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There has been news that will have online slots players feeling a little down. But the news is not all bad.

Rival Gaming, one of the industry’s leading online slots developers and the creative force behind iSlots, has announced that it is mostly leaving the US online casino market. What they are saying is that they will be shutting their virtual doors to new online slots players from the US. That is the bad news. The good news is that if you are a US online slots player at a Rival Gaming online casino, you can still play. They are only ceasing to accept new US players; existing US players are still free to play.

The reason is likely to pertain to the current indictments and investigations by the US’s Department of Justice and US Attorney Generals’ offices. It may be a case of Rival wanting to watch themselves and scale back their reach in the US market. No one could blame them for not wanting to go through what PokerStars and Full Tilt are going through. There is also the possibility of scaling back in anticipation of the federal government regulating online casinos. We just have to wait and see if that is the direction the US federal government will take.

For the time being current US players are still able to play at Rival Gaming powered online casinos. This means that they will be able to enjoy their lineup of iSlots and 3D online slots games. Hopefully current US online slots players will not have to deal with the loss of their favorite online casinos and hopefully Rival Gaming will at least leave the door open for current players.

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Have you ever considered how an online casino presents their online slots lineup? Most players do not. But that is not surprising. It is a detail after all. And in most cases the lineup is pretty standard and of no consequence.

By that I mean that the online casino lists its online slots in alphabetical order, with the newest slots at the front with a ‘New’ designation. And once the games are no longer new or when new online slots come out, the previous ‘New’ online slots will be placed in alphabetical order with the rest. This is pretty common.

However, from time to time players might come across an online casino whose online slots lineup does not seem to be in any particular order. Not alphabetic. Not grouped by common themes. The slots just seem to be there in no order. Why could that be?

One answer is that it is possible that the online casino in question could have just kept adding to their slots lineup without imposing any order; just placing the newest slots at the front.

Or the online casino could have a strategic order to their lineup. It is possible that the first few online slots games are hot slots whose placement could result in players trying those first, getting the idea that there are hot slots games to be found at this online casino. After those few hot slots would come a string of cold slots games which are in place to scoop up player money.

This is not always the case with a random lineup of online slots. But since land casinos will have a strategic placement when it comes to the placement of their hot and cold slot machines, it warrants that some online casinos could try to invoke the same thing. Most do not since it is easier for players to find the online slots game they desire when the listing is alphabetical.

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Are you looking for a good and reputable place to play online slots?

Well I just so happen to have an answer to that question. There is a site I happened across that I found to have concise and pertinent information in their online casino reviews: Online Casino Suite.

Some sites on the Internet specialize in reviews of online casinos and keeping tabs on what is happening in the online casino industry. Such sites will keep their reviews up date with that latest. And this particular site I mentioned does not review any old online casino. They only review the best in online gambling sites.

After cruising around Online Casino Suite I not only found informative reviews of some of the top online casinos out there, but these reviews cover the keys aspects of online casinos that players should look at, things such as where and who their licensing body is, comments on their customer support, information about the games and of course information about welcome bonuses and player rewards clubs.

Online Casino Suite has the drive to point online slots players in the direction of safe, fair and reputable places to play.

On top of the online casino reviews, this site keeps up to date with what is happening in the online gambling industry, following stories such as the battle in Washington DC and federal lawmakers’ push to regulate online gambling in the US. They also follow software developers to keep up to date on new releases—esepcially when those releases are online slots games.

On the whole, Online Casino Suite is a versitle yet focused site dedicated to helping players find the best online gambling site to play at. You can check them out at http://onlinecasinosuite.com

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One of the benefits to playing casino games in casinos, especially Las Vegas casinos, are the comps. These usually come in the form of reduced hotel room rates, coupons for free food at a buffet, show tickets, flight reimbursements, free rooms and limo transportation.

Some players who are thinking of giving online slots a whirl wonder what they can expect from an online casino in terms of comps. After all online casinos are not going to comp their players for hotel rooms or a free trip to the buffet; such things do not exist in the online casino world. But there are other ways for players to be rewarded for being loyal players or high rollers.

Online casinos will often have player rewards clubs, which are free to join. Some will even have millionaire or high roller clubs; however these are generally by invite only. Those who play slots online do not necessarily need to be a part of a high roll club to pick up benefits at online casinos though.

Online player rewards programs will often have several levels for players to play through. This is done by accumulating points through playing. Once a player reaches so many points, they are moved up into the next level.

Starting even at the beginning level, players receive deposit bonuses, special weekly bonuses and cashback offers. These benefits are not offered to online slots players who are not in the players reward club. These special bonuses allow players more bonus money to increase their bankroll with, which in turn increases their ability to play longer or win more.

Cashbacks are of special interest to online slots players. Cashbacks usually happen once a week, and give players back a set percentage of money they lost while playing the previous week. I do not know of a land casino that gives a portion of a player’s lost money back. A free limo ride or a comped room, yes, but lost money back, no. It is a perk that is meant for online casino players.

As players move up in levels the percentages on deposit bonuses increase, the weekly bonuses increase and so do the cashbacks as well. Some of the player rewards clubs even offer special gifts to their players in the highest levels. This is similar to how the comps increase in value at a land casino. Player rewards clubs are a definite perk to playing slots online.

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If you live in the United States and love Vegas Technology online slots games, today is a sad day for you.

It was announced that eleven online casinos have voluntarily shut their doors, and will no longer be excepting new players. It is still unclear if they have exited the US market entirely and whether or not they will still allow existing US players to continue to play. The eleven online casinos are:

VIP Slots
Slots Galore
Go Casino
Online Vegas
Super Slots
Crazy Slots
Millionaire Casino
Silver Dollar Casino
English Harbour Casino
Grand Vegas Casino
Caribbean Gold Casino

All eleven casinos are powered by Vegas Technology. So whether the decision to pull out was the online casino owner’s or Vegas Technology’s, online slots players in the US are now without Vegas Technology online slots games to play.

Players will also miss out on the fun online slots tournaments that Vegas Technology online casinos hosted. They were known for Frugal Fridays, which featured $1.99 entry fees, as well as regular freerolls, Weekend Madness tournaments with large prize pools, and their themed holiday online slots tournaments.

If this is a case of Vegas Technology leaving the US market, it is a similar action to the one made by Microgaming in 2006 when they exited the US market after the signing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. When Microgaming left the US market all of their online casino partners quit accepting US players.

Given that these eleven online casinos are split up among a few different owners, it seems plausible that the shutting of the doors is more of a Vegas Technology action, although no official statement has been made from VT at this time.

With these online casinos no longer open to US players, the dominate software presence in the US is now Real Time Gaming.

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Some of you online slots players may have heard that late yesterday ten more online casino, online poker and online gambling portals were seized by the United State Department of Justice. This time the indictment is coming through the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Maryland.

Just like with the other three online sites that were seized last month on what is now known as Black Friday (totally different from the Black Friday that comes after Thanksgiving), the ten sites were seized on charges of money laundering and operating an illegal online gambling operation.

Unlike the last seizure, this one was not the result of the creator of the payment system rolling over on the sites, but from an undercover sting operation from 2009 to 2011. Homeland Security set up an online processing payment company which processed $33 million in funds during the course of the sting operation.

I want to take this time to remind all of you online slots players that there is no player ban on playing slots online or playing any other online casino game. The only online gambling activity that is in fact banned is online sports betting.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) does prohibit US based financial institution from processing transactions to and from online casinos. So there is no reason to fear playing online slots.

I will suggest that all online slots players should limit how much money they keep in their player account at online casinos. I only say this in the event that the Department of Justice does seize the site you play on. In the event of a seizure, players are unable to log in to retrieve their funds unless the Department of Justice comes to an agreement with the online casino operator.

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Okay, I know that the beginning of May is a busy time for online casinos and software developers. But where are the new online slots games?

Not a word. Not an announcement. True there are some great online slots tournaments and promotions being hosted at online casinos for Mother’s Day. But I have never seen a month go by in which new online slots games are not launched.

And really a continually new offering of new online slots games is important to the slots end of an online casino. Slots games are the cash cows of online casinos. The games are designed to slowly take a player’s money over time while holding up an impressive jackpot. The jackpot is why most online slots players keep playing and coming back for more.

Considering that online casinos scoop in a good chunk of revenue from their online slots games it is important to always have something fresh in their line ups.

While online slots games are entertaining, the action never changes. And you can only look at the same bonus game again and again so many times. It is not uncommon for online slots players to become bored when faced with the same game over and over again. And boredom could send a player to a competitor. A continually updated line up of slots games gives players new choices and new experiences.

Also new online slots games give online slots players motivation to return to the online casino. If there is fresh, new games to choose from, players are far more likely to return to check them out.

Those points considered, I want to know where the new online slots games from the big software developers like Microgaming, Vegas Technology and Rival Gaming are.

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Recently an independent party conducted a random survey to see which online casino platforms players preferred in terms of slots.

The surveyors found that 37% of players prefer Real Time Gaming powered online casinos. The reason behind the higher pull towards Real Time Gaming is said to be because their online slots games are fair and that the quality of the slots games is good.

Real Time Gaming is a fairly wide-spread online gaming platform, and is known for such games as Aztec’s Treasure, Crystal Waters, Fruit Frenzy and Shopping Spree.

In fact, Crystal Waters is one of the online slots games that Rushmore Casino based a regularly occurring tournament series on for their new online slots tournaments. Rushmore offers its players a Welcome Bonus of $888.

But they also offer a Slots Special Welcome Bonus, whose bonus money can only be used on their online slots games. This special Welcome Bonus is a 400% deposit match bonus worth up to $2,400.

Rushmore also offers their players weekly and weekend bonuses on a regular basis. They also offer a VIP Rewards program.

Cherry Red is another old but favored Real Time Gaming online casino. While their Slots Special Welcome Bonus is the same as Rushmore’s, Cherry Red offers a $7,777 Welcome Bonus instead of only $888.

Also like Rushmore, Cherry Red offers weekly and weekend bonuses along with a VIP Rewards program.

Seems that Real Time Gaming online casinos make sure to offer some incentives for playing online slots at their casinos.

But then having a little extra money in your playing account never hurt anyone, and it will certainly allow you to spin the reels on your favorite online slots games longer.

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While this news is not directly related to online slots, it does have an impact on where you play your online slots games.

It was recently discovered that online casinos whose licenses come from Malta do not have any legal obligation to pay winnings to players. This is because Maltese law says that gambling debts are not enforceable.

So Maltese licensed online casinos are not under law required to pay their players.

To me this is a big problem. What is the point of playing online casino games, such as our beloved online slots, if we are not going to be paid when we win?

How did this story come to light?

Back in 2008 a German player at Casino Club won the equivalent of $228,318 in a jackpot on a video poker online game. First casino staff tried to convince him to just keep playing and not withdraw his winnings.

Then his account was closed for security reasons and his winnings confiscated because they believed he had won the jackpot illegally. The gentleman then contacted the Lotteries and Gaming Authority, the regulating body of gaming in Malta. That is when he was informed that Maltese law does not enforce gambling debts.

But I am willing to bet that if a patron owed a casino money that debt would be enforced.

To go along with being told that Maltese law would not make Casino club pay him his winnings, the gentleman then was informed that he was under suspicion of unspecified fraud involving the use of robot program, abusing bonus offers and having more than one player account.

All this after playing at Casino Club for a few years.

The German player in question was told by his lawyer that the only way this could be settled would be to take his case to the Maltese courts. But between their law making gambling debts unenforceable and the slogan of the LGA being “Advocate of Fair Play Since 1998,” I doubt that justice will be found.

As for his winnings, the German player’s winnings are said to be going back into the game’s jackpot for someone else to win. But do you really think that player would be paid their winnings?

So online slots players, it might be wise to avoid playing in Maltese licensed online casinos for the time being.

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Last week the ThoughtLink Ltd launched a new online casino. This new online casino of theirs is powered by Rival Gaming, maker of the ever popular iSlots. The name of this new online casino? It is Spartan Slots Casino.

Despite the spare name of this new online casino, it is being launched with an out pouring of money. This includes a $5,000 Welcome Bonus Package made up of a 100% deposit match bonus worth up to $1,000, a second deposit match bonus of 2005 worth up to $400, and topping it off are four reload deposit match bonuses of 150% making up the remaining $3,600.

But the real push of this new online casino is the special four new online slots games that Rival Gaming made especially for the Spartan Slots Casino. These four new slots games are called: Diamonds Down Under, Best of Luck, Aussie Rules and, to go along with the new online casino’s name, Spartan Warrior.

And like the majority of online casinos in the industry, Spartan Slots is also offering progressive online slots games with progressive jackpots. No word yet on whether these new progressive jackpots are linked to any of Spartan’s sister casinos or not as most online casinos are prone to do.

ThoughtLink Ltd. is also the owner of other online casinos, such as Box 24. Their online casinos are like flip flops, easy to get into and fun to use. Between their welcome bonuses and their exclusive online slots games this new online casino will be a nice addition to the ThoughtLink Ltd. family.

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