Online Casino Spotlight

For some time now, eCommerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance or simply eCOGRA, has held the reputation as the number one independent accreditation organization for internet casino sites and online poker rooms.  Being that the body has considerably expanded its services over the past few years, it not only allows online casino licensees to apply for its coveted Safe and Fair Seal of Approval, but has also extended eligibility to various others sectors in the online gambling industry.  This includes sportsbooks, online gaming networks, bingo rooms, software providers and affiliates in addition to accredited eCOGRA casinos such as those powered by Microgaming.

Brightshare is the latest affiliate program to receive the quote on quote “green light” from eCOGRA.  This program represents the network of five traditional online casinos, two mobile casinos, a poker room and bingo room that compromise the popular casino group known as the Jackpot Factory.  Running on the powerful Viper software platform developed by Microgaming, the Jackpot Factory has one of the biggest collections of high quality casino games as well as a network of progressive jackpots renowned throughout the industry for creating a number of internet gambling millionaires.

All Jackpots and All Slots, both of which are Jackpot Factory casinos, have been on the scene for quite a while and received a lot of praise by some of the most prestigious portals in the realm of online gambling.  These two casinos are highly regarded as high ranking internet gambling destinations and make ideal places to open an account and try your luck.  Both give players the ability to play for real money and indulge in the experience of Microgaming’s innovative table games and realistic virtual slots.  The biggest downside to these sites or any online casino powered by Microgaming, is that they are not open to players residing in the United States, as the UIEGA led the company to turn its back on the American market.

Although it suffered a loss in business after abandoning the American market, the Jackpot Factory is recuperating nicely by racking up a great deal of traffic from other jurisdictions, particularly Europe, where the laws regarding internet gambling are far more lenient.  The BrighShare affiliate program has played a huge role in helping the Factory generate that traffic.  Affiliate programs have become essential drivers for many online industries as they help participants earn revenue from commissions and bring traffic to the business.  Lloyd Apter, Affiliate Manager at Brightshare, remarked that because of this, it is a must that online casino operators meet the defined standards in the affiliate management sector.

There are few organizations that are held in such high regard as eCOGRA.  Similar to how it consistently establishes transparent operative standards within online gambling, the body also helps to ensure that the best practices are enforced and maintained by affiliate programs throughout the industry.  Thanks to the eCOGRA, more affiliate programs are making a commitment to timely payments and accurate disbursement of affiliate revenues while assuring that reliable environments are in place to facilitate the efficient communications between the affiliate and player.

Online gaming is a fast moving industry that offers advantages to the player and casino operator alike.  Today, there are literally thousands of casinos located at virtually every corner of the web.  Sadly, some of these operators simply exist to steal your hard earned money and leave you in a world of financial debt.  What can happen if you fall for a scam employed by a shady a casino?  Well, you could find yourself receiving no payout at all or the latest victim of identify theft, both of which are being more common.  If you are indulging in the online gambling experience for the first time or venturing to a new casino, keep the following in mind before diving in head first.

1.) Look for Valid Gaming Licenses

All respectable online casinos should be licensed and regulated by the gambling authority from the jurisdiction in which the operator is based.  A valid license provides you with added security because if you ever become the victim of shady business practices, you will have your chance to file a complaint and possibly take action against the casino.  This information should be published and easily accessible so if you can’t find it, this could be a sign that you have encountered an illegal operation.  The ambiguous nature of the internet allows crooks to claim to be anything they want, even casino operators.  Unfortunately, this gives criminals the ammunition they need to create fraudulent gambling sites and steal from players who do not expect a thing until it is too late.  Keep your eyes peeled for legitimate licenses and get some validation before laying down a wager.

2.) Play with Reputable Software

Finding out the underlying software platform of an online casino is just as important as checking for a gaming license.  The best casinos are those powered by industry leading solutions by vendors like Microgaming, Playtech and Vegas Technology.  These firms have established solid reputations by offering fair and secure casino games with reasonable odds.  If you are new to all of this, it is important to understand that you have every right to know what software platform the casino operator is utilizing.  This is something that cannot be stressed enough because some casinos have been known to use software that operates in their favor and flat out cheats the player.  If a casino will not spill the details about their gaming platform, you would be better off playing elsewhere.

3.) Know That You are Protected

The fact that you have to provide personal information such as credit card numbers and your home address could make playing at an online casino very scary, and rightfully so.  However, keep in mind that if you are just playing for free, there should be no reason to give out such information.  If a casino tries to pump you for these details unjustifiably, it should be a warning sign you need to take seriously.  Should you decide to play for real money, only place your wagers with operators who employ SSL encryption to prevent sensitive data from being stolen and offer a Privacy Policy stating that your personal information will not be sold or supplied to third-parties.  Fraud has been a tremendous problem in the internet world and if you do not know how you are protected, you could learn the hard way that you were given no shield at all.

There are many advantages to playing blackjack online opposed to in a land-based casino and one of the most unique of them all is the luxury to play for progressive jackpots.  This is a significant benefit when considering that even the most skilled player may secure steady winnings over time, but rarely claim considerable single payouts when playing traditional games.  Over the past few months, some of the most well known online casino software providers have added progressive games to their portfolios and here are few that may pique your interests.

Cryptologic

There are many reasons to play progressive blackjack at a casino powered by Cryptologic.  For one, many players find that the pool is easier to win since it can be hit when you have four aces of the same color, meaning they do not have to be of the same suit.  Although there is no second jackpot to compete for, there are fixed payouts you can win through a number of combinations of both suited and unsuited aces.  If you want to contribute to the progressive jackpot, you can do so with a voluntary $1 wager.

Microgaming

Microgaming goes above and beyond to standout from the competition and this is reflected in its progressive blackjack game.  With this game, winning is not based on a combination aces but sevens, which makes the name Triple Sevens a fitting title.  If you assemble 21 from three seven of diamonds, then you hit the progressive jackpot.  Similar to the other games, this one also has fixed payouts for many different combinations of seven.  Microgaming’s Triple Seven blackjack game produces winners more frequently but the average payouts are lower than the games by other vendors.

Playtech

Leading casino software provider also offers a progressive blackjack game that gives you the opportunity to win big.  In this game, four aces of the same suit gets you the entire pool.  Unlike the offerings from other vendors, there is no combination that qualifies you for a smaller amount of the pot.  There are however, fixed payouts for specific combinations such as three aces of the same suit and four aces from different suits.  A major plus of progressive blackjack with Playtech casinos is that even a single ace offers a $5 payout.

Vegas Technology

In Progressive Blackjack by Vegas Technology, the jackpot is claimed when you are dealt out four aces of the same suit.  This powerful combination gets you 100% of the money in the jackpot pool.  However, if you are dealt four aces of different suits, then you receive 10% of the overall pot.  Vegas Technology’s progressive blackjack also has some fixed payouts that make the game more intriguing.  Keep in mind that you must place an additional bet of $1 in order to qualify for the pool in any of these progressive blackjack games.

Conclusion

Progressive blackjack carries the same level of high risk as any other progressive casino game.  What we mean by this is that your chance of hitting the jackpot are very low, especially if you are someone who prefers to play it safe all the time.  On the other hand, gambling in itself is all about luck so on any given day, you could hit big and make online casino history.

Online casino games have certainly come a long way over the years, especially from a quality aspect.  Technological advancements in graphics and animation have introduced a much more vibrant atmosphere to the gaming experience.  However, high-quality game play requires the aid of various components, some of which must be installed on your computer in order to get the full effect.  There are many such elements and one of the most important of all is the Adobe Flash Player plugin.  Without this addition, your online gaming experience will be quite dull and may not even happen at all.

How Flash Helps

The Adobe Flash Player offers a number of features that add to the quality and overall efficiency of online casino games.  This utility greatly simplifies the manipulation of 3D graphics and is able to create various textured meshes in the 3D environment.  It also has the ability to manipulate textual data and create appealing topography by automatically restructuring and restyling text.  One of the greatest benefits of this multimedia player is that it reproduces color with superior precision, making it appear as if the images were entirely crafted by the program developer.  Not only does it assist with graphic acceleration, but also supports a variety of audio functions such as sequencing and mixing, thus allowing for the implementation of music in real-time.

Perhaps the best feature the Adobe Flash Player has to offer the online gaming experience is the processing power it lends to a computer to accelerate bitmap manipulation.  This speeds up the calculation of bitmaps, blend modes and video overlays to better support animation, audio and high quality video streams.  The player is also an integral part of instant online gaming software as facilitates the serving of SWF files to the web browser.

Identifying Flash Games

Most of today’s online casino software vendors insert functionality into their platforms that require the use of Adobe Flash to work properly.  Cryptologic, Microgaming and Vegas Technology are just some of the leading providers that require you to install the Flash player on your computer system.  Adobe’s Flash technology helps to power many of the popular online casino games including slots, poker, roulette and several others that utilize animation, audio and video elements.  Without this is application, there is a great chance that you will not be able to play any of your favorite games online due to the inability to provide functionality to the browser.

Don’t Have Flash? Don’t Worry

The Adobe Flash Player is a very useful tool that serves purpose in many other areas outside of online gaming.  For example, you can use it to play non-gambling games, watch video clips or even full length Flash movies.  If you do not have Adobe Flash Player installed on your computer, don’t worry.  Getting a hold of a copy is easy.  You can download this media player for free and have it up and running on your system in no time.  From there, you can then take part in a truly enriched online casino gaming experience.

Any avid online casino gamer will tell you that one of the most disappointing experiences is downloading a game or signing up with a casino that simply doesn’t satisfy your needs.  A perfect example would be choosing a game of blackjack where the dealer wins on ties.  While some players will be fond of such a version because of the advantages, several others might want to steer clear of this variant for all the disadvantages it offers.   Indeed, it can be very frustrating when you take the time to research casinos only to download a gaming platform that just doesn’t work out.  For some, this is enough to deter them from playing at that particular casino or indulging in online play entirely.

The good thing is that many of the reputable online casino software vendors have taken note and acted by trying to deliver more user-friendly products that allow you to preview games before investing your time into them.  These previews typically offer screenshots as well as a brief summary of the games.  By viewing a comprehensive preview, you can learn more about that particular gaming platform and better determine if it meets your expectations.

Below we have provided details on some of the most popular online casino software providers offering previews of their games.

Microgaming

It is no surprise that Microgaming, an industry leading online casino software provider, would be one of the first working to accommodate the growing needs of players.  With casinos powered by Microgaming, you can visit the main lobby and then the games section to choose a specific category and obtain a listing of the selections it contains.  From here, you generally have two options.  You can either view all the listed games in text form, or view them in a matrix-style graphical presentation featuring logos of the available games.  With either option, the preview is basically the same as it is displayed in a box to the right of the screen with the cursor set on the name of the game or logo.  After accessing the preview, you can view a screenshot of the game along with a short list of features or rules.

Vegas Technology

With games powered by Vegas Technology, categories are presented on the main lobby page while individual games can be accessed through the drop-down menus.  After selecting a game, the preview is displayed in a small box in the lower-left corner of the screen.  The information you get with VT games is usually the jackpot ticker and betting limits when applicable.  Other details are provided to you via the screenshot.

Wizard Gaming

Although Wizard Gaming doesn’t offer nearly as many games as Microgaming and Vegas Technology, it does provide you the option to preview before you play.  All of its games can be found in the main lobby and when making your selection, the preview can be viewed in the upper right of the screen.  With Wizard Gaming previews you get a nice screenshot and brief summary of the game. The information it provides is often helpful with details on features, free spins and bonus rounds.  Wizard Gaming has some of the most comprehensive previews of all online casino software providers.

Based on the island of Cyprus, Rival Gaming is a company established by Black Chip Ltd.  Though just launched in 2006, it has already made a name for itself as one of the top software providers in the online gambling industry.  In fact, its software solutions power some of the most popular internet casinos in the world, many of which accept players from the U.S.  Aside from the superior graphics of its extensive catalog of games, Rival Gaming offers online casino management through a comprehensive back-end interface, which addresses issues such as reporting, affiliate management and security.  Well know for its series of interactive slots, Rival Gaming has an excellent reputation in the industry with quality games that outperform many of the other online casino software developers on the market.

Gaming Options

One of the best things about Rival is the nice selection of casino games it gives the player to choose from.  It offers blackjack in single and multi-hand varieties as well both American and European roulette.  Its portfolio also includes a number of online casino poker and video poker variations.  Some of its other games are craps, keno and baccarat along with less known games like Red Dog, Let it Ride and Casino War.  Rival receives high scores over the competition with the quality production of its slots games, which are rich in audiovisuals and deliver a thrilling gaming experience to the player.  These games are categorized in to various types that include three-reel slots, five-reel slots, progressive slots and iSlots.  Its most popular variant, the iSlots (interactive slots), are exclusive and only available at online casinos powered by Rival Gaming.  Each I-slot tells a different story, taking you through a unique adventure with video clips and skill-based bonus rounds.  Your performance in the bonus rounds ultimately determines the course of the overall game.

Online Gambling Features

Another rival advantage is that its downloadable software is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems.  This is a big plus when considering that most software providers only cater to Windows users.  In addition, the company implements a great variety of features into its software to produce some of the most user-friendly online gaming applications around.  These features consist of tools like real-time player history, easy to use promotions, cash interfaces and a unique VIP system.  Unlike much of the competition, Rival Gaming platforms allow players to bet with real money, or play just for fun.

What’s to Like About Rival Gaming

There are many benefits to playing at Rival Gaming casinos.  The most notable are its feature-rich, audiovisual slots and exclusive iSlots.  Next comes the fact that many casinos running the platform accept U.S. players.  Last but not least, it is one of few companies that develops its software to support both Windows and Mac computers.

What’s Not to Like About Rival Gaming

There are also a few drawbacks to Rival gaming.  First, it is lacking in variety when it comes to blackjack and video poker.  And while it does have a nice selection of games, the number is far less in comparison to competitors such as Microgaming and RTG.

Microgaming is a veteran in the field online casino gaming platforms.  In fact, it makes the claim of actually creating the first ever operating online gaming system in 1994.  Since that time, the company has led the way in developing an impressive portfolio of licensee internet casinos, powering some of the most renowned and successful operators, including The Gaming Club, 7 Sultans Casino and The Riverbelle casinos.  Today, Microgaming is an industry heavyweight with more licensed casinos, games and revolutionary concepts than any other vendor.

Gaming Options

If you are a player who prefers a great variety, you may want to specifically look for casino sites running on the Microgaming platform.  Many of its licensees offer well over 100 casino games for players to choose from.  They also tend to offer some of the biggest progressive jackpots on the market.  In 1998, Microgaming introduced Cash Splash, the internet’s first progressive casino game.  Today, its line of progressive games are tremendous, consisting of blackjack, slots, cyberstud poker and roulette among others.  These games have some of the largest default jackpot values around and rise very quickly.  Major Millions, one of its current flagship games, has a jackpot that begins around the $250,000 mark and exceeds $1 million on a regular basis.  It is reported that the biggest winner to date struck a cool $1.7 million with a single spin.  Talk about luck.

Online Gambling Innovation

Viper, its next generation online casino software, now powers a large number of Microgaming licensee casinos.  The Viper platform allows you to automatically play the casino game of your choice optimally by either playing through expert play modes, which send notification when you have made a non-optimal wager choice, or automatically make the best choice for you, depending on the mode you selected.  Innovation such as this is the very reason why Microgaming is at the top of the list for online gaming software vendors.

What’s to Like about Microgaming

Any experienced gamer will tell you that Microgaming’s range of casino games and playing options are unrivaled.  Online casinos powered by this company will give you a greater choice of games than competitors along with a variety of helpful tools to sweeten the bargain.  With a Microgaming casino, there are no frills or fluff, just an intuitive gaming interface that allows you to easily navigate your way through the casino games.

What’s Not to Like about Microgaming

For the most part, everything is positive with Microgaming platforms.  If we had to pick on them for anything, it would have to be the in-game graphics.  For example, the images are not as sharp as they could be, and the casino games do not look as crisp as what you get from some of the other software vendors.  On bright side, Microgaming casino games are nice and sizable with a look and feel that makes all the instructions, numbers and other essential elements easy to view.  If you eyes aren’t what they used to be, this is a definite plus.

Microgaming is one of the most popular online gaming software providers on the market.  The company just added to the value of its name with the recent announcement of four new advanced video slot games.  It looks as if the launch is just in time for the summer, giving players new and innovative game play equipped with the vibrant graphics and real-life sounds we have all come to expect from Microgaming.

Summer Holiday, Microgaming’s first new release, is a five-reel 100-payline slot game that features a combination of scatters and stacked wilds.  The retriggering free spins and generous multipliers add to the excitement and the potential winnings.  It also boasts a new bonus feature that allows you to choose a prize upon completing a free spin cycle.  The Summer Holiday title has been designed to offer a relaxed atmosphere right alongside vivid, colorful animation that sends you on wondrous trips to a wide variety of holiday and leisure settings.  The new slot game offers rewards of up to $37,500 in the initial game while a whopping $112,500 can be won winning landing the free spin action.

The annual Tour De France takes place in Europe this month and Microgaming is looking to capitalize on this extravaganza with the launch of another new title, Pedal Power slot.  A five-reel 15-payline slot, the game features exceptional artwork with high quality graphics that portray the brilliant colors of the cyclists, stopwatches, trophies and tools associated with the race.  This new release allows you take an extra gamble by selecting a variety of free spins against what each choice provides in terms of multipliers.  You can also achieve winning combinations using Pedal Power’s wild feature, which takes the form of the prestigious Tour De France gold trophy.

The third Microgaming release is a title called Sterling Silver.  This five-reel 25-payline video slot game is centered around the precious sterling silver metal.  The game features gleaming silver symbols including scatters and wilds that can be used to uncover hidden riches within the game.  To complete the action, you can use the built-in gamble function to double or quadruple your winnings by correctly predicting the suit of a mystery card.

The last new game added to Microgaming’s portfolio is one that requires you to grab the pickaxe and sticks of dynamite to engage on a mining adventure that leads to many hidden treasures.  Fortune Finder is a five-reel 30-payline video slot featuring diamonds, rubies and golden nuggets that point you in the direction of the ultimate jackpot.  The game allows you to pick the best hands to build winning combinations in addition to the rewards provided by the wealth of scatters, wilds, free spins and gamble feature.  One of Fortune Finder’s major highlights is a new stage that gives you three wilds in the form of the Diamond, Nugget and Ruby.  After choosing the one you feel is most precious, your selection can be changed depending on the gem’s ability to offer an entirely new world of suspense and excitement.

If Microgaming has anything to say about it, the summer of 2009 is sure to be eventful for the community of online gamblers.

For sometime now, U.S. players have felt horribly slighted when it comes to their rights to participate in online gambling.  Although many battles are being fought at the legislation level, the status remains the same in 2009.  Micrograming represents the last major online gaming software developer to prevent its licensees from opening accounts for U.S. players.  After the threatening and bullying by the U.S. Department of Justice, this was probably a wise move on their part.  With that said, Micrograming is openly expressing regret due to the business losses that have resulted from this decision.

Piling onto this regret is a recent announcement stating that Intertops, one of the company’s longtime licensees, would be ceasing its partnership with Microgaming.  Many are speculating that this is being done so that they can once again allow U.S. players to open accounts.  When considering the large number of players in the states that want to participate, the reasoning should be a no-brainer.  Intertops’ plans became known when it was revealed that the company is moving its online casino platform to industry leading software provider Real Time Gaming.

Online casinos powered by RTG technology make the best option for U.S. players for a number of reasons.  First of all, RTG does not put restrictions on its licensees.  Once its software platform is licensed, it is up to the individual casino operator on whether or not they accept bets from U.S. players.  Although some have made the argument that this could lead to a greater probability of unethical practices on part of the casino, the truth is that RTG is a respected name in the business.  Both its software source code and RNG have been certified for fairness by acclaimed third-party testing firm Technical Systems Testing.

If you look at its business model, it becomes much clearer to see why Intertops is making the transition to Real Time Gaming.  RTG has appropriate licensing credentials in regulatory jurisdictions such as Antilles and The Netherlands, better ensuring that players can enjoy a high-performance, secure gaming environment.  Despite the split, Michl Posch, a spokesman for Intertops, had nothing but good things to say regarding the relationship with Micrograming.  After 10 years, the two companies had what was one of the longest running partnerships in the gaming business.  Porsh expressed what a difficult decision it was to leave Microgaming in favor of RTG.  On another note, following the recent seizure of gambling site domains in Kentucky, the debacle that ultimately led to Microgaming’s choice to dip out of the U.S. market, it is said that Intertops wondered if this market was worth ending the relationship.  Today, it has become clear that it was.

While there is much talk about the announcement, Intertops has yet to fully make the transition as its casino site still has Microgaming progressive jackpots on display.  While the company appears to be looking out for U.S players, customers still need to leery of where they play.  Intertops also allows online sports betting, a very sensitive subject in the eyes of U.S. lawmakers.  Because of this, the company could be putting its players at the risk of having their casino accounts seized, even if they are not participating in sports betting.