Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Online Casinos Accepting US Players

Online gambling has been controversial since its inception over a decade ago. New laws are constantly being added and updated in an effort to thwart the growth of online gambling. Online casinos must adapt and find new ways of attracting new players. The battle rages on as today’s fight is over the banking regulations involved in making deposits and withdrawals.

US citizens who are looking for an online casino still have many options as long as they are willing to shop. There are many reputable online casinos that accept US players. Some of these casinos are the same casinos that have been around for years, but now they are operating under another name. Still others are new ventures from the creators of your favorite online casinos.

The US government has attempted to choke off the money supply to offshore casinos. This has made it more and more difficult to make deposits and withdrawals from online casinos. There are still online casinos that accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cards from US players. Debit cards work more often than credit cards. Prepaid debit cards are anonymous and are the most reliable way of making deposits and withdrawals.

Online casinos that accept US players offer welcome bonuses and other incentives that cannot be found at land based casinos. The most common bonus is the initial deposit bonuses. This is usually a 100% on your first deposit. Online casinos offer this match in order to get you to try their casino. There is much greater competition between casino on the internet. This is because there are limited barriers to entry. There is not a great expense to open a full blown hotel and casino. All you need is a small office, a few employees and license fee for the casino software.

Some of the newer online casinos that accept US players have started offering sign up bonuses on the first ten or even twenty deposits. This is done in order to keep the players coming back. It should be obvious that owning an online casino can be very profitable and allowing US players can only increase profits.

Land based casinos have huge overheads and this cuts into their profits. This is pushed down to the player. Not only do US players have to travel to the casino, but they receive worse odds, no sign up bonuses and will have to pay tax if they win a substantial amount. The best bet is online casinos that accept US players.

While several of the well known brands of online casinos have withdrawn from the United States market, many have remained and new casinos are being developed. The new competition for US players has revived the bonus structure once reserved for other markets. The more online casinos available to US players the better it is for the player. American gamblers have traditionally spent more as a whole than any other market. This makes it appealing for online casino operators. In order to bring in more players, they offer higher bonuses and payout rates.

Although many of the better known online casinos have decided to pull out of the United States market, there are still places to play and bargains to be found. The size of the US market and the potential income will continue to force competition. This is the definition of the free market economy.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Online Casinos Accepting Mastercard

Mastercard is declining deposits at online casinos. This is being done in anticipation of the America’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act scheduled to start on June 1st 2010. For information specifically about online casinos accepting US players.

Newly proposed laws aimed at cutting off the money supply to online casinos have targeted credit cards. Mastercard online gambling restrictions have been increased on US citizens attempting to make deposits at online casinos. See Online casinos accepting US payments

The legality of online gambling has been long debated. The act of making a deposit at an online casino may fall under the Federal Wire Act of 1961. The Federal Wire Act was created to illegalize using telephones for the purpose of placing bets. The telephone had allowed people who lived in areas where gambling was illegal to begin gambling in areas where gambling was legal. Online gambling deposits are required to be coded with a sic code of 7995 so that they can be identified. Many online casino operators use sic codes that are designated for other online purchases to avoid having deposits declined. Mastercard transactions using both the correct and incorrect sic codes have begun being declined at an unprecedented rate. The action sends a signal that Mastercard is preparing for the enforcement of America’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). This act is designed to ban the facilitation of online gambling by the banking industry.

Congress has unsuccessfully attempted to stop internet gambling in the past. The taxation of online gambling is extremely difficult. Congress views online gambling as a loss of income. Voters see online gambling as a personal choice. This has made it very difficult to get legislation passed. In 2006 the UIGEA was put through as an attachment to a Homeland Security bill.

Online casinos operate outside of the jurisdiction of the US government and therefore it will be difficult to enforce the UIGEA. In reality the UIGEA could only be enforced in the most serious cases. It would be impossible to investigate all suspicious transactions. The real success of the UIGEA will be in creating financial barriers for new online casinos and making it more difficult for online casinos to accept deposits. Ultimately new businesses that will "launder" deposits by acting as middlemen will arise.

The long term prospects for the online gambling industry probably lies in debit cards. Currently you will have a better chance of completing an online gambling transaction using a debit card than a credit card. This is because using credit is essentially borrowing the money to gamble from a bank. With a debit card you are removing your own cash from your bank account. This reduces the banks exposure. Prepaid debit cards are funded ahead of time and can only be used for the amount that was funded.

Many experts then started believing that credit cards would disappear as a means of funding online gambling transactions, as they believe that the solution lies in some type of debit card. Currently, the odds of completing a gambling transaction with a debit card are better than with a credit card. This is because using a credit card is equivalent to borrowing money from the issuing bank. With a debit card, money is instantly taken from your account. This in turn reduces the risk to the website and bank. Still at this point the only legislation passed against online casinos acting outside of the US is in the banking. Online gambling has not been outlawed.

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Online Slot Machines

Charles Fey, the inventor of the slot machine, invented 2 machines the first one was in 1897 and it was called the Liberty bell. The second one was called the Mills machine. The slot machine is the only casino game that originated in America. The liberty bell machine had three reels with symbols, was played with nickels and paid out at an average rate of three to one. From these humble beginnings the slot machine moved on to dominate land based casinos and today have moved on to online casinos.

Slot machines were all the rage during the depression. In 1931, gambling was legalized in Nevada and the slot machine found a home. When you walk into any casino today you see row after row of slot machines. Slot machines are so popular because they are simple to play and have large payouts.

There are three main components or parts of a slot machine. They are the cabinet, the reels and the payout tray. The cabinet houses all the mechanical parts of the slot machine. The reels contain the symbols that are displayed. These symbols can be just about anything. The first ones had fruit on them. The payout tray is where the player collects their winnings. This has now been replaced by a printer in most land based casinos.

Playing a slot machine is simple. First, you place your money in the machine. Today’s machines will take all denominations of bills. You can put in as much money as you want. This money will be converted into credits that can be used in the machine.

After the player pulls the spin handle or pushes the spin button they watch the reels spin until they stop one by one. If the symbols match the machine sends coins, tokens or printed tickets to the payout tray and the player wins. The player can then play again if they have more credits. If not the player can put more coins or tokens into the machine and try their luck again.

In land based casinos there is a service light or candle on top of the slot machine. This can be activated by the player if they have a question, want a drink, need change or has a technical problem. In order to activate the light the player should push the change button. This will set off the light or candle and it will blink to let the employee’s know that assistance is needed. The light or candle will automatically blink if there is a winner. A player should never walk away from a machine with a blinking light it could mean you are a winner. If you walk away from a blinking light machine you will not be able to claim the winnings.

Some of the slot machines in casinos are very simple to play, one coin with one payout. Some are more complicated and have multiple payout lines. And then there are some that are very complicated and have progressive payout lines.

When you are playing a slot machine you should make sure that you know all the rules to the game. Make sure you know all the payout and betting rules. If you have any question you should ask a casino employee and they will be able to tell you the rules and regulations to any slot machine. For more information about online casinos accepting US players and Online casinos accepting US payments Online Casino US