:: MORE CASINO GAMES ::

For those who are currently novice rather than Professional Gamblers, there are a whole host of other casino games in addition to Poker and Roulette...

:: BLACKJACK ::

Blackjack, which is also known as Pontoon (Twenty one / Vingt et un) is widely considered to be the most widely played casino banking game in the world. The casino version of the Blackjack should not be confused with the British card game Black Jack, which is a variation of Crazy Eights.

The basic rules of casino Blackjack involve adding the value of the initial two card hand with the hope of having been dealt a value of twenty one. If a value of less than twenty-one is dealt, the player can choose to be dealt single cards until they either reach the ultimate value of twenty one, reach a high enough value they feel comfortable to play with, or reach a value that exceeds twenty one which is called 'busting'.

The winner is the player who has a hand with a value of or nearest to twenty one without exceeding it. The game has many variations depending on casinos and their table rules.

In the modern game, the term "blackjack" refers to an ace plus a ten-value card. Originally, it referred to a two card hand consisting of the ace of spades and a black Jack (either clubs or spades).

:: SLOTS ::

Known in Britain as fruit machines, these are casino gambling machines with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed. Slots were also known as one-armed bandits because slot machines were originally operated by a lever on the side of the machine instead of a front panel push button - the bandit bit was due to the their ability to leave the gambling 'robbed' of all money. The fruit machine pays out depending on patterns of symbols visible on the front of the machine when it stops. Slot machines are the most popular gambling method in casinos and make up around 70% of the average casino's income.

:: CRAPS ::

Craps developed out of a simplification of the early English game known as Hazard, which was played with two dice. Hazard is an old enough game to have been mentioned in Chaucer's fourteenth century Canterbury Tales and, as with the origins of Craps, may date back even earlier to the Crusades.

The modern version of the game was brought to New Orleans by Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville (1785-1868), a politician, the son of wealthy Louisiana landowners and, most importantly, a gambler. He brought the game of Hazard back from England in it's simplified form. This simplified form was first known as 'crapaud' (which is the French word for 'toad').

:: BACCARAT ::

The game of Baccarat also has historical roots and is believed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the last part of the fifteenth century.

There are three types of the game - baccarat chemin de fer (that's the type you'll see 007 play - or Le Chiffre in the 1960s spoof Casino Royale), baccarat banque, and punto banco (known as North American baccarat). In baccarat chemin de fer and baccarat banque, both players are able to make choices, which allows skill to play a part in the outcome. Punto banco, by contrast, is purely a game of chance, which requires no skill or strategy because every move is forced by the cards the player is dealt. There are only three possible results in Baccarat - 'Player', 'Banker' and 'Tie'. The first two terms don't refer to the customer or house. They are merely options on which the customer can place a bet. The name "Baccarat" is unusual in that the game is strangely named after the worst hand, which is worth '0'.

:: KENO ::

Although the word seems to have French or Latin roots, the game of Keno originated in China and was spread to the West in the nineteenth century when Chinese immigrants sailed across the Pacific Ocean to help build the American trans-continental railroad.

Keno is an easy game very similar to playing Bingo or the National Lottery. But it's played all the time so you don't have to wait for the Wednesday and Saturday draws!

To play online Keno, each player receives a Keno board (a bit like your National Lottery slip) with a total of 80 numbers printed on it. The aim of the game is to predict as many of the 20 numbers that are selected in each round as possible. This selection or balldraw most often occurs at the Keno booth but the numbers can be drawn by one of four devices - the most traditional of these is known as the Rabbit Ear blower. There's also the AKV - this is an automated blower in which the balls are encoded, read by a computer, and then sent to a computerised Keno system for processing. The third device is a Random Number Generator - it's basically an electronic number selection device approved by gaming authorities. Finally there's the Hand Cage - it's the most similar to how the weekly national lotteries are drawn - a spinning ball cage (usually metal) which rolls the numbers into a slot where they are validated by a person.

Online casinos offer comfort for players, accessibility, user friendliness, peace of mind, familiarity, anonymity, affordability, convenience and ease. Since the advent of the online casino, more and more gamers feel the simplicity of the online casino

The online casino has over time developed it’s look and feel. Graphics have been vastly improved giving the user a real to life casino experience. Software is constantly up to date to provide players with true randomness of results.

One further area of online casinos further developing its look and feel is in the area of the dealer. In the past the dealer has been a computer with a random number generator. These computer dealers were heavily tested to provide even and random results. Now, online casinos are offering the option of a “live” dealer, where players can view a real life person as they go through the motions of dealing.

Many players feel more comfortable knowing they can see a “live” dealer and see what is happening as the dealer does. It is these people that online casinos are trying to appeal to by having a “live” dealer.

Having a real “live” dealer offers a human touch that some players are looking for. Having this option is but one way to attract more players to an online casino.