Casino News May-June 2006
09.07.2006Casinoshare
Very plain, no-nonsense online casino site powered by Microgaming with over 300 games of all types including the Flash version. The property is a sister to PokerShare, both owned by Lucas Toh's Gamshare Limited in Gibraltar and both with a twist on the loyalty program concept through which players get shares in the company. Kahnawake license, 24/7 fully contactable Support and a good range of financial choices that includes FirePay, Neteller, Click2Pay, Citadel, Delta and Solo. Bonuses include a 100 percent signup maxed at $250 and a monthly match on deposits up to a maximum of $100.
Pokerocean
Playtech powered, this online poker room operates on that provider's iPoker network and has a well executed tropical diving theme. Texas Hold Em, Omaha and Omaha Hi Lo are the featured games, and 24/7 Support is available. The operation is licensed in Kahnawake and a wide range of financial options is available. Bonuses include 100 percent signups maxed at a surprisingly generous $400 but the Playtech T&Cs and W/T is notoriously tricky to exploit for players.
Rica Poker
Macromedia Flash no-download mediocre poker site with limited upfront information, and based in Costa Rica. The Mac compatible software comes from an unknown source and includes Hold Em, 7 Card Stud and Omaha. Ownership is listed as BingoClixMedia Inc.
Cameo Casino
80 + download games from Playtech are carried on this rather bland, ordinary and predominently beige coloured site which thought to belong to the Empire Online group out of Israel. Fully contactable round-the-clock Support backs a typically Playtech wide range of financial options in dollars, sterling and Euro currencies. Standarde loyalty program and a matchplay signup maxed at a rather high $500, with complicated T&Cs for which this group has something of a reputation.
Win our Cash
Owned by the Del Vecchio brothers this is an intriguing site with software claimed as Live Action Online, but the no-download Java games look like World Gaming. The site advertises turnkey "ownacasino" service for an all-in payment of $9 900, presumably to the Del Vecchios. Hold Em, Omaha, 7 Card, 7 Hi Lo and 1 on 1 are the poker games on offer on a busily designed but not aesthetically appealing site that offers tournament action and 24/7 Support. When we checked there were a (claimed) 750 players simultaneously online. There's a 110 percent signup maxed at a sensible $200, and 20 percent bonuses are promised on all subsequent deposits. A sportsbook is linked to the site.
32Vegas
Kahnawake-licensed, this is a Playtech powered site which has already started to generate player complaints, mainly on bonus rulings. The owners are Crown Solution Gaming Limited in Antigua and there are links to CD Poker, Club Dice, the notorious Joyland Casino, Playgate and New York casinos. The usual large range of finanacial optins available from Playtech is advertised along with a dangerously high 320 percent signup bonus (but the Playtech T&Cs can be tricky) Japanese, French and English language versions are available. Site design and presentation is average.
First Royal Casino
Large games selection of average quality is carried on this Flash no-download, B3W powered online casino which sports a neat, clean design. Neteller, Prepaid ATM, Moneybookers, Citadel and FirePay are odffered as financial instruments and their is an email and livechat round-the-clock Support, together with an average sort of loyalty program. Other than that, there is little upfront information on ownership or licensing. The site comes in Indian, Thai and English language versions and a signup of 100 percent capped at $200 is offered.
Da Vincis Gold casino
This is Vegas Casino
Cocoa Casino
Paradise 8 Casino
These four well presented online casinos are the products of the Canadian software company Rival Gaming, which appeared on the scene earlier this year in a blaze of publicity based on its i-slots (i for "interactive") after a claimed 2 year development cycle. The gambling suite includes 5 x 5 reel slots, 8 x 3 reel slots, 11 table games and 7 VP games and Rival says more are in the pipeline. The software company has proved to be very player-sensitive on feedback and has in general enjoyed a warm reception for the attractive games it offers, backed by fully contactable 24/7 Support. The first 4 casinos are owned by The400Group in Curacao, where the licensing is held. Another company called Black Chip NV is also involved, perhaps as the parent of either Rival or The400Group. Rival put on a strong appearance at 2006 GIGSE but little has been seen or heard from them since, other than an extraordinarily generous affiliate commission offer from The400Group's Justin Kelly of 50 percent recently in a message board attempt to recruit more affiliate marketers. Neteller, Click2Play, Firepay and Moneybookers are among the financial options on offer, there is a standard looking loyalty program and new signups are offered a matchplay capped at a sensible $100, with a generous $100 reload bonus once a month for regular players. Rival seems to have a substantial and dynamic staff.
Butlinsbingo
The famous British holiday company has taken a white label bingo site from Gibraltar-based St Minver (which uses Parley Entertainment out of Canada as its bingo supplier) It's a basic but useful site with tournaments, a bingo school and a good loyalty program with an average selection of mainly Vrit oriented financial options. The signup is a 100 percent capped at GBP 125.
Bowmans Poker
Powered by Tribeca Tables, this is a poker site for the UK sport betting group Bowmans International owned by Gary Bowman. Unusually, the licensing is from the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Fully contactable 24/7 Support includes US/UK/Canada tollfrees, and a good range of financial options are available. The site is very professionally executed and presented, including a poker school, hand histories and tournaments and a range of multitable games like Omaha, Omaha Hi Lo and Hold Em. The Tribeca poker network is substantial.
eBeirut.net
Not much upfront information on this site which is a mediocre and now outdated Grand Virtual template site using the dated software from that company.
www.thornbackraycasino.com
As above.
XXL Club Casino
This site seems to be targeted on European and Russian markets and has a sumptuous but busy design that is well executed. Powered by Playtech, it has some 85 games and also offers mobile gambling, PC download, Flash and live over the internet options. The responsive Support is 24/7 with livechat and email, there is a loyalty program and a range of bonus options.
Red Lounge Casino
Sister to Private Casino.com, both powered and owned by Kismet International (was GoldPlay some years back) Curacao licensed. These are nicely presented sites with a full range of facilities and good upfront information which includes certificates on the RNG inspection by the GGS labs. Supported is very strangely limited to London hours of 9am-midnight weekdays and 5pm-midnight weekends!!!) Generous 40 percent commissions for affiliates are offered, and the player signup bonus is GBP 50 for Red Lounge (10 percent loss rebates and/or 10 percent bonuses on winnings are also offered to regular players) and GBP 75 for Private which also has a Euro 100 monthly bonus for regulars. The gambling suite is a download 30 gamer of good quality. US players are barred. Good range of Euro and Sterling financial options.
Private Casino
As above - this operation seems to be operated by another Kismet International subsidiary called Envy Entertainment NV.
Centre Bet Casino
Part of the Australian Centrebet sports betting group owned by Betcorp, this online casino is powered by Playtech (which displays its TST testing certificate for the RNG on the site) The licensing is Curacao and the above average gambling suite boasts 80 games. Gambling in Sterling, Dollar or Euros is available, using a wide range of financial services, and there is full 24/7 Support. The site is rather cluttered and has the appearance of a sportsbook rather than an online casino.
Bet on Bet
Part of a Nordic betting exchange group owned by BetonBet Holdings AS, this site offers linked casino (powered by Net Entertainment) poker (powered by Poker Room-Ongame) racing and sportsbetting. The casino has 26 games of good quality, and the poker offers Hold Em, Omaha, Omaha Hi Lo, 7 Card Stud and 5 Card Draw. Full Support and a good range of financial services.
Gold Standard Casino
New (launched early May 2006) RTG casino believed owned by Yellow Media Inc out of Toronto. The licensing is Kahnawake and the aesthetically attractive site carries 100 download games of good quality and diversity. Apparently a poker offering will be made available soon. Full Support with USA nd Canadian tollfrees, loyalty program and a good range of financial services through Aquagaming is available. There are a range of bonuses, and the site is currently advertising a + $2 million progressive jackpot.
Jungle Poker
Well presented online poker site launched May 2006 which claims to have proprietary software, although this appears to be from Dynamic Gaming Systems. The games are of good quality and the site has attracted positive comment on leading message boards with games like Hold Em, Omaha and Omaha Hi Lo. Plenty of action with tournaments, Free Rolls and bonuses backed by full Support, loyalty program, and a useful range of player assists. Financial options include Neteller, FirePay, Citadel, ATM Online, Moneybookers and eWallet Express. Despite so far short operational life the site claims it already has 3 000 players. Bonusing seems generous at 50 percent on deposits up to $500 and 200 percent signups maxed at $250.
BS65
This Online Backgammon site is billed as part of the backgammon Play65 network which is understood to claim a million players worldwide. The site features some big $100 000 prizepool tournaments, tutorials and skill level rankings to ensure fair competitions. The software appears to come from a company titled Logic Empire, and there are English, Hebrew, Greek and Turkish versions. PayPal, Neteller and Moneybookers are offered for financial transactions.
smgcasino
Sunny Group's entry into the mobile market sector with what appears to be Playtech software that has been heavily customised. The four games are titled Sunny Slots (8 line progressive) Jacks or Better 1-5 coin VP branded Island Win, a Deuces Wild VP branded Oasis Poker and Blackjack. The licensing is Antigua. Interestingly the plain but effective site links to PokerShow.com which is associated with Poker Room.com; MapauBingo (Playtech); and Casino Mapau foreign versions for Bulgaria, France, Italy and Germany; Sunny Sportsbook and a non-active provision for Skill Games.
Silver Vegas Casino
Once powered by Gaming Logix this site looks as if it is on the way out with players reporting unresponsive Support and banking and the site offline.
FHM Casino
Launched early June, this is the first white label casino from Cantor Gaming (an associate of the famous US brokers Cantor Fitzgerald) FHM is a men's magazine in the UK. Claimed to be Guernsey-based in the Channel Isles, the site is licensed by Alderney. The site is basic and lacks imagination or aesthetic appeal, although it does offer all the customary player facilities. Remarkably, the Support is restricted to 10 am - 10pm GMT only. Another unfortunate feature is a tendency for the site to start downloading its gambling software immediately. If this is the best that Cantor can do, they have a way to go yet before these products can be regarded as serious competition.
Black Dog Casino
This online casino closed under something of a cloud back in 2004, along with sister Mango Casino. It was believed at the time that a fairly notorious operator called Rafael Alexander aka Eskandrian was involved. The site suddenly made a reappearance in mid-May this year, making a point of prominently announcing that it was "under new management" but not disclosing what that management was! It has undergone a revamp and looks quite good, if a little cluttered. The software is still that of Diamond Games with an augmented suite that boasts 18 VP, 18 slots, 8 feature games and a selection of table games. Full Support, a good range of financial choices and a 150 percent sign-up are all available. The Mango Casino url now goes to a rather poorly presented portal.
Bingoday
Playtech again. This is thought to be a site for Empire Online's diversification program and was built in Cyprus, although it has a Kahnawake license. It's a bright, well organised site with a full range of services, the emphasis on community and a claim that $500 000 a day is given out in prizes. There are also keno, arcade nd Chat games together with 4 progressives and the Ocean Princess slot and Jacks or Better VP from the same provider.
Sirius Poker
This is an intriguing site owned by Island Poker (Europe) Limited and licensed in Kahnawake. Island Poker is owned by a partnership of eMoney Invest / BVI Investment / ADLM Limited (Avi Goldman of Windows Casino fame) and it operates the Poker Profit.com network which currently claims 45 000 players. The software looks like Tiger Gaming but this is not yet confirmed...or it could be through a third party (RTG-powered Windows Casino was acquired by the King Solomans group earlier this year) The site is well done with many useful features like tournaments, tuition and a good range of multiplayer games like Hold Em, Omaha, Omaha Hi Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Hi Lo, Survivor Guts Poker, Chinese Poker, Big 2 and Pan. Blackjack is also offered. The site has a Windows Casino-like "feel" to with the risible references to Safebet, the Gambling Commission and e-gambling commission and the non-linking use of the IGC logo. It also links to www.siriusplayerscasino.com, www.siriusplayanddeal.com and a sportsbnook site that is currently under construction. It all points to a growing new Avi Goldman inspired group.
Sirius Players Casino
See above. 125 games powered by RTG. The mystery is the Windows connection when this property was spun off to Kikng Soloman's group by Goldman's ADLM Limited earlier this year.
Nine.com
Traditionally a sportsbook oriented group in Costa Rica, nine.com was taken over by Alistair Assheton's Leisure and Gaming plc group earlier this year along with English Harbour group and other acquisitions. The license is Curacao and the group is involved in sportsbetting, racing, poker (LVFH software) and now an online casino powered by Vegas Technology (the EH group's software arm) There are 65 good quality games in the suite, which is supported by a full range of player facilities on the site. These are interesting times for the well-financed L&G group; it has recently acquired software company IGW and has publicly announced that it intends to merge these technical assets under the leadership of Vegas Technology in order to develop a proprietary gaming software platform for use throughout the group.
Backgammon Bay
New backgammon site due for launch in August with as yet unidentified no-download software. It has been alleged that the SEO activities on Google border on the black hat site-scraping practices that have recently caused such a furore in the affiliate sector.
Cake Poker
Currently in Beta testing, this is an attractive site with an eyecatching "cake" marketing theme. The owners are Cake Gaming NV with a Curacao licence and they calim to be a group of like-minded poker enthusiasts who have been developing the software themselves since April last year (2005) The site is using tournaments and free rolls together with a 25 percent signup and a proposition that some players could get 1 percent of the company (a slice of the cake) in a promo scheduled for January 2007. There are a few poker games with good graphics and avatars: Stud and Stud Hi Lo, Hold Em, Omaha and Omaha Hi Lo. The site has good player appeal in terms of hand histories and other aids.
Maharaja Club
Poker room and online casino site powered by Boss Media and part of that provider's poker network; the owner is Maharaja Gaming NV in Curacao. Presentation of the site is average and the poker element includes tutorials and tournaments for the Hold Em, 7 Card Stud, 5 Card Draw, Omaha and Omaha Hi Lo games selection. Financial options are Delta and Neteller via WebDollar. On the casino side there are 40 good quality games nd the whole operation is serviced with round-the-clock Support. 100 percent signups maxed at $250 are available.
Boss Media poker network operations:
Bet Click
Eurotele Group
Hellenic Poker
Magic Number
Fun Time Bingo
Maharaja Club (also a casino)
Mr Poker
Fortune
(4400 players online simultaneously morning of Saturday July 8 as an indication of size)
PlayShangrila.ru which opened in 2005 is now closed with a redirect to a Moscow land casino.
Casino Club and Casino Club Poker, owned by bthe German and Spanish market facing Gaming VC Corp are now using Boss Media software and have 7 different European language versions.
Ongame's CasinoRoom subsidiary has introduced Mac compatible no-download software to add to its growing appeal.
Kiwi Casino, owned by land casino operator Christchurch Casinos in New Zealand, has launched a "live over the internet" addition to its offering. The provider is not disclosed but is believed to be Casino WebCam.
Vegas Frontier online casino is closed and re-directs to a portal branded Real Vegas Online. Media reports indicate this follows litigation from Atlantic City's Donald Trump group, which has been aggressively pursuing intellectual property actions (IEE limited - Donald Trump Castle.com was another of the actions.)
The WPT site has changed from Wagerworks software to Cyberarts.
There are as yet unconfirmed reports circulating that Liberty Entertainment's South Beach Palace casino (sister to Big Dollar casino) which closed earlier this year is being resurrected through the Grand Prive group.
Rumours are circulating that new online casino operations under the Playboy brand and operating offshore the USA will be powered by Cryptologic and operated by a company titled Oceana Caribe Licensing out of Curacao.
Very strong business speculation is currently that Party Gaming (which has said it is looking for a sportsbook) is about to acquire Gamebookers sportsbook in a GBP 50 million deal. Gamebookers has recently opened a poker site on the Microgaming Poker Network, reportedly in the wake of a failed negotiation with Ongame when that company was acquired by Bet and Win.
The Club World Casinos group (3 online operations) has left RTG and is now powered by Canadian-based Chartwell Technology.
