing that such a simple game can be so exciting.

Roulette: The graphics bring this lotto reel game to life. It looks complex at first, but it’s really quite simple once you understand the odds and payouts of each bet. That’s where all the strategy is.

Slots: Often called the one-armed bandit since it can steal your money with one pull of the lever, I guess you can call it a one-fingered bandit online since it just requires a click. Slots are the most popular casino game because software developers are constantly creating slots with new themes. The bonuses get hefty and the graphics are very realistic.

Baccarat: This is a card game that requires a good amount of strategy where you divide up your hand to form the best possible two hands.

Craps: This one is a crowd-pleaser just like roulette. It’s a dice game that involves other players at the table and plenty of excitement.

Bingo: Not just for your grandmother anymore, this lottery-style game has online gambling sites solely devoted to it and a surprisingly large fan base.

Keno: This is another lottery game with lots of numbers and betting options. It originated in the Far East.

Video Poker: This combines poker and slots by dealing cards into reels to form a hand. There are many different kinds of video poker with varying values in cards.

Casino Winning Strategies

As we all know, online casinos can be fun to visit but they are not without their risks. If you choose a casino that is safe and fair, the only real risk you have is losing too much money. Casino games have odds that favor the house, so in the long run you should have a net loss of money rather than a gain, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep that loss to a minimum. Here are some casino winning strategies.

The most important thing I urge everyone to do before visiting a casino, whether it’s an online casino or a brick and mortar business, is to decide on your bankroll ahead of time. You know how much money you can afford to spend on a given night and people make those decisions before going to dinner, seeing a movie, visiting a theme park and virtually every other leisure activity. For some reason, though, a lot of people don’t do that with a visit to a casino. Perhaps it’s because there is a chance of winning money. In any case, you need to decide on a bankroll in advance.

My advice is to pick a dollar amount that you can afford to lose and set that aside. With an online casino, you simply deposit that amount. Whatever happens when playing at the casino, you should never add to that amount. That means if you are having great success, you should not wager your winnings. Conversely, if you lose the money quickly you should not try to win it back. Sticking to your betting limit no matter what happens allows you to protect your winnings from the house edge and avoid losing more money than you wanted. Also, while we're on the subject of wagering, stay away from betting systems. They don't work.

Another important winning strategy for online casinos is to familiarize yourself with the games. It makes no sense to try a game that you don’t know well and immediately bet money on it. That is especially true if it’s a game of skill, such as poker and blackjack. If you aren’t confident in your playing ability for a certain game, you should play the free version of it before betting any money. Most online casinos have free trials of all or most of their games, where you wager and win pretend money.

Another important thing to do is take advantage of the fact that you’re playing online. Playing at an online casino, it’s not cheating to have tips and strategy guides pulled up on the computer while you play. Especially if you’re newer to the game, it makes sense to consult strategy guides to make sure you are making the right decisions. If you’re competing against other players, such as in blackjack, you don’t want to take too long when looking at strategy. However, for games where you are only playing the computer, such as blackjack, you can take as much time as you need. Use that to your advantage.

Another winning strategy is to take advantage of tournaments. If they have a low entry fee, casino tournaments give you a chance to earn prizes without risking much of your own money. Casinos even sometimes offer free tournaments, where you don’t risk any money at all and can win prizes.

The other biggest advice I can give for playing at an online casino is to remember that everything is about weighing risk and reward. The most obvious example is your bet. A smaller bet won’t win you as much money if you win, but it won’t cost you as much if you lose. Betting big will feel good when you win, but it’s an easy way to lose money quickly. Your betting strategy should be in line with your bankroll and how long you want to play.

Online Casino Tournaments

Games at online casinos are played basically the same as at a brick and mortar casino. Sure, you don’t actually touch the cards, dice or slots yourself, but by pressing a few buttons you get the same effect. One thing that is different, though, is tournament gameplay.

When participating in an online casino tournament, you need to change your style of play to fit the tournament rules. Since each tournament is different, there is no concrete rule for tournament strategy, but there are some basic suggestions.

For one thing, online tournaments are often timed, so if you have a limited time to make your wagers, you want to make them as fast as you can. If it’s a slot tournament, that’s easy because there are no decisions to make. Simply press the spin button as many times as you can, because you don’t get to keep your unused credits. If it’s a blackjack tournament, then you can’t go as fast as in slots, but you still don’t want to deliberate as long on each decision if you are pressed for time.

There is another difference for blackjack tournaments. In traditional blackjack, you are competing against the dealer and none of the other players matter. That is not the case in a blackjack tournament. In most blackjack tournaments, each player accrues points for beating the dealer and the players with the most points in prizes. In that case, you want to play faster and more aggressive, because you need to earn more points than the other players if you want to win. You can also bet more aggressively in blackjack tournaments because you’re not wagering with your own money.

Roulette tournaments are often timed, so you want to bet faster and more aggressively. If it is a tournament where you are betting with house money, you should pick more lucrative bets rather than the safer bets.

Whether or not they are timed or free, what sets most online tournaments apart from the standard casino play is that you’re playing for prizes rather than money. Because you get points instead of money, you don’t want to conserve your winnings. Instead, it is wise to aggressively accumulate as many points as you can in an attempt to reach the top of the leader board, where you can win good prizes.

Slots Strategy

Slots are the most popular game at any casino, whether we’re talking about an online casino or one on the Vegas strip. They are also probably the most misunderstood game. The problem stems from the fact that so many people try to beat the slots. They try to come up with a strategy that will guarantee success or at the very least reduce the amount of money they lose.

The truth is that there really is no slots strategy that works. There are tons of books written on the subject and an equal amount of websites, but none can deliver. The reason you can’t beat slots is the same reason they are so appealing: Slots are a game of chance.

The good news is that every time you spin a slot, you have an equal chance of winning. The bad news is that every time you spin a slot, you have an equal chance of winning. Get it? Your odds don’t change if you incorporate a betting strategy, if you time out your spins, if you keep track of its payouts or anything like that.

The biggest myth about slots regards hot slots and cold slots. The thinking is this: A slot that is paying out a lot at the moment will continue doing so because it is hot. Therefore, it’s a good slot to play. Conversely, a slot that hasn’t paid out in a while is cold and is therefore “due.” For that reason, it is a good slot to play.

The fact that a hot and cold slot are both said to be the slot to play should tell you something about the accuracy of that strategy. It doesn’t work. Slots are all controlled by a random number generator. That program generates a series of numbers hundreds of times every second and every number coincides with a certain outcome. That assures that each spin is independent of the next. If a slot has paid out 30 times in a row, it has exactly the same odds as if that same slot hadn’t paid out at all in the last 30 spins.

There is one thing you can do to increase your chances, though. Although your odds won’t ever change on the same machine, different slots have different odds. Some slots (called loose slots) pay out more often than others while others (called tight slots) pay out less often. Needless to say, you would rather play a loose slot.

Land-based casinos will often have a combination of loose slots, tight slots, and slots that are somewhere in between. The common theory is that casinos put loose slots on the aisles so people can see them pay out a lot. There is truth to this, but not all slots on the aisles are loose. They also put some tight slots there. That’s because the casinos know about that theory and they know people will play the slots on the aisle assuming they are all loose. To find a loose slot, you should observe their behavior, ask locals and other regulars, and do some other research. For online casinos, you can often find payout percentages online. You can sometimes find them for land-based casinos as well.

Do you need Blackjack Strategy?

Do you need to use blackjack basic strategy to win money? The short answer: Yes. The long answer…well, keep reading.

First of all, I should tell you what blackjack basic strategy is. A long time ago, a bunch of mathematicians who are a lot smarter than me decided to calculate the odds for every decision you have to make in blackjack. These decisions include when to hit, when to stand, when to double down, when to split a pair, when to surrender and more. The basic strategy takes into account the number of cards in a deck, your likelihood of drawing a certain card, your chances of busting, the dealer’s chances of busting, your odds of outdrawing the dealer and more.

Basically, blackjack basic strategy is really complicated, but the good news is that it’s easy to learn. If you Google “blackjack basic strategy chart” you will find the industry-accepted strategy. Study the chart, learn it and follow it and you’re good.

If you use perfect basic strategy and stick to it, in the long run you will reduce the house edge to only 0.5%. That means that means that the casino will take 1 cent of your money for every $2 you wager, and you will get to keep the rest. You will not often find better odds than that at a casino. Most of the money that casinos make off of blackjack are from people who don’t use basic strategy, which is why you should use it.

Once you learn basic strategy, you need to have the discipline to stick to it. You will sometimes get into losing streaks and it can be easy to say “this isn’t working; I’m going to try something new.” That is a bad idea and will lead to you losing more money in the long run.

Also, sometimes what seems like common sense actually goes against basic strategy. For instance, sometimes players will look at their hand, think it’s too low and decide to take a hit. The mistake they made is not noticing the good odds of the dealer busting. Other times the opposite will happen, where they will decide to stand, afraid of busting, even though the dealer likely already has their hand beat.

So do you need to use blackjack basic strategy? If you want to keep as much of your money as possible, the answer is yes. If you feel like being charitable and giving the money away, feel free to contact me instead of giving it to a casino. :)

Skill vs. Chance

If you are going to win at casino games, you need a strategy. Also important to know is which casino games can use strategy to influence your odds of winning and which casino games cannot really use strategy.

This difference boils down to Games of Skill and Games of Chance.

A Game of Skill is one in which the player uses a playing strategy to have an impact on the odds. These games are usually the ones in which you have a choice in how to play, such as poker and blackjack. In these two games, the player decides what to do with the cards he is dealt. He has a choice in what happens to his hand. The cards he is dealt at the beginning of a round and cards that are received throughout a round will be random, but what you do with those cards is up to you.

On the other hand a Game of Chance is one in which the player does not have a say in the outcome, such as slots, keno and roulette. In those games the player places their wager and hopes for the best, for the reels to land a winning combination; for their numbers to be picked; or for the ball to land on your number. But hoping is all you can do. You cannot choose how the reels will land; or influence what numbers are drawn; or where the ball stops.

Your first step in casino strategy is to recognize which are Games of Skill and which are Games of Chance. Once you have chosen a Game of Skill you can move on to building your playing strategy for that game.

A playing strategy serves as a guide in how to play that game so that you can increase advantageous moments in the game. But strategy is also important for minimalizing moments when you know your odds of winning are not all that great.

Your best bet at winning at a casino game is to pick one Game of Skill and learn a strategy for it, and then practice that strategy so that you can increase its effectiveness. Then you take that strategy and work it on your chosen Game of Skill.