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World Gaming Software Review

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


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