Travel Blog

Casinos across the country are reporting improved slot machine revenue. More players are coming to the casinos and they are playing larger amounts for each wager. This is good news since the recession years, 2008 – 2009 were pretty dismal for many casino’s. It is good news that patrons are returning to the casino floor, however, there is one group that is not showing up to gamble at the slot machines. These are the millennials, born in the 80’s and 90’s, fed a steady diet of interactive games on their computers, tablets and smart phones. Millennials prefer skill based games. They want the same experience in the casino and to date there are just not many slot machines that will provide this kind of experience.

Millennials Prefer Skill Based Games

As a result when millennials do go to the casino, they are playing poker, black jack and other skill based games. Gaming companies and the casinos are getting together to design new games that will deliver the interactive experience they are looking for as well as add a social element to the gaming experience.

Millennials are looking for interactive games that require some level of skill that they feel will give them a chance to win at the game. This is the basis of what they have been doing for the last 30 years as they play on their computers, game machines and smart phones.

They are also looking for a social aspect to the games. Many want to know how they are doing relative to other people who are playing. They want to be able compare, make comments and interact with other players. Millennials are able to achieve some levels of both skill and social elements when they play poker and black jack. However for the casinos to attract larger numbers of the millennial generation, they need to design interactive social slot machines to meet this need.

Look for regulations to change, for new games to appear on the casino floor over the next few years as the industry adapts to the changing demographic.

We have been wondering if competition from online casinos will affect many of the brick-and-mortar casinos? As we tour the country and visit a variety of locations we are finding that some locations are extremely busy. While others are struggling. It really depends on the local market. Also how much competition there is from other casinos as well as competition from online casinos.

For example in Ottawa Ontario there are only two casinos. Both are packed almost every night. While there may be competition from online casinos in the Ottawa area, the market is far from being oversold. In fact the Ottawa area could do with a third casino to handle the demand. In other locations such as Tunica, Mississippi there are at least 10 casinos. They are struggling to stay open. There simply is not enough population in the Memphis area. It is close to Tunica to drive business for 10 casinos, and the online casino business is taking it’s toll.

Competition from Online Casinos – Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada is also struggling however they are changing their business model and to all appearances succeeding. They have added the conference business, the wedding business, and tourism to the traditional mix of casino gambling. Add to that professional high quality entertainment and you have a huge draw for people to come to Las Vegas to spend money for their vacation.

Other locations such as Atlantic City are struggling because of competition from online casinos, taxation from the city and state, tolls on roads. Consumers even have to parking fees just to visit the casinos. In addition neighborhood states have built other casinos in their area to keep some of the gambling revenue in their state. As a result with all of this competition places like Atlantic City or now seeing casinos closing rather than stay open and lose more money.

We feel that you get far more value from the traditional brick-and-mortar casino however there is a definite attraction for people to play online and play their favorite games. The gambling business in North America is still evolving and there is a shake out taking place that is driven in part by the economy, by online casino gambling and government need for revenue. There will be more changes coming in the future.

There is a great deal of competition in the casino industry and now there seems to be a bit of a shakeout starting with a number of traditional casinos closing. It used to be that there were really just four main places to go to for gambling. These were in order of size – Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Tunica, Biloxi and perhaps Laughlin. They worked with local governments and they prospered.  Unfortunately a number of events have taken place that are dealing some of these locations a financial blow that is tough to come back from. Some have even closed, gone bankrupt and reopened under new owners.

Traditional Casinos Closing – Atlantic City

The first big names to fall by the way side are several of the casinos in Atlantic City. Atlantic city has been for many years the go to place for gambling in addition to the beaches. There were approximately  twelve casinos along the boardwalk and in the marina area. There was at least 50 million people within one days driving distance from New York, Phli, Washington etc. The casinos would bus people in, offering a meal, some tokens and hope that they would spend the day gambling.

Four casinos are closing in September in 2014. Revel, Showboat, Atlantic club and Trump Casino will close putting at least 8000 people out of work. Revel was a brand new hotel that just did not make it and was not popular with local gamblers. With growing poverty in the area, Atlantic city needs to take steps to figure out how to reinvigorate the industry.

Unfortunately, there have been casinos popping up in surrounding states. Each state tired of losing revenue to New Jersey decided to have casinos of their own and this has siphoned off much of the tourism traffic to the Atlantic city.  A storm dealt a recent blow to the area taking the focus away from gambling and taking money as well. In addition, the writer found that the extensive tolls that travelers needed to pay just to get there was adding up. Combine tolls with closer easier to get to casinos and many people are staying in their home states.

The casino business is far too dynamic for an online casino guide to really provide any significant benefit for readers. Sites are changing all of the time, new sites are being added and old ones either eliminated or changed. With all of this activity anything we write would be out of date almost from the time it is published. As a result we decided to take a different approach. We are focusing on general topics to help readers and people who play these online casino games. Hopefully they will gain a better idea of how to enjoy themselves. Also how to gain the most from some of these sites. And as a result most important avoid losing their shirts playing these online casino games for real money.

Online Casino Guide – Play Casino Slots for Free

There are many sites that are available online that allow players to play for free with chips or credits that they provide at no cost to the player. the player is only given so many credits per day and can play until they lose their credits or play as long as they are winning. There does not seem to be any limit on time,. Just a limit on how many free credits you are given each day. Sometimes if a game freezes, and you have to restart the slot game all of the credits are lost for that day. It is frustrating especially if you were doing well to have the game freeze and lose all of your credits however that is the way these work and it did not cost you anything in the first place. Besides you just move on to another site with free games.

Online Casino Guide – Limit your Play

If you do play with real money, play with your head and not your heart. It is very easy to play, lose a lot of money and then think you will win it back sometime in the future. The problem with all casinos is that the majority of people lose money and a few people win large jackpots. No one can win all of the time except the casinos regardless of whether they are online or not. Play for fun and not to make money!

We all fall into the trap of looking for the best online casino. We are looking for games that we like to play. Whether they are slot machines or table games that we are hoping will be loose and will pay a large jackpot. At the very least we want to be able to play for some time without losing all of our money. It really sucks when you lose everything quickly and have to quit or get more money. At least with the online casino you can try a variety of slot machines and table games and be entertained. Players look for the best online casino using different criteria so we thought we would list some of them here.

How to Rank the Best Online Casino

The obvious first criteria that many people look for is how well these online casinos actually pay. The payout rate, the real rate is a very closely held secret. You can be sure that it is always in favor of the casino. Regardless of what you feel or think, know that the online casinos and the real casinos are set up to take your money, it is just a matter of how much enjoyment they provide you while they do it.

This brings us to the next major point. If you really like to gamble, then it should be enjoyable. We think that this should be the next major criteria for most players. If you are not enjoying what you are doing then move on to another slot machine or casino. In our case, we love the ambiance of being in a real casino, with the sounds and the music as well as listening to other players. We also like to win, but these extraneous features are part of the entire package.

Other factors such as service, cost of meals and drinks, obtaining your money when you do win are all items that many people also consider. For online casinos, the only one that fits is the criteria of how quickly you can obtain your money from a jackpot and have it transferred to your account.

Manage Your play at Online Casinos

Lastly, whether you are playing an online casino or a real casino or one that is online, we feel that it is always important to manage your play and not lose your shirt so to speak. Consumers who set limits and are able to enjoy the experience and then walk away usually enjoy themselves the most. Which one are you?

Have you ever tried free online gambling? There are many sites available where gamblers can play for free. They can play their favorite slot machines, or table games and enjoy gambling for free. Some sites do not have any hooks to get you to spend any money. They prefer to allow you to gamble for free with you clicking on advertisements. You can also play for real money or just want more information about a particular subject. You can also add points based on your play which can be used for free things such as free meals or even rooms if the site is associated with one of the traditional casino properties such as MGM.

Many online gambling sites that offer free online gambling, give you the opportunity to buy more free credit for a normal amount. Some sites will offer additional free credit for a nominal fee e.g.. Five dollars.

Free Online gambling – Credit

We have tried these sites and usually what happens is that the free credit that they give you is lost rather quickly. Then they offer additional credits for a fee. The amount of money they are charging for added credits is not large and will not break the bank. We just refuse to pay these amounts on principle, since the site was advertised as a free site.

Rather than pay money for additional credit from these so-called free online gambling sites, we just move to another online site to play slots and table games. Free online gambling sites usually provide additional free credit once a day or every two hours ongoing. But the real motive is to sell you the additional credit and make money that way.

Also if you are playing the table games, are you playing against other real players or are you playing against the computer? Playing against a computer is very different from playing against real people online.

Not Paying Well

We have also found that when you’re playing on their free credit, the slot machine does not pay very well and it does not take long to run through the free credit. They really want to sell additional free credit that you pay for. There are so many free sites available that you should never pay for free credit.

We recently downloaded a casino online app to our iPad and began to play casino online. This is a free app and also a free online casino game with many different slot machines. You can play them as well as video poker games. This as it turned out was a very sophisticated online casino. However, they were really trying to persuade me to sign up and play for real money or to buy more chips. It was great fun and enjoyed it very much for the first day. After that, it was not nearly as much fun.

Play Casino Online – Making Money

When we first signed up to play this free slot machine game on our iPad, we were given $1 million in free play credit. Sounds like a lot of money! We started playing video slot games on the iPad. Either we chose a really bad game to play or just were not winning. But we went through the $1 million in about three hours.

We then attempted to have more free credit so we can continue playing. We found that the video slot machine wanted to charge us some money to add free credit. So we refused and moved on to another game. This is really a shell game to try to charge you for playing online video games using your tablet or smartphone. The video slot machine app developer is trying to make some money. There was no way to recoup any money that you might spend. So you really end up just spending money buying free credit. Which is not free so that you can play a slot machine online.

Play Casino Online – The Next Day

We again tried the app the following day. This time we were awarded 75,000 in free play instead of 1 million. We went through that 75,000 in about 30 minutes.

The online slot machine app on our smartphone is actually a lot of fun to play however they’re trying to make money and charging for the play credits is one of the ways. They also provide online advertising on the pictures well. We rate this particular app from IGT as a negative since they are too focused on making cash money from their players.

In one way I cannot blame them, however, they need to be a little more subtle about it and slow the take rate down. I do not mind paying for something that is interesting and fun, but when there is no way for me to recoup my investment, it is time to move on to another online casino that can be played for free.

Live casino online competes with brick and mortar casinos for your time and for your dollars especially. Start by getting to play free games that are usually easy to win and pay big jackpots. Once you convert to real cash playing, the odds are much worse than the typical brick-and-mortar casino. At least that seems to be the common market information that is available online. We are not aware of any specific studies or reports that support this notion.

Convenience

Online live casinos are certainly more convenient compared to getting in your car and driving sometimes many miles to get to a brick-and-mortar casino. Just sit at your desk, use your computer, and logon into your favorite online casino and you’re ready to play. You do not even have to get dressed or take a shower, you can just start playing when you wake up in the morning or play well into the night!

They provide online benefits such as entries to tournaments and free play that you can use to actually win money when you’re playing with real dollars. Even people who are playing with tokens i.e. not real money can receive entries to tournaments and other benefits. Benefits depend on the particular online live casino that your playing.

The danger is playing too much which takes time away from family, friends, and your social life. If you’re playing for real money, there’s always the danger of gambling too much and losing more than you may want to. keep control of how much time you’re spending gambling online at the live casinos as well as how much you are spending and play.

International Play

Players get to play against people from around the world or against the casino. It really depends on the game that you’re playing. Slot machine games typically are against the casino. Table games with the casino taking a cut are played against other players from all around the world. At a Texas hold ’em table you could have people from five or six different countries all playing with you. There is a chat system Available and sometimes people will chat as well

Playing live casino online can be fun as long as it is kept under control. When you start spending too much time playing casino games online at your computer, it is time to take a break. Have someone take the time to interrupt you and get you away from the computer otherwise you will become hooked on one of these online casino games.

We were wondering what people see in online live casino’s? Personally, we like to go to a live casino. That’s the brick-and-mortar casino. We like to experience the feel of many slot machines, the noise, the music, the excitement of other people winning, and to be able to talk to people or have a drink. This becomes a social night out in addition to gambling at the slot machines or the tables.

Online live casino

Online live casinos are convenient for many people since they do not have to leave their homes. In fact, they do not even have to get dressed, they can be dressed in their nightgown or house coat and play online at a casino against other people if you’re playing the table games or play slot machines if that is your choice of gambling.

You can play for free or with real money. Any of the online live casinos offer the real gaming experience playing with tokens where you do not have to provide any cash from your bank account. This provides almost everything that people are looking for in terms of playing the casino. If you play table games you can play against people from all around the world. Texas hold’em is particularly good for this style of casino gambling play.

Play against people from around the world. If you place your cursor over the icons of other players, online life casinos will provide you with basic information. They will indicate their online name and the country from which there are connected.

Players receive online benefits such as entries to tournaments and if you’re playing with cash i.e. real money, you may also receive free play and other benefits that are particular to that online live casino.

Need to maintain limits if you’re playing with real money. Just like going to the casino, brick-and-mortar casinos, limits need to be established to ensure that your losses are reasonable and can be afforded If you’re having trouble in this regard. Call Gamblers anonymous call for help.

There is the convenience of playing your favorite poker game or slot machine at home using an On Line Casino. You don’t need to get dressed. All you need to do is get your favorite beverage. Whether it is a coffee or a drink of some kind, sit down at your computer and play your favorite online Casino.

Play anytime at On Line Casino

There’s the convenience of playing at any time of the day. Some people like to play in the middle of the night while others have their favorite time in the afternoon. Regardless of when you like to play there’s the convenience of being able to sit down at your computer at any time of the day. Even play on your smartphone from any location. Many people prefer this kind of gambling to have to visit a regular casino. Which means getting in the car and driving to wherever you need to be.

Cash in Your Account

There is the convenience of receiving cash in your bank account when you make a big win. When you’re playing online patrons can transfer cash from their bank account to their online casino account and vice versa. If you win a big jackpot the best thing for most people to do is to transfer the cash from the online casino back to their bank account. This is one way to ensure that your winnings will stay in your bank account. The cash will not be spent on further gambling.

Gambling Addiction

Some people are addicted and this can be a problem. If you are susceptible to being addicted to gambling, online casino gambling can be a problem for some people. There’s no getting away from the online slot machine, or the online poker table. If you suspect that you may be addicted to gambling, it is a good idea to call one of the hotlines that provide support for addicted gamblers.

Personally, the writer would prefer to play in a brick-and-mortar casino instead of playing online for the social aspect of the casino. We enjoy visiting the casino, getting away from the house, and being around people in general. For us, this is a social activity and we control how much we gamble. It is always a pleasant bonus when we win a jackpot. Or receive a free complimentary meal, a free complimentary room, or free complimentary tickets to an entertainment show.

Going for dinner, having a drink, and playing with your favorite slot machines is a bonus or an advantage that many people would prefer to playing online.

The best way to receive a casino bonus online is to sign up for a casino slot card at the casino of your choice and also arrange for online access to your new account so that you can see what bonuses you may become eligible for as you play the slots or tables in the casino. If they do not offer online access to your account, the next best thing is to provide your email address. The casino can send emails with your casino bonuses attached to the email. The last resort of course is to receive your casino bonus by the traditional post office. This can take time and cost the casino more money to print and send the coupons etc.

Step By Step Approach to Casino Bonus Online

Open a slot card account with your favorite casino. Provide them with your address, email address and open an account with them. You may even be able to select a password at the time you open the account. If not make sure you have the instructions regarding how to open the online account later on.

Receive email casino bonuses by email which you may need to print. Take them with you when you go to the casino to take advantage of your casino bonus.

Log onto your account by signing on to your online casino account to view your bonuses and special offers that the casino will make available to you from time to time. You may also need to print these coupons and take them with you when you go to the casino to claim them.

Check your bonus status often since it may be updated as often as you visit the casino or at least every month. Certainly login to your online account each time prior to visiting the casino t find out what may be available to you when you visit the casino.

Print casino bonuses and take them with you. Not every casino will require them since they can look up your account online at the slot card desk, however, it just makes it easier for everyone if you have your copy with you.

Types of Casino Bonus Online

Online casino bonuses sometimes include free play. It can be played just like real money that you might insert into a slot machine. Not all slot machines accept free to play so you may have to play a machine that is not always your first choice.

In addition to free play, online casino bonuses can also include the following depending on the level of your play and the frequency of your visits to the casino.

• Free hotel rooms
• Meal comps
• Even free travel coupons
• Free show tickets

Check your casino bonus online often to confirm what is being offered. Make sure that you do not miss out on any bonuses that might be available to you.

This site is really about the old style of casinos and the hotels that go along with them and not so much about sites for Online Gamblers. We have visited many of these casino hotels over the years and have first-hand knowledge about the hotels, the casino, the rooms, the restaurants, and of course the comps. We have not reviewed many of the online gambling sites and yet more and more people are playing various games online. Everything from poker to various slot machines can be played on a virtual basis of course for free or for real money.

I guess we are from the old school. We prefer to play at a casino rather than online. We like the ambiance, and the people around us most of the time. Also the offers of free rooms and meals. We also like to get out and see the sites that are usually associated with casinos and hotels. We like the big places such as Tunica, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City. Smaller casinos and casinos that are off by themselves do not offer many complimentary benefits to customers. They just do not have the competition and so why should they make huge offers of rooms and meals? It all depends on the competition.

Casinos run by local governments are among the worst when it comes to comps and payouts from their slot machines. We try to stay away from these as well. You may wonder why we are spending so much time talking about brick-and-mortar casinos when the subject of this post is Online Gamblers.

Online Gamblers vs. Casino Gamblers

Well, the answer is that when anyone writes an opinion about something, it is sometimes helpful to understand their point of view.  From a preliminary look, the online gambler is missing out on a lot of benefits that are just not available to people who visit regular casinos. Here is a brief list of what we consider are advantages that the online gambler might be missing out on:

• Complimentary free rooms at casino hotels
• Free meals at casino hotels
• Complimentary free shows at casino hotels
• Free play varies a great deal by the casino and probably for online gamblers as well
• Express comp’s for slot players to be used for meals as well as merchandise
• The glitter and excitement of a casino
• Free drinks at many casinos while you are gambling
• A variety of extras that depend on the level of gambler you are

When you take all of this into account, why would you want to waste time playing online? The odds of winning are thought to be less than the traditional casinos. Although we have never seen any proof of that either way. Sure it can be more convenient and possibly more comfortable to gamble online from your home. But we just think that online gamblers are missing out on a lot of experiences.

Online Comp’s

Now we have heard of people who gamble online to qualify for one of the major Texas Holdem tournaments. We even know of one person who did this after spending many hours playing and qualifying for a satellite tournament and them winning the tournament. But I guess for us we like the ambiance of a real casino and will forgo the online gaming experience at this time.

We appreciate comments from our readers as long as they are informative and will assist other readers. We will even approve links to your own site as long as there is a good constructive and helpful comment about this post.  You do not need to agree with us about online gambling, just make a well-written comment giving your point of view.