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As the online slots world is well aware, Microgaming launched their new Lord of the Rings online slots game earlier this month.

True enough it is an impressive online slots game. And to celebrate the launch of this new online slots game Microgaming hosted a launch party at their home on the Isle of Man where they are based.

Guests were surrounded by decorations to bring the movie to mind, including adapting the party area into a hobbit habitat. Well, a hobbit habit that is human-sized of course.

Guests, which included ministers from the Isle of Man, business leaders and members of the media, not only got to try out the new online slots game, they got to play in their own private competition that night. The guests with the top three highest scores were told to name a favored charity. Those three charities received a nice £10,000 donation from Microgaming.

Now that is a nice sort of slots tournament.

The overall guest reaction was that Microgaming has topped themselves with this online slots game, and that it is their best online slots game to date. And this is taking Thunderstruck II from earlier this year into consideration.

But this is will not be the last the online slots world hears about Microgaming and The Lord of the Rings.

Remember the official name of this new slots game is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. You know what that means.

Yes, there will be two more Lord of the Rings online slots games, one for each of the movies that make up the movie trilogy.

I think that, like the movie trilogy, this will be the online slots game experience of this decade. The first in this trilogy of Lord of the Rings online slots games is a good indicator of what players can expect down the road.

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Seems that between the True Blood TV show and the Twilight craze vampires are the ‘in’ supernatural creature right now. So it is no surprise that there would be new online slots games created with vampire themes.

Several months ago Vegas Technology released their new online slots game with a vampire theme called Vampire Vixen.

Now, at the height of the True Blood enthusiasm, WagerWorks is releasing their own new online slots game with a vampire theme. They are calling it Bitten.

The comic book style graphics are more reminiscent of Twilight rather than True Blood, but it seems that they were aiming at the adult audience of Twilight:

“WagerWorks has capitalized on what is proving to be a global phenomenon right now—vampires! …Fans of blood sucking movies such as Twilight will love its superb comic book inspired graphics,” said Head of Products at Virgin Games Warren Eloff.

I have to honest. I am about as much of a fan of Twilight as a homeless person is of being homeless. I am, however, a fan of good features. And thankfully Bitten has them.

There is no bonus game in Bitten. However it does have a pretty awesome Wild. This Wild not only substitutes for other symbols to create winning combinations, it also works as a Scatter symbol. So if you happen to land two or three you will receive a Scatter payout on top of any winning combinations it completes.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the Wild symbol also carries a 2xmultiplier on any winning combination it helps to complete.

Landing three or more bonus symbols will trigger the free spins feature. Once triggered players will find themselves traveling to a crypt where they choose a coffin. Each coffin contains a number of free spins. So choose your resting place well as it determines the number of your free spins.

The best part of these free spins is that their multiplier is not fixed—it increases more and more with each free spin.

So despite the Twilight inspired take on the vampire theme, Bitten carries some decent game features. WagerWorks has done well with its new online slots game.

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The management at Jackpot City was a bit stunned by their most recent progressive slots jackpot winner of £4,444.

No, they were not stunned by the fact that someone won the progressive jackpot. So if it is not the fact that a player won that stunned them, how exactly do you stun the management staff of an online casino?

Simple. You refuse to accept the jackpot.

A spokesman from Jackpot City said, “This is a first for us at Jackpot City, where a player has refused to claim their winnings.”

The latest winner of the WowPot progressive jackpot hails from China. And he has declined his progressive jackpot win on the grounds of his culture’s superstitions.

Culture in China is very different from Western culture. The Chinese believe very much in their culture’s superstitions, this includes the belief in Numerology.

So what was the Numerology superstition that has this man in China refusing his jackpot?

In Chinese Numerology the word for the number 4 has a very similar sound to the word ‘death’ in Chinese. Because of the similar sound, the number 4 is to be avoided as often as possible. Dealings with the number 4 are believed to bring bad luck, another cultural belief in China.

You can see how a prize made up of four number 4s would make this winner wary.

“This player contacted customer support upset about the winnings amount. He was not keen about missing his winnings but at the same time is very worried about bringing bad luck to himself and his family,” a spokesman said.

So what do you do when a player refuses to accept their progressive slots jackpot winnings? Well, I do not know and it seems that management at Jackpot City does not either, but they are trying to figure it out:

“We are talking with the player in hopes of working out a different approach which would be sensitive to the player’s beliefs and also ensure he does not lose out on his progressive winnings.”

At least we know that online casinos, despite the reputation for wanting to take a player’s money, do make the effort to make sure they get their progressive slots jackpot winnings.

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Patrons of the Aqueduct race track in New York City have reason to be excited. The long-delayed construction and operation contract for the installation of slot machines at the New York race track has finally been approved.

Genting New York LLC, a part of the multinational organization Genting Group, is the lucky winner of the contract for the Aqueduct construction and operation.

Actually ‘lucky’ should not be the description. Genting New York LLC was backed by the state’s Lottery Division. In fact, Lottery Director Gordon Medencia actually wrote a letter to the state’s governor, David Paterson, in support of Genting, saying that they were rational in their approach to the city’s complex construction environment.

As a result of the now approved contract, the Aqueduct will be installing around 4,500 slot machines, turning the race track into a racino.

This decision to add slot machines to the Aqueduct is an attempt to bring in much needed revenue, similar to other states’ decisions to expand their current gambling offering or upgrade their race tracks. It is expected that the slot machine revenue alone will bring in around $1 million per day…eventually.

I saw eventually because the Aqueduct will not be starting out immediately with all 4,500 slot machines.

Genting has suggested only starting out with 1,600 slot machines and that only after six months approval on the contract. Their reasons were not given, but I am going to assume that this will give them adequate time to expand the race track into a racino, and to allow those nearby and patrons to adjust to the expansion.

If this initial start is what is decided upon, the remaining slot machines would follow on the heels of the first 1,600 six months after, taking the project a year in all to be completed.

This expansion comes with a thirty year license and will be the model for the future of the New York racing industry.

Another side benefit of the addition of slot machines to the New York Aqueduct is the 1,300 construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs that come along with this expansion. New York is sure to see a positive outcome from these incoming slot machines.

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Microgaming is at it again. As if creating three brand new online slots tournaments and revamping the older favorite game For Love and Money were not enough, they are now releasing yet another new online slots game: Loaded.

This new offering is inspired by the flashy hip hop culture that is popular right now. The new online slots game features graphics such as Limos, expensive Boats, beautiful women and hip guys. There is also the top rapper of this little hip hop world, Triple 7. Oh and do not forget his super flashy Ring.

The five reel, twenty five payline new online slots game from the ever impressive Microgaming offers all of the standard features players have come to expect. The game carries a regular jackpot of $35,000 and a bonus feature jackpot of $140,000.

As for those features, the super rap star Triple 7 is this online slots game’s Wild. But he is not the top rap star of this little world for nothing. He will award players with a 3x multiplier on any winning combination he helps to complete.

The free spins on this new online slots game are a bit different from ordinary free spins, but they are not a new concept as Microgaming has used the same concept before.

In addition to being the Scatter, landing three or more of Triple 7’s Ring will trigger the free spins feature, which begins with players choosing how many free spins they would like: 12, 16 or 24. But it is not necessarily the easy decision it seems.

Each choice has a multiplier attached to it. The largest multiplier is attached to the least amount of spins and the lower multiplier is attached to the greater amount of free spins. It is one of those bonus features in which you pick which you want more: a bigger multiplier or more spins.

Loaded is likely to become another Microgaming favorite but I somehow doubt it will have the lasting power online slots games like Thunderstruck, its sequel, Tomb Raider and the now popular new online slots game Lord of the Rings.

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Online slots started off as similar to the good ol’ slot machines as was possible by their software creators.

In order to play a slot machine, players would have to put coins into the machine and pull the handle and eventually push the Spin button.

For online slots, players could not put actual coins into their computers to play an online slots game. First they make a deposit to their player account. Once they have money in their player account, players would then click the + or – buttons to set how much they were wagering per payline.

Even though it required a deposit to a player account and was all electronic, players were still playing online slots games with coins like they would on a real slot machine.

But recently players have begun to see credits on their online slots games instead of coins. It seems the new online slots games are having players wager credits. Is there a difference?

No. Despite what online casinos would like players to believe there is not a difference between coins and credits. It is just a different name for the same thing.

When players are playing an online slots game they are well aware that they are playing with real money. After all they can see just how much they are wagering in cents right there on the interface.

By switching from coins to credits for wagering, online casinos are hoping that players will not attach the idea that credits are money, and will wager more. After all it is only credits is what they are hoping players will think, and then spin the reels some more.

For slots strategy and bankroll management, players need to keep in their minds that credits are indeed the same as money, and not forget that they are playing with real money. After all it is only money.

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Slots—be they online slots games or slot machines—are games of chances. This means that there is no slots strategy out there in the world that is going to beat the house edge and cause the slots game or slot machine to pour forth its coins.

Not that slots games use coins anymore, but that is beside the point.

The point is that there is nothing that a player can do that will have an effect on the slots game. This is because the game is controlled by a Random Number Generator (RNG). This is a part of the slots game that is programmed by the creators with all the possible outcomes for that came. When a player hits Spin the RNG will pull one of the possible outcomes at random.

Hence, the ‘random’ in Random Number Generator.

But I never tire of hearing about the things player will do to try to have an impact on a random game anyway. I think this derives from our culture’s need to dominate and control all aspects round it.

And while the stories about blessing a slot machine with holy water, mathematically calculating a pattern of spins to make, and the trinkets and statues that players will play with to combat the RNG, there have been times when what sounds like a silly hope is actually mildly true.

Such is the case with slot machines and pacemakers.

Pacemakers are generators of electromagnetic interference (EMI). EMI is similar to radio frequency interference (RFI).

Some of the older patrons of slot machines are either concerned that their pacemakers will interfere with the workings of the slot machines and hurt their chances of winning. Others are hopeful that it will interfere in a positive way, and cause the machine to pay out.

To the relief and sadness of both parties, while RFI has been known to play with slot machines from time to time, the EMI from pacemakers will not have an effect on slot machines.

So add pacemakers to the list of things that will not work on a slot machine with holy water, tiki statues and lava rocks from a sacred volcano. The truth is that slot machines—and online slots games—are truly random and players will not be able to have an impact. So, humans, give up that compulsion to control this aspect in your lives.

And put that sacred lave rock back because chances are you have irritated some Hawaiian deity, and while that will not impact your slots odds, it just might have an impact on the bigger aspects of your life.

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Slots players living across the Atlantic will be quite pleased with the latest freeroll online slots tournament series that has been launched.

This new freeroll online slots tournament is called the EUR100 Daily Slots Freeroll, and it is being hosted by Crazy Vegas.

I know, an online casino with Vegas in its name that American players cannot play at. It is kind of a letdown, especially considering what this freeroll online slots tournament has to offer.

As you can tell by the name of this online slots tournament series, this is a daily offering at Crazy Vegas and it is free for players to enter. All they need is to have downloaded the casino’s software in order to access the tournament section of the lobby, and to have created a real player account.

The title of this online slots tournament series also reveals its prize pool: EUR100. Those 100 Euros are broken down as so:

1st place: EUR40
2nd place: EUR25
3rd place: EUR15
4th place: EUR10
5th place: EUR10

At first the prize pool may not seem like a lot, but players have to remember that this is a daily freeroll tournament. Every day it is free to enter and every day EUR100 are being given away.

Each one of these daily freeroll online slots tournaments’ registrations open twelve hours before the start of each tournament and close one hour before the tournament ends. Each tournament lasts for twenty four hours.

This makes it easy for players to register and easy registration is a must since each tournament must have a minimum of six players to commence.

One more thing to note: players only have one rebuy available to them for EUR1.00.

This freeroll online slots tournament series is good for both experience players looking for an easy tournament to play in. It is also good for newer players who are just getting into online slots tournaments since they do not have to put money on the line.

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Okay so we are back to talking more about what players can do in terms of slots strategy to manage their bankrolls.

This morning I talked about playing only one coin per line on non-linked and non-progressive slots games. The cost of playing these cash cows does not have any decent odds for you to win the huge, life changing jackpot that thousands of others slots players are spinning for.

Nothing comes for free. And progressive slots games are meant to take your money. After all, that totally amazing jackpot has to come from somewhere.

So now we move on to other ways to manage your bankroll.

Going along with the ‘play one coin per payline and avoid linked and progressive slots games’ is ‘also avoid slots games that reward players for wagering extra coins.’

There are some slot machines and online slots games out there that only make certain bonus features triggerable when the maximum amount of coins is wagered.

This means that if you are playing one of these slots games and the maximum number of coins per line is 10 and wagering $0.01 per payline, that twenty five payline game will not cost you $0.25 per spin. It will cost you $2.50 instead.

On top of wagering a lot more than you probably intended, the chances of triggering this now unlocked bonus feature is still slim. The odds of triggering this special maximum coin wager only bonus feature does not balance out the cost of the spins it will take. It is not even close.

These ‘triggerable only with maximum coin wager’ slots games are like the linked and progressive slots games. They are meant to suck your money out of you faster without paying you hardly a thing back.

Smart players who want to use an effective slots strategy to manage their bankroll will do well to avoid any slots game that wants a maximum coin wager to make bonus features available.

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It is no secret that there is no slots strategy out in the world that will allow a player to influence the Random Number Generator (RNG) of a slots game. No amount of holy water or rabbits’ feet is going to make the RNG like you more.

However, there is one thing that a slots player can control: their bankroll.

Approaching bankroll management with the idea of saving money is a good attitude to have. But then this depends on how you judge the quality of your time playing. If you judge the quality of playing based the amount of time or money you put into playing then bankroll management can be done.

Managing your slots bankroll is similar to using coupons—the more you save the more you have in your pocket.

Translation: Throwing the maximum amount of money into a slots game is not going to make you any likely to win. Slots games do not recognize the amount of money as large or small, and use that to determine the likelihood of you winning.

Winning slots is based on chance and on luck. If you just so happen to be sitting in front of the game when the RNG pulls that jackpot winning combination then congrats to you. But the amount of your wager is not a factor.

So what are some ways to manage your bankroll as your slots strategy?

First off, stick to wagering only one coin on non-linked and non-progressive slots games.

Yes, those progressive jackpot slots games offer those life changing jackpots, but they are just carrots being dangled in front of players. Casinos and online casinos make money off of players who play progressive jackpots.

This is because you have to wager the maximum amount, meaning multiple coins, in order to be eligible to win that amount. Progressive jackpot slots games are linked so there are more players, which decrease everyone’s odds of winning it. Between the maximum wagering and the thousands of players, these are cash cows for casinos and online casinos.

This is why playing only one coin should be a part of your bankroll management and your slots strategy.

More to come in Part II.

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