Setting
Up Your Account In An Online Casino
We
have finished with the preliminaries.
You now know a considerable amount about how to find an
Internet casino. Your
basic strategy is to find a reliable e-casino with a reasonable
bonus and then complete the steps to sign up with the virtual
casino and begin play.
I still have not talked about the games you will play,
the playing strategies you will use, how you will know when to
quit, money management, record keeping, or how to set up playing
the Internet casinos as your virtual business should you be so
inclined.
Let's
assume that you have this information in hand and are ready to
sign up and start playing at an e-casino of your choice.
You must first have access to a computer with the ability
to connect to the Internet. If
you are concerned about the price of acquiring a computer, you
may decide to buy a used computer.
If you buy a preowned computer equipped with at least a
Pentium II microprocessor and a modem capable of Internet
access at 56K, you will be fine.
You should also try to get a hard drive of at least 5
gigabytes capacity, although you can get by with 2 gigabytes.
My favorite computer repair shop also sells new and used
computers, and I regularly see computers meeting this
description selling for about $300 without the monitor.
For another $85 you can get a used Super VGA 15"
monitor, bringing your total equipment cost up to less than
$400.
If
you are a computer novice and have not yet learned to use a
computer, I urge you to acquire a computer now.
There are many ways you can learn computer basics, and
you should be able to maneuver on the Internet within a few days
of setting up your system.
You
will also need access to the Internet.
There are two basic types of Internet Services Providers
(ISPs) - dial up ISPs, which require that you configure your
computer to use their service, and full service Internet
providers such as America Online.
If you are a computer novice and don't want much
aggravation in getting access to the Internet, I recommend an
AOL account. You
will have to install the AOL software, usually from a CD, but
the process is easy and AOL's instructions will walk you through
every step.
The
biggest problem you will have with AOL is slow access at peak
load times and the constant clutter of ads appearing when you
first log on. These
are minor inconveniences if you want an easy, reliable way to
get online.
After
getting your Internet access set up, you will need a credit
card, a checking account, and an e-mail address before you begin
playing against an online casino.
Your ISP or full service provider will provide you an
e-mail account. If
you prefer, you can sign up for a free e-mail account.
I have had good results with both Hotmail's (http://www.hotmail.com)
and Bigfoot's (http://www.bigfoot.com) free e-mail accounts.
Many
online casinos offer other options besides using your credit
card to make a deposit. Most
virtual casinos will accept personal checks, money orders, bank
wire transfers, or Western Union cash transfers.
Many e-casinos offer additional bonuses if you wire or
use Western Union to make your deposit, and you may want to
consider these options after you have established a relationship
with an e-casino. However,
I always use a credit card or a debit card for my initial
deposit because I have additional protection in case of fraud.
If
you feel that you have been defrauded by an online casino and
you made your deposit by credit card, you can contact your
credit card company and lodge a complaint.
Internet credit card charges are called CNPs, standing
for "Cardholder Not Present" and are treated
differently by banks than credit card transactions handled in
person. Since
Internet transactions have no physical signatures, the merchant
has to assume greater risk on any credit card transaction.
If you have a valid
complaint against
an online casino, your
credit card bank will usually side with you and credit your
account for the amount of the deposit made to the Internet
casino. The
Internet casino ends up with a Chargeback, industry jargon for
the amount refunded to a consumer who has reneged on a credit
card debt.
Some
persons will gamble heavily on the Internet, and collect their
winnings if they win and plan on refusing to pay when they lose. If this is your game, you are forewarned that the e-casinos
maintain an industry wide database of credit card deadbeats and
you are not likely to get away with this trick more than once.
Before
you begin play, you usually have to download software provided
by the e-casino. How
long this takes is primarily dependent on the speed of your
Internet access. A
modem operating at 56K is the minimum access you will be
comfortable with. Before
you download any software, be sure to create a folder for the
images you download. If you are a Windows user, you can create a
folder for the downloaded software by opening Windows Explorer
or My Computer. In Windows Explorer or My Computer, open the
folder or directory in which you want to create a new subfolder.
On the File menu, point to New, and then click Folder. The new
folder appears with a temporary name. Type a name such as
"Casino Software" for the new folder, and then press
ENTER. You now have a folder where you can download software
from online casinos.
Starting
the download process is easy. If you use either Netscape or
Internet Explorer as your browser, click on the download image
with your mouse. Choose "Save as" from the choices
offered you. A box will appear on your screen. Choose the file
folder you created to store this banner and save the software to
this folder.
The
file or directory where you decide to locate your casino
software is not as important as knowing where you decide to
store it and remembering what names you have used for the
directory and the downloaded software.
The biggest problem people have with downloading is that
they forget the name of the downloaded file and they can’t
find it.
Sometimes
you will lose your Internet connection in the middle of a
download. Your only
recourse is to start the download over.
While
you are downloading the Internet casino's software, you can set
up your paperwork for the casino.
After
you have tried the downloaded software and satisfied yourself
that the e-casino meets all of your requirements, you will have
to register with the e-casino.
When you are using a credit card to make a deposit, be
sure that the address you submit is the same address used for
the credit card or your credit card will be declined.
It
is very important to be organized with your record keeping.
You will need to set up a record for each online casino,
recording important information that you will need for all of
your dealing with the casino.
Your
Master Internet Casino Record will contain everything you will
need to know to handle any situation which will arise with the
casino. It will
also contain all of the information needed to reconcile any
amounts due you by the e-casino and help you track down credit
card credits, checks received and so on.
You
will need to set up one Master Internet Casino Record for each
online casino. Here
is the information you will enter on the record:
Casino
Name: Use the actual name of the casino
URL:
Here you will record the URL or domain name of the
casino. This is your record of the Internet address of the casino.
Software:
You will record the name and directory of the software
you downloaded for the casino.
Your record might read as:
C:\Casino Software\Rockyroad.exe, indicating that you
stored the software named "Rockyroad.exe" in the
directory (folder) "Casino Software" on your
"C" hard drive. This
information is to help you locate the software.
Pitboss:
Many e-casino's managers are called pitbosses.
If you get the name of your pitboss, record it.
E-mail
address:
Be sure to write down the e-mail address of the online
casino. If you have
a problem, you can start with an e-mail contact with the casino
to resolve the problem.
Telephone
number:
It is a good rule not to play in e-casinos which do not
have toll free numbers. Be
sure to record it.
Name
of Credit Card Processor: Credit
card transactions with e-casinos rarely show up with the
casino's name on it. Many
web sites reveal the name which will show up on your credit card
statement. This is
important information that you will need to match a credit card
charge and a later credit with the particular e-casino.
Software Brand: This information is useful for tracking the reliability of a
brand.
User
name: When you register with an e-casino, you will be asked for a
user name. Some
casinos will use your e-mail address as your user name.
Be sure to record it.
You will need it each time you log on.
Password:
You will set up your own password when you register.
Unless you have a great memory, you should write it down.
Country
where licensed:
I like to record this information as a reminder to make
sure that I checked to see if the casino is licensed.
Auditors:
The use of auditors is one more safeguard of the
e-casino's reliability.
Publicly
Traded: Although
being publicly owned is not a prerequisite for play, it adds to
the reliability of the e-casino.
Deposit
Information: This
information is critical. You
will record the date of your credit card deposit, the amount of
the deposit and the type and card number of the credit card
used. You will need
this information to find the transaction on your credit card
statement. Varying
the deposit amount for each casino will help immensely in
matching transactions. If
you normally deposit $500, instead of depositing the same amount
in several e-casinos, deposit $505 in Casino A, $510 in Casino
B, $515 in Casino C, and so on.
Bonus
Information:
Record the date that the bonus is received and the amount
received. Most
e-casinos require that you give them play at least equal to the
amount of your deposit before they credit the bonus to your
account. Whenever
the bonus shows up, be sure to record it.
Record
of Play:
You will keep a summary of your play at this casino.
This summary will show the game(s) played, the dates of
each session, the beginning balance in your account before each
session started, the amount wagered for the session, the amount
of the bonus added to the account, the amount won or lost for
each session, and the ending session balance.
With this information, you will have a complete record of
your activities at the casino.
While keeping all of this information may seem
overwhelming at this point, the whole process is very easy, and
I will show you exactly how to do it.
Withdrawal
Information:
This is the fun part: tracking down how and when the
casino pays you for your efforts.
You will first record the date of a request for
withdrawal of funds and the amount requested.
If you have had a good experience with this casino, it is
not necessary or desirable to withdraw all of your deposit after
a series of wins. Assume
that you deposited $500, received a bonus of $50 and after
several sessions have built the account up to $933. Instead of withdrawing $933, why not leave $50 in the account
for now and request funds of $883?
I assure you that after you leave $50 in the account, the
casino will start e-mailing you additional bonus offers for more
play as you have shown the casino that you are willing to leave
some funds on deposit for future play.
It is also a good idea to withdraw an odd sum rather than
an even amount as it will be much easier to find this amount on
your credit card statement if the amount withdrawn is unique to
this particular casino.
Most e-casinos will repay winnings by first crediting your
credit card for the amount of your original deposit and mailing
the excess to you in the form of a check.
This complicates tracking down withdrawals, as you have
to track both credit card credits and checks.
For a withdrawal request of $833, with an original
deposit of $510, you can expect $510, less any transaction fees,
to be credited to your credit card balance, with the balance, in
this case, $323, to be mailed to you as a check.
Write down each part of the withdrawal as soon as you
have the information so that you keep a complete record of
payments received from the e-casino.
Master Internet Casino Record
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Casino:
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URL:
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Software:
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Pitboss:
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E-mail
address:
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Phone
Number:
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Credit
Card Processor:
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Username:
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Password:
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Software
Brand:
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Where
Licensed:
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Auditors:
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Publicly
Traded Information:
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Deposit
Information:
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Date:
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CC
Type:
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Card
#
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Amount:
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Bonus
Amount:
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Date
Bonus Rec'd:
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Record of Play
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Games
Played:
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Dates
Played
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Beg
Balance
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Amount
Bet
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Bonus
Paid
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Amounts
Won/Lost
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Ending
Balance
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There
are a number of things you don't want to do when you play
online.
1.
If an offer is too good to be true, then it will be too
good to be true.
Some
e-casinos offer outrageous bonuses, some as high as 50 or even
100 percent. Do you
really think that any reputable casino can offer and actually
pay these bonuses? Frankly,
it's not worth the risk. There
are so many good e-casinos available offering legitimate
bonuses, that you don't have to fall for the sucker bait.
2.
Do not open multiple accounts at the same e-casino.
There
are an unbelievable number of people who open an account at an
e-casino which offers a sign up bonus.
Then they try opening additional accounts using different
credit cards trying to get another bonus for each new account.
If
you try this, you will get caught.
Matching addresses is the easiest thing in the world in a
database. Even if
you have different credit cards in different names, using
different addresses, it is not worth the effort to try to
deceive an e-casino into giving you multiple bonuses for
"new" accounts. You
don't need to go to all this trouble to get more bonuses.
I will show you how to have the Internet casinos coming
to you offering you bonuses after you have played there a time
or two. In any
case, it is not that much trouble to simply add new casinos to
your "approved list" and gain the bonuses
legitimately.
If
you have more than one person in your household who wishes to
play, make sure you e-mail the casino first and tell them you
wish to open an account for your spouse or adult children.
They usually will have no problem accommodating you so
long as you are above board about what you are doing.
3.
Do not play with money you will need in the next few
weeks.
Many
e-casinos are fairly slow about paying.
It may take several weeks for a credit to show up in your
credit card account. Many
casinos have overcautious procedures, such as requiring you to
FAX them a copy of your driver's license before they will mail
you a check. While
you may think that the casino is stalling you, in most cases
they are just being cautious so that someone else doesn't con
them out of monies due you.
Some
casinos claim they will Fedex your winnings in a few days and
others will do electronic transfers in two or three days, but
even in these cases, a week can go by before you will have the
cash.
The
delay in retrieving your funds is probably the biggest source of
aggravation for most online gamblers.
Given the natural distrust many persons have of virtual
casinos, this is to be expected; however, there are nearly
always legitimate reasons why it takes a little longer than you
expected to retrieve your winnings.
Your
best bet is to never play with money you will need in the next
few days.
4.
Don't deposit money before checking to see how the casino
pays out money deposited with them.
Some
gamblers are too lazy to do any research on a new casino.
They find an e-casino, and deposit a hundred or two to
"try them out."
When
they discover that some casinos require the money to be left
with the casino two weeks before cashing out, or that there is a
minimum cash-out, or that cash-out fees are too high, they give
up and play recklessly with the money and usually lose it all.
A
little time spent researching the casino can save you all kinds
of aggravation. After
you have played with several casinos, you find that they will
consistently offer you new bonuses and that you will have little
incentive to add many more casinos to your list.
5.
If you want to be very conservative, only play games in
casinos using downloaded software.
HTML
browser casinos should be strictly avoided and even though there
are many reputable casinos offering no-download JAVA games, you
will almost eliminate the possibility of playing at a less than
reliable e-casino if you stick with casinos using downloadable
software.
6.
Don't Lose. Quit
while you are ahead.
Sounds
obvious doesn't it? Yet
this is one of the most difficult goals to achieve in both
land-based and virtual casinos. Fortunately, playing the Internet casinos offers much greater
control over the length of time you play.
You can also easily control the amount of money wagered
in an e-casino very easily.
When you set exact limits on the amount you will wager,
pick your games and casinos carefully, and use our winning
playing strategy, you will find that it is easy to beat casino
after casino on the Web.
We
now know how to find a likely e-casino and how to sign up for
play there. Let's
learn about the best games to play.
The above was taken from the Online Gambling Toolkit.
Instant
Access to the Online Gambling Toolkit!
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