Online Gaming - FAQ

Yes, you can easily count cards when playing blackjack online. However, most casinos shuffle after every hand. For those that don't, software exists to tell you the exact correct play given any deck composition. However, such places generally have strict rules against card counters.

As long as you aren't playing at a multi-player table or live dealer, there is no time limit to play a hand.

Yes, they are taxable. You are on the honor system to report the income. The casinos will not report any winnings to the IRS. It isn’t just on-line casinos, ANY net gambling winnings are taxable, regardless of where or how they were won.

I’m quite sure none of them report anything.

Whether to cash out it all out at once is your decision. Assuming you are a U.S. citizen you are obligated to declare the income on your next tax return. If you don’t you could be charged with tax evasion. However this sort of thing is largely on the honor system. You are also allowed to deduct any gambling losses in the same year against your winnings.

Since I started gambling on the Internet four years ago I am up about $20,000, about half of which is thanks to the Golden Palace. What you’re seeing in my reviews is just my most recent experiences, and like everyone else sometimes I lose for a month or two. However I just won $786 at Casino.Net and $2317 at Casino Kingdom. So I don't ask for donations to subsidize a losing gambling habit. Donations simply help me to keep offering this site to the public for free. Although in fact the donations come in through PayPal which I then usually use to buy things on eBay.

Between the cost of building the casino, cash reserves, and first year losses, you will need a minimum of $1,000,000 for a respectable Internet casino. The best place to host is outside my area of expertise. Since I have a relationship with almost all the major software providers I don’t want to be guilty of favoritism by mentioning a particular company. I know who I think I would go with but I won’t say who.

Yes, to all of those things. If some of the shadier casinos find you provided false information they will use it as an excuse not to pay you. Besides, these pieces of information are not that hard to come by for someone looking to abuse or steal your identity. Recently Crazy Vegas casino asked for my Social Security number, which I thought was going too far. I gave them a phony one. When asked for my mother’s maiden name, by anyone, I give the name of my cat.

It shouldn’t. And I will vouch that any casino advertising on this site plays a fair game. Any casino I find cheating, whether in fun or real money, I will have no compunction to add to my blacklist.

I would recommend flat betting. The expected return is the same regardless of how you bet, but flat betting is best for minimizing volatility and ensuring bankroll preservation.

Thanks for attempting to patronize my advertisers. Not many casinos accept credit card transactions, at least from U.S. players. In my opinion the most convenient way for U.S. players to get funds into an Internet casino is via Neteller. Similar to Paypal, Neteller is an online bank, but unlike Paypal, Neteller honors transactions with Internet casinos. I'm not the best person to speak on the legality topic but as far as I can tell nothing has changed but there is still no federal law that specifically says gambling on the Internet is illegal. Efforts have been made to pass such a law but the same bill has yet to pass both houses of congress.

Yes, if you give your e-mail address to a casino they will certainly send you e-mail. However the reputable ones will stop if you ask. The less reputable casinos will not only market themselves but also share your address with others. The NetGaming casino sold me out to pornography spammers. Bodog lets you play without surrendering your email address, as do the Wager Works casinos, such as at the Hard Rock Casino. Incidentally, Casino Meister has a new page about combatting casino spam. My webmaster tells of his own problems with casino spam at VegasClick.com. I've never seen Cleopatra online. It's rare for an online casino to have the same slots found in land casinos.

That shouldn’t change the odds at all. The Windows RNG is probably not very good, but good enough for free play. However when real money is on the line a smart operation would use a proven good RNG on their own end.

Short answer, no.

As far as I know the number of players to be prosecuted for gambling on the Internet is zero. So far efforts have been aimed at choking off the industry at the payment processing level, which has only moved those services outside the country as well. Laws directed at the player are simply not enforced. There are lots of poker celebrities who publicly earned seats at the big poker tournaments by playing poker online, and to the best of my knowledge, none of them have been prosecuted . However, Washington State recently made playing poker online a felony, so I might be nervous in the Evergreen State.

Sorry, I don’t know of anything like that in print. However, here is my own two cents.

1. You should have at least a million in reserves to cover the normal ups and downs of gambling.
2. Go with a high end experienced software company with a good reputation.
3. Abide by your own rules. If a player outsmarts you on a bonus or promotion pay him and then cut him off if you wish.
4. Take it easy on the bonuses. I would rather reward players after they play according to the value of their action.
5. It is hard to overstate the importance of good customer service. Try to get to know your players, especially the best ones, on a personal level.

Remember, you can sheer a sheep many times but you can slaughter it only once.

First, it is important to remember that the U.S. only accounts for half the market. Outside of the United States I think the industry will become more legitimate as the United Kingdom takes a greater role. However, as publicly traded companies, most of the U.K. operations out of respect for U.S. laws no longer accept American players. This will leave American players with a greater percentage of less reputable organizations to choose from (Bodog excepted of course). So, the short-term effect will be that American players are less protected and more likely to be cheated. In the long term, hopefully we will come to our senses and learn all over again that prohibition doesn’t work and repeal this stupid law. This will likely take several years.

According to my interpretation, this law does not make gambling online illegal. The bill seeks to choke off Internet gambling by making it illegal for U.S. banks to directly fund casino accounts. However, they stopped accepting credit card transactions years ago. This law only addresses what nobody was doing anyway. Any business outside of the United States is not obligated to respect our laws in their own country. Some are choosing to anyway, some are not. If your Internet casino of choice is still accepting U.S. players, I suggest you be honest about where you live and continue to use whatever method of payment you were using before. Personally, I find Neteller to be the most convenient.

I’ve received lots of foreign checks from Internet casinos. They never came on casino letterhead. Often I didn’t immediately know whom the check was from because they looked more like generic money orders. So if it comes to this I think Bodog would use a generic looking check or money order that your bank wouldn’t be able to easily trace back to the sender. Besides, I don’t think Neteller is going anywhere.

I’m not an attorney, so I’ll refrain from giving an opinion on the legality. For practical purposes checks from Internet casinos and sports books are sent from generic accounts, usually out of Canada. From looking at the checks you wouldn’t know whom they are from. I have never once heard of a bank not honoring such a check (unless it bounced), or anyone being prosecuted for attempting to cash a single check. So, my advice is go ahead and cash it. You should do so inside with a teller, because some banks don’t like foreign checks deposited in an ATM.

My webmaster, Michael Bluejay, addresses this very subject in our January 31, 2007 newsletter. To expand on the Visa cards, another friend suggested using prepaid Visa cards, which can be purchased at some banks and at Walgreens.

Sadly, I can't think of any. Global Player used to have video poker over 100%, and some Boss Media casinos had a blackjack game with a player advantage. However, all such casinos either closed their doors, or removed the good games. If anybody else knows of any new straight up advantage games online, I'm all ears.

For the benefit of other readers, a "ten-card Charlie" rule means that if the player gets to ten cards, without busting, then it is an automatic winner.

According to my simulation, the probability of the player getting to at least ten cards is 1 in 60 million. So, it lowers the house edge by about 0.0000017%.

Yes! Keep playing, betting the same amount every time, until you are up any amount of money. Then quit, wait 24 hours, and repeat.

To be specific, the advantage per bet is 0.0233341%. The overall advantage following this strategy is 90% of that, or 0.0210007%.

There may be other equally good strategies but if anyone has a superior strategy, I'm all ears.