Online
Gambling is on the Rise
From
the privacy of your home you can find over 3,000 casinos online
and turn his PC into an electronic casino.
Your bets will be accepted 24 hours a day, and the online
casinos offer a greater variety of games than the land based
ones.
Fueled
by the explosive growth of the Internet and by a general
acceptance of gambling as a legitimate form of entertainment,
online gambling is growing at a torrid rate.
Games
range from traditional casinos games like video poker and slot
machines, to poker, keno, bingo and other games.
Here is a list of games offered by just one online
casino: Baccarat, Blackjack, Craps, Pachinko, The Dragon Spirit
Pachinko, Victory Poker, Caribbean Poker, Free Ride Poker, Pai
Gow Poker, Red Dog, Roulette, Sic Bo,
Slots, Gold Rush Slots, Magic Hat Sportsbook, Video Poker, Deuces
Wild Video Poker, Jacks or Better Video Poker, Joker's Wild
Video Poker, King of Decks, War, and Battle Royal.
Because
the uncertain legal status of Internet gaming in the U.S.,
virtually all online casinos that accept wagers are located
outside of the United States.
Some
online casinos are fronted by celebrity pitchmen such as former
NFL star turned actor and beer pitchman Bubba Smith (http://www.bubbascasinos.com)
and daredevil motorcyclist Evel Knieval (http://www.evelknievalcasino.com).
Other
online casinos are themed to offer everything from social
experiences (http://www.TheSinglesCasino.com) to a casino
designed to appeal to motorcyclists (http://www.easyrollers.com).
For
those of us who gamble on the Internet to win, themes are of
little importance. The
theme of the casino does not give us any clue at to whether the
casino is beatable.
Technologically,
many of the casinos are very similar as there are a relative
handful of software developers for the online casinos games. Each casino using software from the same developer will have
a similar appearance to others casinos using the software.
Generally,
online gambling sites are divided into three categories, based
on types of technology used.
Many
e-casinos require prospective gamblers to first download a
program onto their local computer before playing.
Usually the programs are free.
These online gambling sites can be good places to start
your play as, once installed, the programs offer great graphics,
sound, animation, and of course, the chance to play for free.
The
drawback to the sites requiring downloads is that you will have
to wait for the application to download from t he casino's site
to your own hard drive.
This process scares many Web newcomers off as they don't
know how to download and install a downloaded program.
I will review this process for you shortly, so that you
will be able to download without fear.
Since
downloading usually takes some time and ties up your computers'
resources while the process is occurring, I usually schedule
downloads to occur after I have gone to bed or at some other
time I won't be using my computer.
A
slight disadvantage to downloading a file off the Internet is
the risk of downloading a computer virus along with the file. You should install good virus protection software on your
computer before you download any files off the Internet.
You may download either freeware or shareware antivirus
programs at http://www.davecentral.com.
I use Norton AntiVirus software which can be continuously
updated via the Internet, so that the program is always current.
The
second type of software used by the online gambling sites is
JAVA software instead of the downloadable programs. JAVA is
a computer language developed by Sun Microsystems in 1995.
JAVA
software allows programs to create little programs known as
applets which are embedded directly into a web document.
When
online casinos use JAVA, these applets run directly through your
Internet Browser. All
of the JAVA sites offer fairly good graphics, and some offer
sound and animations as well.
I
am not a fan of casinos using JAVA.
With a JAVA casino, you have to load the software every
time you play; whereas, with downloaded software, you can begin
playing almost instantly once the software has been installed on
your computer. I have also found that JAVA applets occasionally freeze my
browser. In such a
situation, you may not be sure whether your last bet was
accepted or not. At
any rate, it is very disrupting to have start over in the middle
of a game.
The
third type of site found uses software based on HTML (Hyper
Text Markup Language), which is the standard language used to
create Web pages.
Sites
using only HTML are fast to play, but they often have cheesy
graphics and no sound or animation.
Problems
associated with online gambling far outweigh the benefits for
many would-be casino operators and gamblers.
Issues
include concern about the possibility of rigged games and low
pay-outs, software copyrights, credit card debt, proving the age
and eligibility of players and monitoring and regulating online
gambling.
While
online gambling is legal in many parts of Europe, Latin America,
Australia, Asia and the Caribbean, it remains in a legal gray
area in the United States.
Legalities
are still being hashed out in this area where technology has
clearly outpaced the law.
There
are many reasons why wagering online is going to be around a
long time. First
and foremost is convenience.
In the past ten years
there has been explosive growth in the gaming industry.
From coast to coast, there are thousands of new gaming
establishments all over the USA, but they still cannot match the
pervasiveness of the Internet.
Convenience
is one of the online gaming industry's biggest attractions.
How else can you
win $300 at lunch time playing baccarat online?
Another
reason the online casinos are growing so rapidly is privacy.
Many players in land-based casinos are reluctant to try
table games such as blackjack, craps, roulette or baccarat out
of a fear that they will appear foolish.
With just your mouse, keyboard and monitor as your
companions, there is little reason to feel inhibited, and many
persons, who would not normally play casino table games in a
real casino, are playing the games in the electronic casinos.
Another
factor to consider is variety.
Only a few of the world's largest casinos can come close
to offering the variety of games found in the Internet casinos.
With over 30 games available online, plus sports betting,
bingo, scratch cards and even lotteries, the Internet casinos
offer some tough competition.
One
of the biggest draws for online gamblers is the no-pressure
environment of playing on your PC.
You can refer to your blackjack strategy card without
feeling conspicuous and you can take as long as you want to make
any playing decision. Using
the strategies I am going to teach entail using a pencil and
paper as well as a calculator - items you wouldn't think of
carrying into a brick and mortar casino.
One
fear many persons have about online gambling is how safe it is.
We'll take a closer look at this in the next chapter.
The
above information was taken from the Online Gambling Toolkit.
Instant
Access to the Online
Gambling Toolkit
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