Online Casinos

This category contains reviews of online casinos that I have played or still play at. With recent changes to US legislation, the choice is far more limited for American players and most of the casinos I review no longer take players from the USA. That said, the RTG casinos (see USA Casinos) still do and they have a good array of games still. For the rest of us in Europe and around the world, the Microgaming and Wagerworks casinos offer different choices and these are where I spend most of my time.

Below is a chart showing online casinos that take UK players and have Novomatic slot games. Click any link or game to visit that casino.

	Book Of Ra Classic	Book Of Ra Deluxe	Dolphin’s Pearl	Katana	Lord Of The Ocean	Lucky Lady’s Charm	Power Stars	Sizzling Hot Deluxe
ENERGY CASINO									PLAY NOW »
CASINO MYBET									PLAY NOW »
GROSVENOR CASINO									PLAY NOW »
MECCA BINGO									PLAY NOW »
BETVICTOR CASINO									PLAY NOW »
QUASAR GAMING									PLAY NOW »
STAR GAMES									PLAY NOW »
CASINO FANTASIA									PLAY NOW »

Recently, I posted an article on reasons to avoid casino signup bonuses. In that article I went into some detail about how a bonus is often more of a hindrance to a player than a help. And if you play Microgaming games, then there is a new term that is even worse!

Read More: The Slow Death Of The Casino Signup Bonus »

After what seems like an eternity, Grosvenor Casinos (the land based chain that recently acquired Gala’s land casinos in the UK) have added 9 Novomatic slots to their mobile site.

Some of them will be familiar to regular casino players as they are direct from the Super V+ Gaminator machines found in land-based casinos while 3 of the games will probably also be familiar to FOBT players.

In addition to the Novomatic games, Grosvenor also offer slots by IGT and other developers on their mobile product so overall it’s a pretty decent option when it comes to mobile.

Here is the full list of the new Novo slot machines just added:

Click here to play them »

All of these games are also available on the Grosvenor Online Casino website for desktop, PC, MAC and laptop players as-well as on tablets and smartphones.

So Christmas is approaching and I’m ramping down my gambling for a few days so I thought this would be a good opportunity to look back at some of the online casinos I have played over the course of the year and summarise those that have disappointed and those that have done a good job.

I started the year playing exclusively slot games and finished it playing exclusively slot games. OK – with some video poker thrown in to be fair but only because Microgaming make such good multi-hand VP games. Coming into the year, my most regular haunt was Jackpot Party casino, WMS Gaming’s excellent slots-based offering.

But early in the year, Scientific Games having already bought Barcrest and more recently WMS during the previous year, they decided B2C was not their bag and they sold the casino to EGO who subsequently re-badged it as Slots Magic and then cloned it as Red Kings.

It wasn’t the same. The platform was slow, the cashouts became slower, reverse times became longer and the excellent WMS games became a bit lost among some other average games. To be honest, I’m not even convinced the RTPs stayed the same although this maybe because WMS had them set higher than advertised when I look back: I had amazing luck there. So you can’t blame that on EGO. But the interface was clunky and awkward and …

Read More: Casinos I Have Played This Year (Retrospective) »

If  you are a seasoned online casino player as I am, you will undoubtedly know by now that the software platform plays a major role in determining your affinity towards an online casino. Playtech is one of a handful of casino software games developers who have been around for many years and whose games look and play very well. As of mid-2014, they are arguably seconnd only to Microgaming in this regard and franchises such as their Marvel licence and with big movie studios like MGM have ensured a succession of very cool slot games, many of which I play a lot myself.

But you will also probably be well aware that Playtech casinos can be a bit of a mixed bag. And if you didn’t know that, you do now! Customer service is as important to most players as the games and now that bonuses are more often seen as a hinderence to a gambler looking to turn a quick profit, it has taken on even more significance. This article re-assesses and updates the topic since my last Playtech casino overview authored back in 2011.

Read More: Playtech Casinos to Play – And to Avoid! »

A new Microgaming casino with options for PC, Mac, iPads, iPhones, Android smartphones and tablets.

Strictly speaking, Lucky247 Casino was released towards the end of 2012 – I first heard of it in a news article New Microgaming Casinos 2012/2013 which popped up via a bulletin on the AZonlinecasinos website which I manage – although I wouldn’t necessarily say it was launched in a frenzy of publicity but this seems to be in keeping with the Lucky247 website’s somewhat demure and understated image.

I first noticed Lucky247 mentioned in a news article and signed up to play there in October 2012, initially being particularly interested in their mobile offering which is using Microgaming’s new HTML5 product “GO”. Consequently I ended up playing extensively over the course of a month on both the PC Flash product and the more limited but equally nice mobile casino via my iPad3. I knew I’d find a use for it eventually!

To cut to the chase and for those who don’t want to read the entire review of Lucky247 then, yes, it generally gets a thumbs-up from me. But then again, most Microgaming casinos do. It’s always hard to know when a new Microgaming casino arrives on the scene just how it will fare – look at Casino Creed and Purple Lounge as examples of Microgaming casinos that disappeared overnight – but the signs seem good.

Read More: New Microgaming Casino for 2013 »

If like me, you frequent UK or European land-based casinos regularly, it probably won’t have escaped your attention how many Novomatic Gaminator machines there are now. The reasons I assume are two-fold: firstly the games are a bit of a cult in certain countries and secondly, in countries where space or licences limit the number of machines available, the Gaminators being multi-game machines means a casino can offer more choice in less space.

Following on from that increase in exposure it seems natural that Novomatic slots should start to become more prolific online but until recently, that hasn’t really been the case with their slots being limited to 3 or 4 casinos. In 2012 however, we have seen a few more Novomatic games being licenced by bigger brands like Sky Vegas and Grosvenor Casino for their online websites and now we have a new kid on the block – OVO Casino – which is practically a Gaminator machine in itself!

Read More: New Novomatic Casino – Review »

Quite by accident, I stumbled on an online casino I hadn’t previously come across that served up a selection of popular IGT and Net Entertainment slot machines. The name Mr Green Casino struck me as a bit odd and doing a bit of research discovered that it is run out of Sweden and licenced in Malta. Both of those perked my interest so I signed up to test it out.

To cut to the chase, the overall experience was very good but then again, knowing how strict IGT are when it comes to licensing out their games that probably shouldn’t be a surprise. I went through the whole process of depositing, playing and cashing out and to be honest, bar a couple of minor gripes (see below) couldn’t really fault Mr Green, whoever he is.

Read More: Mr Green Casino Review (IGT + Net Ent) »

Article Introduction

Note: this article was written in 2011 and a newer version now exists (July 2014)

Hmmm…Playtech casinos. Minefield! While creating my AZOC Playtech casinos list I had the fortune and misfortune (depending on your take!) to have played some 30 or 40 Playtech casinos. Now I’ve been a slots player for several years and I love Playtech slots – Gladiator, King Kong, The Hulk and the other Marvel slots are all groundbreakers and excellent fun – so this wasn’t just about research: it was also about having some fun, trying to make some money (that bit didn’t work out!) and finding the best Playtech casinos to stick with ongoing.

What I noticed during the course of this time is that there seemed to be two patterns emerging when it came down to seperating what I considered a decent Playtech casino and a crap one. That’s not to say there aren’t exceptions to both patterns but in general I noticed that Playtech casinos operated by bookmakers, on the whole, treated me pretty well, while those run by Israeli businesses treated me more as a cash-cow.

In the rest of this article, I go into some detail on those Playtech casinos that shone through, with emphaiss on games choice, customer service and cashout times – the 3 things I look for in a good online casino. It’s safe to say that if I don’t mention a Playtech casino in this article then it didn’t stand out – in fact it was probably a dud LOL.

Read More: Weeding Out The Best Playtech Casinos »

I apologise in advance for making a number of Americans jealous here, but as someone who resides in the UK and travels to Vegas at least once a year, I am quite excited! Why? Because WMS Gaming, manufacturer of so many good slot machines in those land-based meccas of gambling have decided to release their slots online at their very own Jackpot Party Casino.

Read More: Yay! WMS Slots Come Online, But For Brits Only. »