Is it better to play at an online or offline casino?

Online casinos have been around since around 1996 so they are hardly a new concept. They have grown immensely in terms of popularity over the last 10 years, mainly as a reflection of the general growth of the online world. However, many players may still never have played at an online casino but with an ever growing number of US online casinos for players to choose from, we take a look at how playing at the best online casinos compares to a trip to Vegas or your local casino.

Convenience – Online Wins

When it comes to convenience there can only be one winner. Online casinos and more recently mobile casinos mean you can play your favorite casino games such as blackjack, roulette and slots whenever you want. Best of all, you can play wherever you want too, be that from your own bed, your home study, a bar or whilst you’re waiting in the car.

In contrast, playing at a bricks and mortar casino takes planning, organization and a special journey or trip and so online is the winner by a long way when it comes to convenience.

Cost – Online Wins

Essentially for the reasons we list above, online again wins hands down. To play at the best online casinos all you need is a cell, tablet, laptop or home computer and the internet. These are things that most people have anyway, effectively making it free to play online.

In contrast, a trip to the casino is going to set you back gas, maybe flights, perhaps a hotel and food and drink whilst you’re away. Play online and you can just pop into the kitchen and help yourself to a beer or a bag of chips whenever you want.

Atmosphere – Offline Wins

Okay, we have to give this one up to Vegas and other casinos. Even the brilliant live dealer options that the best online casinos have can’t recreate the excitement and atmosphere of a trip to a real, offline casino. That makes it 2-1!

Chance of Winning – Online Wins

Make that 3-1. Your chances of winning are so much better at an online casino because you will get a great bonus when you join, you may earn VIP points on top and, best of all, it’s easier to quit whilst you’re winning and not chase losses because you’re at home and haven’t made a special journey just to play.

Overall – Online Wins

3-1 is a conclusive win for the world of online casinos and we think it fairly reflects the truth that they are a wonderful option. Once a year, perhaps, the magic of a great real world casino resort is worth the trip but for everyday play, the best shot at winning and maximum convenience for minimum cost, it has to be online casinos all the way!

Posted in General Tagged with: ,

Megasaur Online Slot Review

Megasaur is an exceptional real money slot that is available at a range of the best US legal online casinos and if you’ve never given it a try, you’re missing out, it’s that simple. Megasaur is produced by RTG (Realtime Gaming) and you can see which casinos use RTG software in our online casino reviews, which will make it very simple to find which casinos offer this excellent online slot.

The first thing to say about Megasaur is that it is a progressive slot with a linked jackpot. That means that instead of playing for a few hundred, or even thousand dollars, on Megasaur the progressive jackpot is worth almost $1m! At the time of writing the jackpot stands at an amazing $985,000, but who knows, by the time you read this, it may have reached the amazing seven figure mark, meaning that in just one spin of the Megasaur reels you could become a Megasaur millionaire!

This slot has already made one millionaire and the next one could be right around the corner – it could be you! The progressive jackpot isn’t the only reason to play this slot though. It’s fun, fast, colorful and packed with nice features and aside from the main jackpot there are also lots of other ways to win big.

The three main dinosaur symbols pay out 1,000, 750 and 250 credits respectively and those wins are doubled if your five in a row includes a red wild. There are two wilds to spice this game up, the green Megasaur on reel 2 and the red, which appears on reel 4. Both are grouped and both substitute for any symbol apart from the other Megasaur wild and the scatter.

The scatter is the moon and volcano symbol and whilst two of these anywhere on the reels will land you a win, you’ll need three to enter the bonus round. The route to the progressive jackpot is found in the bonus feature as you’ll need to hit five scatters whilst in the bonus in order to land the big one. Clearly that’s no mean feat, but with the bonus offering up to 30 free spins you’re almost certain to land a big win of some description in the feature.

Overall Megasaur is well worth a look. The progressive jackpot and twin wilds mean you’re always on the edge of your seat and although it may not be the best looking slot around, land one of the many available dino-sized wins and you won’t care in the slightest!

Posted in Games Tagged with: , ,

Tips for Playing Online Roulette

All of the best online casinos feature roulette and that is because roulette is without doubt one of the most popular casino games around. It offers glamour and excitement, it is easy to play, and it is suitable for both high rollers looking to strake huge sums with good odds of winning or smaller stakes players wanting to bet small and yet still win big.

As with all online casino games, the casino has the advantage over the player and the “house edge” theoretically ensures that the casino wins in the long run. However, with our top online roulette tips and just the faintest of helping hands from Lady Luck you can turn the tables on the house and walk away in profit.

Double Zero is Double Trouble

Double zero “American” roulette has a house edge not far short of double that of the single zero variety. That means the house is making twice as much profit on average and the player is losing twice as much. That, in turn, means you need TWICE as much luck to overturn the house edge and so double zero roulette, with a house edge of 5.26% should be avoided, whilst you should only ever play single zero, with an edge of just 2.7%.

Ignore Past Spins

The best online casinos have real money roulette games that display the most recent spins and this can lead some players into believing that these are in some way relevant. They aren’t. The roulette wheel has no memory and even if 10 blacks come up in a row, the odds of the next spin being black – or red, or green – remain the same. Don’t alter your betting according to previous spins and don’t be surprised by “surprising” runs of numbers.

Martingale is for Losers

The Martingale System has been around for hundreds of years and in theory delivers risk free profits playing online roulette. However, the theory is seriously flawed and you should never use Martingale unless you are aware of those flaws, aware of the risk of a HUGE loss and yet happy to try and take small profits anyway hoping that the inevitable big loss doesn’t strike early in your gaming.

Choose a Great Casino

You probably wouldn’t play roulette in a casino that you knew was owned by gangsters in the real, offline world, so when playing online, be sure to exercise the same judgement when picking which US real money roulette site you opt for. The best online casinos have big, easy bonuses, classy games and great records of paying out. At the worst you may never see your money again, regardless of whether you win or lose.

Posted in Games Tagged with: , ,

Online Slot Review: Jackpot Pinatas

Realtime Gaming (RTG) power a lot of the best US real money casinos and slots sites, as you can see in our online casino reviews and here we’re taking a look at one of their best slots, Jackpot Pinatas.

Jackpot Pinatas is a progressive jackpot slot with an amazing jackpot that currently stands not too far shy of $2m. That means that in just one single spin of this wonderful slot, you could win a huge seven figure sum and change your life forever!

In order to scoop the massive progressive prize, which is pooled across other slots on the network, you need to hit five bull piñata symbols on any valid win line. Whilst the bull is the piñata of the slot’s name, the jackpot piñata, this fun slot also features two other piñata symbols, both of which will help you land a good win on the game.

The dog piñata is the way to enter the excellent bonus feature on Jackpot Pinatas and three of those will get you into the bonus. The bonus round is one of the best you’ll play and comes in two stages. First of all you choose from piñata symbols to reveal a cash prize before then heading into a free spins feature that not only has extra wild symbols present but also sees any wins doubled. With up to 25 free spins available you can land a huge win this way and whilst it might not reach seven figures, four is certainly a possibility.

The other piñata that features in Jackpot Pinatas is the donkey and this is the wild symbol, substituting for any symbol in the game apart from the other two pinatas. Wilds crop up with good regularity in Jackpot Pinatas and if you land two or three on the early reels you can be sure of a healthy win.

Most, if not all, wins on this slot are fairly substantial though and that’s because of one feature of the game that may not be to everybody’s taste. The minimum, indeed only, spin value on Jackpot Pinatas is $5. You must play all 20 lines on this five reel slot, with a quarter staked per line. $5 might seem like a lot but with around $1.8m on offer via the progressive, plus big wins due to the high line bet, it really is good value considering what a fun slot Jackpot Pinatas is.

To see which online casinos feature Jackpot Pinatas check out our online casino reviews or why not claim a casino bonus and play for free?!

Posted in Games Tagged with: , ,

Online Slot Review: PayDirt

PayDirt is a hugely popular slot that is produced by Realtime Gaming, one of the top casino software companies used by the best online casinos in the USA. If you fancy trying a new real money slot then we would certainly suggest you give PayDirt a try – read on to find out why.

PayDirt is themed around the California Gold Rush that took place from around 1849 onwards. From a graphics and sound point of view that means you can expect lots of gold, mining, miners, dynamite and other Gold Rush related sights and sounds. As with many RTG slots, the graphics are probably a shade better than the sound effects, although neither are anything to get too excited about in truth.

However, they do the job and they also allow the slot itself to shine and the gameplay of this exciting slot is what really stands out. It’s a 25 line slot with five reels and the theme and name are linked because paydirt was the name given to the gravel and dirt that prospectors would search for gold. Finding gold on this slot is a whole lot easier, however, with a range of great ways to get lucky.

There are three separate bonus rounds and any of these is almost certain to deliver a very tasty win. Gold Rush offers extra stacked wilds, Gold Fever has a fixed central wild, whilst the best, though sadly rarest bonus, Strike It Lucky, offers a varying number and formation of wilds.

Wins with wilds are tripled too, and with stacked wilds on the second and fourth reels you can easily claim some nice wins even without hitting one of the bonus features. In addition to all of that, a randomly triggered progressive jackpot is a wonderful feature, meaning that with any single spin you could find gold, really adding to the excitement.

Another fine thing about PayDirt is the huge range of spin values you can play. There is the option to play just a single line, for a mere penny, whilst the maximum spin value is a huge $125. This means PayDirt is a great option for low stakes players or those wanting to use up the lost few cents in their account but is also a brilliant choice for slots high rollers looking to win BIG.

If you have never played this amazing slot, why not head to one of the best online casinos around, claim a bonus and get your own little Gold Rush under way?

Posted in Games Tagged with: , ,

Biggest Progressive Jackpots Right Now

Progressive jackpot slots are, for many players, the main reason to play at an online casino. The chance to win hundreds of thousands of dollars – or even millions of dollars – in an instant, with just one, cheap spin of the slot reels is hard to resist. One day you’re bored at home playing some online slots for half an hour, the next day you’re buying that dream car or going on that holiday of a lifetime. Progressive jackpots offer lotto-sized prizes and with spins costing just a couple of bucks or even less many online slots fans keep playing progressives waiting for today to be their day.

We feature a number of different online casinos here at Casino Tudor and you can see in our online casino reviews which of them feature progressive slots (pretty much all of them) but here we take a look at some of the jackpots on individual slots that are on offer right now. As you can see in our casino reviews, most of the sites we work with use the excellent RTG (Realtime Gaming) software and all of the slots listed below are RTG.

Aztec’s Millions

Aztec’s Millions is one of RTG’s most iconic slots and has a huge and loyal following. The current jackpot stands at more than $1.795m but there’s more to this slot than just a huge jackpot. A sequel to Aztec’s Treausre, this five reel slot evokes the jungle with nice sounds and graphics and also has an excellent bonus feature round. Oh, and did we mention a jackpot of almost $2m?!

Jackpot Pinatas

Jackpot Pinatas is another RTG classic and the current progressive jackpot stands at just a shade less than the jackpot for Aztec’s Millions, with $1,754,311 up for grabs! Another Mexican themed slot, this has a range of great bonus rounds and you can really rack up some big wins this way even if you miss out on the main progressive.

Shopping Spree II

Another RTG “sequel” slot, Shopping Spree II is all about spend, spend, spend and what a shopping spree you could have if you land the current jackpot of $363,000! Okay, that’s “just” the six figures, not seven but SSII is a little cheaper to play than the two slots above and so offers great value.

Jackpot Cleopatra’s Gold

Check out our online casino reviews to see where you can play this brilliant Egyptian-themed slot. Hit the progressive jackpot and you’ll win more than $360,000 but the bonus round, offering 15 free spins and trebled wins is also sure to deliver a tasty payout!

Posted in Games Tagged with: ,

Can Staking Plans Help You Win?

Most players who play casino games at the best online casinos we feature here at CasinoTudor probably alter their stake on a whim, don’t alter it at all or just go with their gut, changing their bets as and when they feel lucky, or when they feel a win is coming.

Staking plans, which can be used for just about all casino games, from blackjack to roulette, craps to video poker and slots to keno, and even sports betting, try to bring a little more science to the question of how much you should bet on a given spin, hand or wager.

There are three main types of staking plan and the first, a level stakes plan, is probably the simplest. In this you decide on a certain amount and that is how much you bet on every “go”, regardless of previous bets or anything else. How you determine your stake varies from plan to plan but in essence, once you have decided how much to bet you don’t alter this.

Negative progression staking plans, the most famous of which is the notorious (and doomed) Martingale, in which you increase your bet/stake after a losing spin or hand. The theory here is that you can quickly regain any losses, with Martingale aggressively doubling stakes after any loss to ensure any future win results in an overall profit (assuming an even money payout).

Positive progression staking plans – it may not take a genius to realize – work the opposite way and your bet increases after a win. The theory here is that as your bankroll is higher after a win you have more cash to play with and so should increase your bet. There is also, of course, an element of betting more when you’re “on a roll”, which is to say that luck and confidence are with you, or that you are making the right calls through skill and knowledge and playing well.

Overall we prefer a mix of a level staking plan and a positive system. Your stake should, we feel, be fixed as a certain percentage of your bank. Thus, for example, if you start with $1,000 and bet $10 per hand at online blackjack, your stake should increase to $15 if you hit a lucky run and build your bank to $15, or decrease to $5 if things go the other way and your balance is just $500.

In conclusion, however, it is often said, quite rightly, that a staking plan cannot make or break you. This is true, and all a staking plan can do is make a good betting system better or worse: it cannot turn a bad bet into a good bet. Given just about all casino games, even at the best online casinos around, favor the house, you should be wary of any system promising guaranteed returns.

Posted in General Tagged with: , ,

Jackpot Cleopatra’s Gold Review

Jackpot Cleopatra’s Gold is a brilliant progressive slot from Realtime Gaming (RTG) and is available at most of our partner casinos. Check out our online casino reviews for the lowdown on each individual casino or read on for more info on this iconic slot.

Jackpot Cleopatra’s Gold is a progressive version of Cleopatra’s Gold, one of the oldest and most famous online slot games around. Themed around the mysterious and treasure-laden world of ancient Egypt, it’s great fun, with graphics and sound that nicely add to the theme.

An effective theme is one thing but the real draw here is undoubtedly the massive progressive jackpot on offer. From a spin costing just a single dollar, you could walk away with a win of almost $400,000, a truly life-changing sum that would put all of your most sought after treasures within easy reach.

That $1 spin value is fixed, with Jackpot Cleopatra’s Gold featuring a fairly standard 25 lines and five reels, with the coins and lines fixed. That means the slot doesn’t offer as much flexibility as some slots and might not be perfect for very low stakes players but when it comes to progressive slots $1 is definitely at the lower end of the spectrum.

Of course, the main jackpot is not the only way to hit a big win at Jackpot Cleopatra’s Gold and the bonus round is certainly one of the most generous around. Triggered by hitting three of the scatter symbols (the pyramid), the bonus round offers up 15 free spins and, best of all, all wins in the bonus round are tripled, meaning you could hit some very nice cash with just a little bit of luck. What’s more, you can even re-trigger the bonus if you hit three or more scatters during the bonus itself, whilst even just two pyramids (within or outside of the bonus round) lands you a win.

RTG and some of the other great US casino software providers offer a host of other progressive slots and our online casino reviews will give you more information on that but for us there is no doubt at all that Jackpot Cleopatra’s Gold is one of the best around.

Our concise yet informative casino reviews will also give you the lowdown on some great casino bonuses too so why not join a new real money casino today, grab a tasty bonus and see if you can land that big win at Jackpot Cleopatra’s Gold? Get started at any of the best online casinos listed here and have a shot at a huge winning day.

Posted in Featured Casinos Tagged with: , ,
Recent Posts
  • Is it better to play at an online or offline casino?
  • Megasaur Online Slot Review
  • Tips for Playing Online Roulette
  • Online Slot Review: Jackpot Pinatas
  • Online Slot Review: PayDirt