Author: bilakios

A new Casino was added to our recommended casinos list; the Hippodrome Online Casino

‘Hippodrome Online Casino’ is a brand managed by Betway Limited and is the online version of one of the biggest land casino in The UK.
They offer an extensive range of Bonuses promotions and rewards.
Hippo casino welcome Bonus goes  up to £1000 $ or Euros depending on your wallet account.
When you register with them you automatically qualify for a £1,000 Welcome Bonus, absolutely free*
The way they do it is by doubling up your first three deposits (up to £1000 ).
They also have a loyalty points club where every time you play and the Loyalty Points you’ve  can then be redeemed for FREE Casino Credits !

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Metro Casino , Have launched their best ever welcome Bonus of 700 pounds match of your first 3 deposits so don’t hesitate go to this Brand New British Live Casino and Claim up to a £700 and 250 free spins when you sign-up.

Check out their VIP club offers: As a Metro Play VIP you get access to their best casino promotions throughout the week!
This weeks offer is an exclusive 50%reload Bonus :use Promo Code: VIP50

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MyBet casino will double your first deposit!  (up to 500 € bonus to all new casino players.)
Check out their cash back system where regular players  are awarded Cash-Back points when playing with real money.

• 1 Point for 10 Chips played in any Novomatics, Slots, Video Poker or Fun Games
• 1 Point for 50 Chips played in all Casino games. (Deposits in live casino do not count toward the Cashback)

Click here  to go to Mybet casino and find out all about their Offers Proms and Rewards.

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Bonus and Promotions update from five of the most popular online casinos.

All Online Casinos offer sign up bonuses and follow up promotions .
Some of them look very generous indeed but always  be aware of the small print behind each offer.
In this post we bring you up to date with the latest proms and bonuses from five of the most popular online casinos.

At Cosmik casino the offers start with:

• New Player Welcome Package: When you open a Real Money account you are offered a generous package of two 150% (matching your deposit) bonuses up to €1,500. Receive your bonus when you make your first deposit! This offer Triples your money .

• Special 15% Payment Method Deposit Bonus: Receive an additional 15% Bonus on deposits with selected payment methods (ie. Neteller, Skrill, Paysafe, Ukash, etc check the site for more info).

Click here to play live now!!!

 

Titanbet Casino offers introductory and follow up bonuses:

• Titanbet’s  introductory bonus amounts to a possible £400. There’s a 100% bonus on your  initial deposit of up to £200, and this must be wagered 30 times before you’re allowed to withdraw the cash.

• VIP member offers:Six different VIP Levels – starting with Club and going all the way up  to Diamond and Premier levels  . The more Comp Points you gain, the higher you climb through the Levels. Every time you go up a  Level  you are entitled to higher benefits: exclusive bonuses , tournaments,  faster and bigger withdrawals,account upgrades and loyalty bonuses.

Click on Icon to play live now:

Gala casino offers a wide range of promotions:

• The welcome bonus at Gala Casino amounts to100% on your first deposit up to £400 .
• You can get a reload refill Bonus with your 2nd Deposit .They’re giving you 50% up to £100.
• There is a Monday Night Blackjack bonus of 25%  up to £50!
• There is a point system where the more you Play the more points you earn  and points mean cash! Learn what comp points are at their site.
• And last but not least get a Weekend Cash Boost – 25% up to £100

 

MetroPlaycasino is a new and one of the most popular casinos with a wide range of proms.

• Welcome to Metro Play Casino bonus: Claim up to a £700 and 250 free spins when you sign-up to Metro Play Casino .
• Weekends at Metro Play Casino with a fantastic 50% reload bonus!
• Middle of the week and specifically every Wednesday you are  rewarded for winning! Playing on  slots or tables you can boost your balance by £50!
• They also offer a Metro-Play VIP promotion where you get access to some of their best casino promotions throughout the week. Exclusive 50% reload Bonus etc. Deposit this weekend with Promo Code: VIP50

Click on the link to play live NOW
Brand New British Live Casino £250 welcome package,
Use PROMOTION CODE: PLAYNOW 

All British casino offers bonuses and promotions to players from UK .

• Start up deposit Bonus of 100% for all new British players plus £50 free!

• One of their recurring promotions will start today and this offer will continue every single weekend in the form of a reload bonus or free spins offers.

Click to play

Keep checking our Blog for the latest updates on bonuses and promotions from all the casinos we host on this site.

There are so many online casinos popping up at the moment that its becoming increasingly difficult for our team to keep track of everything, review the casinos and rule out the rogue ones, but we always manage to keep up with the demand. One of the things we always look out for and review are the depositing methods! In this post we look into the best/safest methods of depositing to an online casino, from paypal to bitcoin!

Credit and Debit Cards
Credit (Visa, MasterCard) and debit cards (Visa Electron/Debit or MasterCard Maestro/Switch) may seem old-fashioned, but they’re still the favoured approach for many customers. Everybody has a credit/debit card or two or three, and they’re accepted more or less everywhere. Credit cards carry the additional benefit (or curse, depending on how much control you have over your spending) that money can be deposited even if you don’t have it. With debit cards, on the other hand, you’ll need to have your money in the account before you can use it. Another benefit of credit cards is that you should be protected for fraud and theft. If somebody tries to steal your details, they’ll almost certainly be foiled. Debit cards often give you such protection, but it’s not guaranteed, and gaming transactions won’t necessarily be covered.

However, there are some advantages to using a debit card, and the companies who run these cards are often more relaxed about letting you use your money to gamble. Credit card companies, on the other hand, are a little funny about giving their customers carte-blanche to run up huge casino bills. Some of them will instantly block casino deposits, with MasterCard being particularly aggravating here. MasterCard will also often stop you from withdrawing money back to your card, so again, if you intend to be making regular withdrawals, MasterCard would be a poor choice. Using these cards to fund e-wallets is one way around these concerns, although it won’t be foolproof. Essentially, if you’re using a credit card, you can expect to be regularly phoning up the card company to clear blocked transactions.

There’s another disadvantage of credit cards, and that’s significant transaction fees. You can expect to be charged in the region of 1.5-3%, and some companies will levy ‘cash advance fees’ in addition. These are generally small sums (say, £5), but can be very annoying if you’re only depositing small sums, like £10 or £20. These charges are often issued by the credit card companies themselves, although you may get extra charges from the casinos as well. Debit cards frequently come with fewer charges, although they won’t necessarily be as cheap as electronic payment systems.

e-Wallet or e-Money Accounts
21st-century gambling requires a 21st-century payment system. And e-Wallets might just offer such facilities. Skrill/Moneybookers, Neteller, Click2Pay, and i-BANQ are the best known of the main e-Wallet options. The idea is that you deposit money into your e-Wallet account – usually with a more traditional form of payment, such as a credit/debit card or a bank transfer. Once the money is in, though, it can be instantly transferred to supporting sites. Money can be transferred back to the e-Wallet account, and although this isn’t instantaneous, the transactions are generally much faster than with credit/debit cards.

 

While the latter can take 2-5 working days, an e-Wallet transfer will often be there within eight hours – even at the weekends and on holidays.

e-Wallet transactions are generally free, in contrast to cards. Talking of which, many of the companies even offer physical cards, so you can use e-Wallet money even with sites that only support credit/debit cards, and can withdraw money at ATMs – albeit with a small charge. Be aware, though, that many of these cards will use MasterCard, so you would still have problems using them to deposit at casino and gaming sites.

It can be harder to obain an e-Wallet in the first place, and you may have to provide several forms of identification – including current passports. You may also find that some bonus offers will be closed off to you – anyone using a new-fangled e-Wallet is likely to be tagged by the gaming site as being a little more worldly than the typical casino-fodder. The lack of support can also be a problem, although most casino and gaming sites support Skrill/Moneybookers and Neteller – Click2Pay and i-BANQ are less well-covered. You also won’t necessarily get the same fraud/theft protection as with a credit card. However, as a means of using a central fund to supply various gaming sites, an e-Wallet (particularly Skrill or Neteller) will be an exceptionally fast, cheap, and easy option that should result in very few blocked transactions, just smooth seamless performance.

PayPal

The auction-friendly PayPal will generally be classed as an e-Wallet. However, it can be a trickier payment option to use than other forms. PayPal are generally more reluctant to allow their product to be used for gambling, so you may sometimes find transactions blocked for spurious reasons. They are becoming less sensitive to this, though, and an increasing number of gaming sites are offering PayPal as an option.

Assuming it’s supported, PayPal’s size and clout should get you better protection, and PayPal won’t disclose any of your details to the other side, so overall security is vastly superior. However, withdrawal times can be longer, and transaction fees will often be levied. You may also be hit with lower deposit limits –  at Intercasino, for instance, up to £25,000 can be deposited using Neteller and Skrill, and as much as £10,000 with credit/debit cards, but PayPal is restricted to no more than £500 a time. A more standard e-Wallet is likely to be easier, faster and cheaper for gambling, although the more security-conscious may prefer the extra protection and relative anonymity offered by PayPal.

Pre-paid Credit Cards

Pre-paid credit cards, like Entropay, let you fund a ‘card’ with money. Like PayPal, the details won’t be passed on to the gambling site, so these are great for those who don’t fancy their details being disseminated across the web. However, the costs can be very high, with fees for transactions often exceeding those of normal credit cards. And if you don’t spend money for a certain period, dormancy charges may eat into your funds. The idea is good but, so far, the execution of these companies is somewhat lacking. If you want to keep your banking/card details safe, you’ll probably find PayPal a more workable solution.

Vouchers

For one-off situations, voucher payment services, like uKash and PaySafe, can be good options. You buy a voucher for a certain amount, and can use this to deposit cash at gaming sites. You’ll be supplied with a number, so the transactions are safe and anonymous. As an everyday means of funding gambling accounts, though, they can be somewhat unwieldy. You can’t withdraw money to vouchers – you’ll need to have a cheque or bank transfer instead. And depositing further money will require a new voucher. However, if you think you’ll only need to be funding one account, and one time only, a voucher is a safe, if slightly awkward, option.

Bitcoin

We can expect to see a few more Bitcoin sites in the future. In the meantime, though, it remains a shadowy option. In use, this form of payment works rather like an e-Wallet, and you can make fast transfers to and from your account. The currency is totally anonymous, so the gambling site probably won’t receive any details about you at all. The main difference, though, is that you aren’t dealing in pounds, dollars, or euros. Instead, Bitcoin is, itself, the currency. The total worth of your account will depend on the current valuation of Bitcoin, and this fluctuates wildly from day to day.

In truth, Bitcoin remains a rather exotic and murky choice. It’s starting to take off as a gaming option in the USA, where severe gambling restrictions can make it difficult to fund accounts. The UK, though, has yet to really explore this option, while the ever-changing value of the currency itself makes it a high-risk option. For UK gamblers, then, we can’t yet recommend this option. However, uptake may improve in the future.

Ben Affleck is an academy award winning actor and director who is also known to us as an exceptional blackjack player, in fact last May he was banned for life from playing blackjack at the world known Hard Rock casino in Las Vegas as he was accused for card counting. This happened when the star of Runner Runner was approached by the casinos security and asked to stop playing. The thing is card counting is not illegal but we all know that land based casinos watch every single move you make, the eye in the sky will take note of what you do and if the casino managers notice a trend they will keep a close eye on you, especially if you are “winning” (insert Charlie Sheen face) at the high rollers table. Kudos to Ben Affleck for actually doing it though, although card counting is achievable it’s also extremely difficult and could take years to get right.

The star of Runner Runner, a movie about a dodgy online poker mobster based in Costa Rica came clean about his card counting in a recent interview. He said that he took some time to learn how to card count and eventually became a decent player, the only problem was that when he actually became good at the game the casinos start banning him one by one. In 2001 Ben Affleck won over $800.000 at the Hard Rock Casino and apparently tipped the waitresses and dealers a massive $150.000.

After his ban in May 2014 a security guard apparently said that he was too good!  Although he is not allowed to play blackjack the casinos managers have stated that he’s more than welcome to come back anytime and try his luck with other games.

The Hollywood star said that the land based casinos don’t even want you to have a sporting chance in winning. He also said that there is a lot of hospitality, backslapping when they know you are going to dump a lot of money, and if you start winning they want you to try other games like craps or roulette.

 

Affleck said that he does not bet on anything else, he adopted blackjack as his primary casino hobby. “I knew with blackjack that there’s a way you can improve your odds,” he explains. “And so I started trying to learn. And then I just got to a point in my life where I’m like, ‘If I’m going to do something, I’m going to try and do it really well.’

Ben Affleck said that the only crime he committed was “killing it at the blackjack table” that night, “I got good” he said.

 

So for all of you card counters out there reading this, be careful! Card counting is an excellent way of improving your odds and unlike most other casinos games that are based on luck, blackjack is based on skill and luck. You could learn every trick in the book, spend years practising and if you play your cards right you might end up winning a large amount of cash, but you should be aware of the fact that card counting is frowned upon everywhere!

Everybody wants to be a winning player. And, according to much of the literature, using a blackjack calculator can transform your fortunes overnight. The idea behind a calculator is simple – you enter your card and the dealer’s card, and the program considers all the possibilities, and tells you how (and how much) you should bet.

On the face of it, the offer seems too good to be true. But there is some logic there. After all, in contrast to most casino games, blackjack is theoretically beatable – many professionals have demonstrated an ability to take considerable amounts from the house before being effectively banned from playing. And while the game is far more complex than it appears to be on the surface, it would be possible for somebody with genuine expertise to list and simulate all of the factors, creating a realistic estimate of what the optimum bet should be under any circumstances.

So are they effective?

Well, to a point. What they can do rather well is to instruct you in good ‘basic strategy’. Most sites will tell you that, when you play blackjack, the house edge over you is only around 0.5%. For new players, though, the truth is rather different. That’s because the 0.5% figure implies that you’re already playing perfect ‘basic strategy’. Every single card you play, there’ll be an ‘optimum’ strategy that you should follow if you want to win long-term. Every time you make a bet that’s less than optimal, you’re increasing the house’s edge over you. That’s not just about hitting when you should be standing, but also covers situations when you’re hitting when you should really be doubling down or splitting the cards, for instance. If you want that house edge to be as low as possible, you need to be playing perfect basic strategy.

It is true that you don’t need to calculate this information for yourself. Indeed, you don’t even have to pay a penny for it, as many sites offer free basic strategy charts. As long as you know the value of your card and of the dealer’s, you can get an almost instant verdict on how you should bet. Blackjack calculators can simplify the process though, relieving you of the need to use a big chart. To that extent, they work, and we found that Blackjack Sniper, for instance, allowed us to play pretty efficient basic strategy. We don’t know exactly what rules the program used, so we couldn’t say precisely how strong their implementation of basic strategy was – even hardened blackjack pros will argue with one another about how to bet in specific situations, and there is no truly definitive definition of basic strategy. However, Blackjack Sniper is certainly good enough to have newcomers betting with an edge very close to that fabled 0.5%.

But what about eradicating that House Edge?

Here’s where the truth about blackjack calculators start getting murkier. Keeping the house edge down to 0.5% is all very well, but it still means that you’re effectively agreeing to lose money over the long-term. Even if you play a version of blackjack that uses fewer decks, it’s hard to cut that house edge to 0%, let alone give yourself an advantage. So how do professional players turn a profit? Well, in blackjack, they probably do it by learning how to count cards.

Counting cards means that you’re applying values to every card in the deck. This allows you to keep a running check on what cards have come up. The more low number cards that have been turned up, the more likely it is that the next few are likely to be higher numbers. (And vice versa.) This information is particularly useful in blackjack, as the player will generally get a generous 3:2 payout when they turn up a ‘blackjack’ (a hand consisting of an ace and another card with a value of ten). If there’s a greater probability of drawing some high cards, your chances of getting a blackjack (and its 3:2 reward) will be increased. Play higher stakes at these times, and you can not only wipe out that house edge, but can possibly even turn it into an advantage of a percentage point or two.

Learning to count cards isn’t easy though. Even simple systems (such as the famous Hi-Lo) take many hours of training. More complex (and profitable) approaches generally require a much greater investment of your time, and the mental concentration needed to implement them can turn enjoyable blackjack sessions into gut-wrenching tests of endurance. For many card counters, even if they’re successful, the long hours and hard work won’t be worth it given the relatively small advantage they’ll eke out.

The Calculator as Master Card Counter?

This is where many calcuator sellers will try and make their money. The card counting may be relatively awkward for a human, but it’s a cinch for any modern computer. So feed the values of the cards in, and let the calculator work out what the current count is, and whether the bet stakes should be increased. Computers are more disciplined, and won’t lose their way or start to fumble under pressure. In theory, then, you can rely on one of these calculators to arm you with the skills of a polished card counter – while only spending a fraction of the time or effort. There are, though, a few flaws.

The first big problem with these calculators is that no casino is going to allow you to stand there typing card combinations into a program or app. Quite simply, you won’t be able to use the device in a land-based casino.

But what of online casinos? After all, the gaming software can’t see what you’re doing, so how can you be prevented from card counting? Well, you can’t, but online casinos still have ways of stopping you in your tracks. Card counting relies on the same cards being used all of the time. As you play and play, many of the cards get discarded, and it becomes easier to tell what’s likely to be left. Online casinos, though, effectively reset the decks after every single card. Most of these casinos use RNG (Random Number Generator) games, where a number is picked at random, and that number will determine the value of your card. If your game uses eight decks of 52 cards, that means there are 416 different cards to pick from. Every time you deal, the game will pick one number from 416, and that’ll translate into a card value.Since you’re always picking a random card from a choice of 416, card counting can be of no use.

If there is one small chink of light, it comes from Live Dealer games. These are online, but use ‘live’ video feeds. Theoretically, the cards are picked from proper decks, and card counting should be possible. However, even here, the decks are generally refreshed at very regular intervals, effectively eradicating the use of card counting. In short, if you want to count cards, you’ll need to go to a land-based casino.

The Calculator as Teacher

These programs aren’t entirely useless, though. If you’re just looking for an easy way to make money, they aren’t the answer. But what if you do want to learn advanced card counting techniques (for use in a land-based casino), but don’t find it very easy to learn? That’s where a brilliant software package like Qfit’s Casino Verite comes in. Priced at around £55, it isn’t cheap, but it’s a very effective way of learning how to count cards using a variety of different counting systems. It employs a range of methods, from tough fast drills to full simulations that allow you to test how you would do in a real-time situation. Programs like this really are an excellent way of honing your skills before you switch to a daunting real-life casino. Nothing, of course, can totally prepare you for the move to reality.

But a program like Casino Verite goes further than pretty much any other training method.

A more affordable, but less comprehensive title, is the iPhone/Android app Blackjack Expert (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/blackjack-expert/id394174699?mt=8, which costs between £22 and £26, and gives you some nice drills in card counting. You can buy additional systems for it, so it’s reasonably versatile, even if it lacks the in-depth precision and intensive training of Casino Verite.

In conclusion, calculators can be a slightly expensive way of getting up to speed with basic strategy. However, if you want to play the game seriously, you really need to develop knowledge of basic strategy sooner rather than later. For that reason, we wouldn’t recommend these even to begin with. Also, forget about them as card counting machines. You won’t be able to use them anywhere they might be effective, so you’ll be wasting your money. The best tutors, though, are a rather good way of drilling yourself so that you get card counting polished to near perfection. For such a purpose, and only for that purpose, we can recommend titles like Casino Verite and Blackjack