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Remember back a few months and you will recall that I mentioned that Microgaming would be developing a new online slots game based on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, but its release was still several months away.

Well the wait is over. The new online slots game, Lord of the Rings, will soon be released to two Microgaming powered online casinos: All Slots and Ladbrokes Casino. Within a few weeks the Lord of the Rings online slots game will make its way to other Microgaming powered online casinos.

The Lord of the Rings online slots game is not going to be based on the books though. Instead it will be based on the movies by Peter Jackson: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.

So get ready to see Elijah Wood’s face on the reels. As Frodo he is bound to be there.

Roger Raatgever, the Chief Executive Officer of Microgaming, had words ready about how happy he is to see the online slots game’s nearing release:

“We are excited about creating state of the art video slots from the best movie trilogy of the decade. We look forward to bringing the Lord of the Rings into the online gaming sphere, where our expertise in game quality and speed to market will ensure its success. The Lord of the Rings has a huge entrenched fan base, with over 97% awareness of the film franchise, as well as phenomenal and unprecedented home video success.”

So start placing your bets on whether Frodo will make it to Mount Doom to destroy the ring. Hey, that would make an entertaining bonus game, would it not? Help Frodo destroy the One Ring.

Drop by All Slots or Ladbrokes in the coming days to try out what is sure to another successful Microgaming new online slots game.

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This myth is one that every single slots player encounters: the near miss. I say myth because what has started as a myth has actually worked its way into slots strategy.

And no slots player is untouched by this. Does not matter if you play online slots games or slot machines in a casino, you will have encountered this scenario:

You are sitting in front of your computer playing your favorite online slots game or are perched on the edge of your seat in front of a slot machine. This is a five reel game and you land four of the jackpot symbols on a payline. And that needed fifth symbol is only one space above the payline you need it to be on.

This is known as the near miss.

The near miss works its way into a slots slot strategy because it is believed that a slots game or a slot machine has a near miss when it is almost ready to make a jackpot payout. This, in terms of slot strategy, translates to ‘keep playing.’

But this near miss idea that a slots game or slot machine is almost ready to payout is a myth. Just because a near miss occurs does not mean that a jackpot is near. It is merely a near miss. Your odds of winning do not increase when a near miss occurs.

So what causes the excitement and the drive to keep playing?

The answer lies in the slot player’s brain. The near miss creates a stimulation in brain activity in the regions of the brain that is responsible to reactions to rewards. With more blood in that area of the brain, the player’s drive to keep playing in increased.

The player will unconsciously seek a reason for the heightened excitement, coming up with the idea that the slots game or slot machine must be almost ready to payout a jackpot. But that reasoning is a slots myth.

Still, the myth over time becomes a part of some players’ slot strategy so that when a near miss occurs they will keep spinning the reels.

What the smart slots player needs to understand is that a near miss is just a near miss and does not signify anything. Keeping that thought in mind when you experience a near miss will allow your strategy to shift a bit—to understanding that it does not mean anything.

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This morning I began talking about HR2267’s victory in the House Finance Committee yesterday and how it put legalized online gambling one step closer to reality. It still has a long way to go, but step by step it will hopefully make it there.

HR2267 is Barney Frank’s bill Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The bill was in markup yesterday and as such it received some amendments that helped in getting it passed in a 41-22-1 vote.

Thos who made the amendments were a couple of Representatives from California, John Campbell (R-Cali) and Brad Sherman (D-Cali). Some of Campbell’s amendments were discussed this morning. It is time for the rest and for Sherman’s.

In regards to the protection portion of HR2267, Campbell added that every single game must have its odd of winning posted to help players make a better informed choice of which games to play. That does not seem so much like protection as more of lending players a helping hand.

Also added to the protection portion, Campbell added that not only must online casinos licensed in the US have ways of successfully verifying age and location requirements, they now must also put limits on how much a player can lose.

Think of it as being similar to the bartender cutting you off for having drunk enough. It is the same principle. Players in online casinos regulated by the US must have a cutoff to keep players from wagering too much. If they hit the limit the online casino will no longer allow them to place real money wagers.

Yes, this is another instance of a lawmaker telling you he knows what is best for all the citizens of America.

Also added was Sherman’s amendment that allows each state a full legislative session. The session would allow for individual states to opt out of the plans for regulated online gambling that federal government would establish.

Sherman has also added a bad “actors” amendment that would keep companies and even managers of companies who disregarded the US’s laws in regards to online gambling from being licensed.

While the majority of amendments do seem to enhance the bill, the one by Campbell with the loss limit bothers me the most purely because of the ‘lawmakers know what is best for you’ attitude it imbues.

Either way, HR2267 is on its way. Next will be the House and then the Senate. After that will President Obama’s desk. Democrats are hoping to push HR2267 through before the November elections when the balance of parties in the House could shift. Democrats are hoping to send their bill to legalize online gambling through while they still have the upper hand.

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Yesterday was the day that Rep. Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement act (HR2267) went through mark up. The results of the mark up have online gambling sites giving a little cheer.

Yes, Frank’s HR2267 was approved by the House Financial Services Committee. The vote breaks down to 41-22-1.

If HR2267 can get voted through the full House and through the Senate it stands a strong chance of being signed into law, and that would legalize online gambling for the United States and overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

In Wednesday’s mark up a few amendments were written by two of the committee’s members: Rep. John Campbell (R-Cali) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Cali). These amendments were made to the administrative and consumer protection sides of HR2267.

One of the amendments states that “States and tribal authorities parallel authority to administer licenses and enforce these regulations.” This allows states and tribes to not be left out of the online casino gambling, and parallels the gambling structures in states already in place.

Another amendment requires that all those who are seeking licenses must have all of their online gambling facilities that are aimed at US players to be located within the US.

This amendment I am not too sure of. The potential downside to this is that it still might mean that US players cannot play at existing online casinos because those online gambling facilities are not located within the US. However, if being located in the US only applies to the licensees and players are still allowed to play at any online casino that accepts US players then this is an okay amendment.

Those are only some of Rep. Campbell’s amendments; he did have a few more that I would like to comment on this afternoon. And I will not be forgetting Rep Sherman’s amendments either.

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Rival is at it again.

Taking Australia and their love a sport they call ‘Footy’ and rolling them into one has produced a new online slots game at one of the online gambling industry’s software developers.

The name of the game is Aussie Rules, and it is a five reel online slots game with fifteen paylines. Players can wager with coins worth $0.01 up to $1, and they can wager from one to five coins per paylines. This makes the minimum wager $0.15 ($0.01 and one coin) and the maximum wager $75 ($1 and five coins).

This time Rival has delivered light and fun graphics to the reels with Whistles, Shoes Players and Jerseys. The Jersey is the jackpot symbol. Landing five of them will payout 500 coins.

Not to be left on the bench are the special play symbols.

The Ref is the Wild symbol, substituting for all symbols other than the Scatters. And while the Jersey might offer the highest payout from the regular symbols, landing five Refs will award 5,000 coins.

Thirsty? Thirsty for winning combinations? The Water Bottle is your ticket to free spins with a 3x multiplier. Landing three awards ten free spins, four gives twenty and five starts one hundred free spins a-spinning.

Finally there is the Football itself. Not only does it function as a Scatter symbol, but landing three, four or five of them will take you right onto the field with the players. The more goals you can score, the larger your bonus game prize is.

All in all, Rival did not do too bad with this new online slots game. While this is no iSlots—the online slots game type that Rival is known for—it is not too shabby at all and definitely worth a try. Trying is good sportsmanship, right?

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This week saw the launch of a new online slots game at the online casino Bodog: Witches and Wizards.

Before anyone jumps to any conclusions there is no Hogwarts or Harry Potter or any kids for that matter in this new online slots game. This five reel, twenty five payline online slots game features a grown Witch and Wizard along with other magical symbols such as Spell Books and Bones.

And do not forget the traditional 9, 10, J, Q, K and A, although they are dressed up in full gothic glory for this online slots game.

Witches and Wizards offers players a Scatter and a Wild to increase their chances of winning.

The Staff is the Scatter; and the Cauldron is the Wild, substituting for all symbols except for the Staff and doubling any wins that the Cauldron helps to complete.

But the biggest magical attraction is the Magical Experiment bonus game, which is actually made up of free spins. Ten free spins are awarded when three or more Staves are landed. The thing that makes the free spins of this online slots game different from other free spins and transforms it into a bonus game is the magic spells that can be cast.

There are four magic spells, one of which can be cast on each free spin:

Wild Explosion: With this spell, a random symbol is chosen and becomes a Wild. In fact all of that symbol that shows up on the reels will become Wilds.

Wild Growth: This spell will cause any Wilds that are landed to turn into Expanded Wilds with a multiplier of 2x for any combination they complete.

Metamopha-Wild: Cast this spell and watch up to fifteen random symbols be turned into Wilds.

Win Multiplication: With the power of this spell all wins of the free spin it is cast on will be multiplied between 2 and 10.

This promises to be an exciting addition to the Bodog lineup. Or a magical one I should say.

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All summer the online casino Slots Galore has been hosting a three part online slots tournament. Right now Part II of the Summer Slots is winding down, and with $150,000 being given away in Part II, a bunch of online slots players are finding themselves in need of bigger pockets.

But with the end of Part II comes the beginning of Part III.

Beginning on August 1st Part III of the Summer Slots series will begin, and it will run through the end of the month, Tuesday the 31st.

But the prize pool will not be $150,000. Instead it will be $175,000 spread out over 800 online slots players:

1st place: $75,000
2nd place: $25,000
3rd place: $10,000
4th – 5th place: $5,000
6th – 10th place: $3,000
11th – 20th place: $1,000
21st – 40th place: $200
41st – 100th place: $100
101st – 200th place: $50
201st – 800th: $25

As you can see, there is plenty of money to be won in the last part of this online slots tournament.

And like in the other two parts, the online slots game will change again. In Part I the game de jour was Funky Chicken. For July the online slots game was Shaaark. For August players will spinning it out on California Gold. This is a five reel online slots game with twenty five paylines.

But $175,000 is not the only prize money being given out this month.

For the one online slots player who has won the most over the course of all three parts of the Summer Slots Series tournament, he or she will be the happy recipient of a $75,000 all their own.

It is easy to see why this is one popular online slots tournament—prizes every month to the top 800 online slots players and a special prize for the player who does the best. Players can take part in Part III even if they did not play in the first two parts. All they need to do is visit the tournaments section at Slots Galore for the details.

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Part of the allure of online slots and slot machines is the huge jackpot offered by those casino games. These huge jackpots come from progressive online slots games and progressive slot machines. There is a bit of strategy, so to speak, to keep in mind when you gear yourself up to tackle playing for a progressive jackpot.

First off a summary of what a progressive slots game or slot machine is. Online slots games that feature a progressive jackpot are all linked together. Players who play that particular game are playing into that jackpot, which grows the more and more players play that game.

An online slots game that offers a progressive jackpot can run one of two ways. If the online casino that offers the game is not tied to any other online casino—meaning that its parent group does not own any other online casinos or have that online casino linked to others—then the only players who are paying into the progressive jackpot are those within that online casino. Anyone who plays pays in.

If the online casino offering the progressive slots game is tied to a sister site then anyone on any of the sites that offers that progressive slots game will be paying into it when they play.

So keep in mind whether the online casino you play at is linked to sister sites or not. The fewer players that are paying, in the better your chances of hitting the progressive jackpot on that online slots game—add that to your online slots strategy.

As for progressive slots machines, they are much easier to explain. When you see an offering for a progressive jackpot you will see it on a sign over a bank of slot machines. All of those slot machines are linked together so that anyone who is playing them is paying into the progressive jackpot.

Now for progressive slots strategy.

Typically when you play a progressive slots game you must bet the maximum in order for you to have a chance of hitting the progressive. If the maximum wager is not required then entry into the progressive pool is gained by a side bet.

If you are not going to be betting the maximum or making the side bet, do not play. Without making the required wager you are not in the running to hit the jackpot. And if you are not in the running there is no point in playing the slot machine or the online slots game.

For your progressive strategy understand and be prepared and then actually carry out making the maximum wager or the side bet. The whole point of playing is for the progressive jackpot. What is the point of playing if you are not going to make the entry wagers?

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Do you like trains?

If you like trains then the latest online slots game to roll out of Rival will be to your liking. The new online slots game bears the name All Aboard, and, yes, it is themed with trains. Very much themed with trains.

All Aboard is an online slots game with the standard five reels and twenty paylines. The wager range runs from $0.01 per payline up to $0.25, making this an online slots game that just about anyone can play.

To flesh out the train theme the reels are filled with Crossing Lights, Whistles, Steam Engines, Water Towers, Bells, Lanterns, See-Saw Cars, Cabooses, Nails and a Conductor. And do not forget the infamous Casey Jones. Although the symbol in the game does not match the childhood Halloween ghost story about Casey Jones—the symbol shows him alive and well.

So bonus features!

The new online slots game does offer plays three types of bonus features: an Expanding Wild, free spins and a bonus game.

The Steam Engine is the Expanding Wild, which only appears on reels one and two. If landed it will expand to cover the entire reel and will double the winnings of any combination is completes.

Landing at least three of that darling Casey Jones will award ten free spins with a 2x multiplier. Four Casey Joneses will award twenty free spins with a 3x multiplier; and five Casey Joneses are worth forty free spins with a 4x multiplier.

Landing three of the Bell will cause the bell to sound and the bonus game to begin.

In the bonus game of this new online slots game players watch nine boxcars barrel onto the screen—such reckless train driving might be the reason why Casey Jones was in a Halloween cartoon to begin with. Eight of those boxcars have prizes and one has nothing. Players then pick boxcars. They can win the prizes in all eight so long as they do not pick the empty one. As soon as the empty box car is chosen the bonus game ends.

Fans of trains will enjoy this new online slots game from Rival. Roll over to a Rival online casino to take it for a ride.

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Not everything is how it appears when it comes to slot machines. Initially they might seem like they are easy to read. All you really need to know is what the payouts are right?

Appearances can be on the deceiving side actually. And that is one of the downfalls in a player’s slots strategy. How can slot machines be one of those cases of ‘more than meets the eye?’

For one thing you do not want to base your decision to play a slot machine purely on its payout table. Work this into your slots strategy.

Let’s take a look at two example slot machines. And keep that above adage for your slots strategy in mind. Both machines have the same payout percentage of 95%.

For our first slot machine we are going to call it Little Winner. It is a $1 slot machine with payouts of $1, $10, $100 and $1,000.

The other slot machine we are going to call Big Winner. This is a $2 slot machine with these four payouts: $2, $20, $200 and $2,000.

The player with the almost non-existent slots strategy would think “Hey, I can wager $2 and win $2,000, which is a $1,000 more than if I were to play the $1 slot machine.”

In the above slots strategy the player makes his playing choice based on the payout table, believing that he should go with the slot machine that will give him the higher payout.

But here is what he does not know about slot machines: The probabilities on these two machines have been set differently. The probabilities of a slot machine are the chances of each winning combination being landed. The probabilities can be set differently and the payout percentage will not be affected.

Little Winner’s probabilities are set with 0.05% for $1,000, 0.24% for $100, 1.22% for $10 and 9.75% for $1 with losses at 88.74%. Big Winner looks like this: 0.02% for $2,000, 0.12% for $200, 0.61% for $20 and 4.62% for $2 with losses at 94.62%.

In summary, adding up the math, Little Winner has a hit rate of 11.26% while Big Winner has a hit rate of 5.38%. When comparing the corresponding payouts you will notice that the payouts on Big Winner are about twice as hard to land.

While a slots player is not able to know what the probability is on a slot machine, the whole point is to not immediately assume that the machine that has the highest payout is the machine to play. As we can see in the example, the player that assumed that would have lost more than the player who spins the reels on Little Winner.

Assuming is one of the things you do not want to base your slots strategy on.

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