Last Update: October 21, 2005 World Gaming (formerly known as Starnet) software is very fast and easy to use. You can play many hundreds of blackjack hands in an hour if you wish. If you desire the X rated version they all seem to have one. Every World Gaming casino I have seen offers at least a 10% bonus for first time deposits. Sometimes World Gaming casinos will offer deposit bonuses to their existing players. Note that although their software says the maximum deposit is $500 most of them will take up to $1000 just as easily. The table game betting limits are $5 to $200, slots and video poker take coinages from 25 cents to $5. Be warned that in general I have found communication with World Gaming casinos to be poor. World Gaming often serves as both a phone and e-mail buffer between players and the casino. This extra layer has been known to mishandle e-mail regarding bonus promotions and is almost impossible to argue with. The vast majority of the time with World Gaming casinos everything goes fine but when there is a problem it is hard to get anybody to do anything about it. Some World Gaming casinos, World Wide Gamble for example, have taken customer support into their own hands. Following is a listing of the games available at World Gaming casinos, their rules, and some strategy tips. This review is for version 2 of their software. Some casinos (see my casino index) already use version 3.   Baccarat The usual rules are followed. Tie pays 8 to 1. One deck of cards.   Battle Royale This is another name for the game of Casino War. Unlike the usual rules a tie after a tie pays 3 to 1 on initial bet and the raise pushes. One deck of cards are used. The house edge is 1.714% by going to war on ties and 2.766% by surrendering on ties. Bingo Online casinos using World Gaming software have four different simple bingo games to choose from. In all games the player puchases a 3 by 3 card marked with 9 numbers ranging from 1 to 30. There is no free square. Then 11 numbers will be chosen. The player wins if the matches on the card cover every square of certain winning formations. For example an X formation pays 10 on all games. The following table shows the number of combinations out of a possible 54,627,300 and the probability that a card will cover a specific formation of a given number of marks. For example an X shape has 5 marks so the probability of covering a X shape is 0.003242. Note that more than just the required numbers may be marked. For example if all nine numbers were marked then all combinations would pay. Probabilities in World Gaming Bingo Marks Combinations Probability 1 20030010 0.36666667 2 6906900 0.12643678 3 2220075 0.04064039 4 657800 0.01204160 5 177100 0.00324197 6 42504 0.00077807 7 8855 0.00016210 8 1540 0.00002819 9 210 0.00000384 Once a player makes a bet in this bingo game the money is never returned. The following table shows the return of the four bingo games available. Note that these games may have different names in the adult version. Expected Return in World Gaming Bingo Game Return Crazy T's 89.33% Crazy L's 89.33% Crazy U's 82.84% Super Bingo 85.68%   Blackjack World Gaming blackjack rules are as follows:   Six decks Dealer stands on soft 17 Double on any first two cards Double after a split No resplitting European hole card rule with 10 showing Player may not draw to split aces The house edge under these rules is 0.56%. The following table displays the basic strategy for World Gaming casinos. To use the basic strategy look up your hand along the left vertical edge and the dealer's up card along the top. In both cases an A stands for ace. From top to bottom are the hard totals, soft totals, and splittable hands. In the body of the chart are color coded cells that indicate the best play: H=hit, S=stand, D=double, P=split. Finally, there is a seldom seen glitch in World Gaming's blackjack game. Non-busted hands consisting of seven or more cards are often incorrectly scored as a busted hand. This bug can cut both ways.   Craps As of December 12, 2000 Craps was offline, at least at the Paris Casino.   Caribbean Poker This is the same game as Caribbean Stud Poker. The rules and the pay table are as usual. A $1 progressive side bet is available. The side bet pays $100 for a flush, $150 for a full house, $250 for a four of a kind, 10% of the meter for a straight flush, and 100% of the meter for a royal flush. On December 12, 2000 the meter at the Paris Casino was at $12616. The house edge on the side bet for a meter this small is 49.05%.   Free Ride This is another name for Let it Ride. The usual rules and pay table are used. A $1 progressive side bet is available. The side bet pays $100 for a flush, $150 for a full house, $250 for a four of a kind, 10% of the meter for a straight flush, and 100% of the meter for a royal flush. On December 12, 2000 the meter at the Paris Casino was at $10091. The house edge on the side bet for a meter this small is 49.78%.   Pai Gow This is actually pai gow poker. The usual rules are followed except that an A-2-3-4-5 straight is evidently the lowest straight. The dealer is always the banker. Cards are not arranged in order and no advice feature is available. Pachinko World Gaming offers two pachinko games. I do not know the house edge.   Red Dog The usual rules are followed. A single deck is used.   Roulette The usual American double-zero wheel is used. No half back on even money bets if the ball lands in zero.   Sic Bo In a comparison test I compared the Sic Bo odds among five software providers and World Gaming came in fifth. See my Sic Bo online section for more details. The following table shows the payoff and house edge for all bets. World Gaming Sic Bo Bet Pays Prob. Win House Edge Small, Big 1-1 48.61% 2.78% 4, 17 50-1 1.39% 29.17% 5, 16 25-1 2.78% 27.78% 6, 15 15-1 4.63% 25.93% 7, 14 10-1 6.94% 23.61% 8, 13 6-1 9.72% 31.94% 9, 12 5-1 11.57% 30.56% 10, 11 5-1 12.50% 25.00% Triple 150-1 0.46% 30.09% Any triple 25-1 2.78% 27.78% Double 11-1 7.41% 11.11% Two die combination 5-1 13.89% 16.67% Any number (1/2/3)-1 42.13% 7.87% The lowest house edge bets are on big and small bets, at 2.78%.   Slots I have no information on the theoretical or actual return of World Gaming slots.   Video Poker The followings games are available, with the corresponding statistics tables. Jacks or Better World Gaming Jacks or Better Hand Payoff Number Probability Return Royal flush 1000 553557120 0.000028 0.027771 Straight flush 50 2182888488 0.000110 0.005476 4 of a kind 25 46926826392 0.002354 0.058855 Full house 6 228885971688 0.011483 0.068896 Flush 5 220272599952 0.011051 0.055253 Straight 4 226192098552 0.011347 0.045390 3 of a kind 3 1477676746236 0.074131 0.222394 Two pair 2 2568945722436 0.128878 0.257755 Jacks or better 1 4252314431988 0.213328 0.213328 Nothing 0 10909279674348 0.547291 0.000000 Total 19933230517200 1.000000 0.955116 Deuces Wild World Gaming Deuces Wild Hand Payoff Probability Return Royal Flush 800 0.000023 0.018423 4 Deuces 200 0.000187 0.037397 Royal Flush W/2 25 0.001909 0.047732 5 Of A Kind 15 0.003123 0.046842 Straight Flush 9 0.004933 0.044396 4 Of A Kind 4 0.061322 0.245288 Full House 4 0.026189 0.104754 Flush 3 0.020445 0.061334 Straight 2 0.057482 0.114964 3 Of A Kind 1 0.268001 0.268001 Nothing 0 0.556387 0.000000 Total Return 1.000000 0.989131 Joker Poker World Gaming Joker Poker Hand Payoff Probability Return Natural Royal Flush 1000 0.000023 0.023260 5 Of A Kind 100 0.000091 0.009143 Str Fl/Royal W/J 50 0.000683 0.034138 4 Of A Kind 20 0.008214 0.164277 Full House 8 0.015092 0.120739 Flush 5 0.020651 0.103255 Straight 4 0.027565 0.110259 3 Of A Kind 2 0.125010 0.250019 Two Pair 1 0.104993 0.104993 Nothing 0 0.697678 0.000000 Total Return 0 1.000000 0.920084 King of the Deck King of the deck is played with five distinct decks of cards. Each position in the hand is dealt from a separate hand. Unfortunatley I do not have the software to do an analysis of this game. I asked somebody with World Gaming about it and he said, "Theoretical return is above 94% returned to the player." The pay table appears below. King of the Deck Hand Payoff 5 king of clubs 2000 5 kings 500 Royal flush 200 Straight flush 50 5 of a kind 40 4 of a kind 10 Full house 6 Flush 4 Straight 3 3 of a kind 2 Two pair 1 See my casino index for a list of sites that use World Gaming software. The URL for World Gaming is www.worldgaming.com/index.shtml ©1998-2010 Wizard Of Odds Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.   Privacy/Terms   Contact   Advertise   About Us   Links The Wizard's other sites: Wizard of Vegas, Wizard of Macau, Math Problems The Wizard recommends: The Bear Growls,   Casinomeister, Online Casino Suite