The Horseshoe Casino in the heart of blue collar Cleveland is providing nearly 2,000 jobs internally, as well as over 2,000 construction and contractor jobs. The casino itself will not be as glam and glitzy as anything in Vegas; it will be centered around other Cleveland attractions including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and their home sports teams. It will have around 2,000 slot machines, 60 specialty table games and around 30 poker tables, which will be a pretty good size Casino situated right in the middle of downtown. According to Bingo.com it is supposed to draw around 5 million tourists who will also be enjoying shopping and dining in the downtown area.

One of the determining factors for the bill to pass was the promise for even more jobs with further construction on the casino in the coming years. The main reason these casinos are being approved is because of the failing employment rate and economy in Ohio. Cleveland and Toledo are one of the poorest major cities in the US and these casinos are meant to help turn that statistic around.

There are some legal tussles going on in which some lawyers are trying to get the courts to declare online poker as a game of skill, which would then make it legal. But online slots games do not get that accord.

And in all honestly, they are not games of skill. They are games of chances. But the true lover and player of online slots knows this, accepts this and still loves spinning the reels. There is a feeling of excitement in not knowing what the reels are going to stop on and whether or not you will win. This comes from the nature of the game itself.

When playing online slots, the player’s roll is to choose their paylines, choose the denomination of their coin and then choose how many coins per payline to wager. After this come clicking Spin. The player then waits until the reels stop spinning to see what they have won or not won on that spin.

Notice in that sequence that once the reels start spinning, the online slots player is only waiting for the outcome. The online slots player does not do anything to affect how the spin will result. This is what is meant by game of chance. To play and not be able to influence the outcome of a spin is a game whose results are based on chance.

There is nothing at all wrong with playing a game of chance, and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. If you enjoy playing online slots and are gambling responsibly, there is no reason to stop playing a game you like.

When you are out and about on the casino floor you are bound to hear some grumbling about how slot machines just are not paying out like they used to. Generally speaking these are the older slots players—not to say they are old, I am a fan of only being as old as you feel. This is not out of some sense of bring frugal or the like; the better explanation is that these slots players have been around the casino for awhile and they have noticed a change in the overall payout of slot machines.

And they would be right. It is not their imagination.

And no, the answer is not some conspiracy on the casinos of the world at large to universally change their payout percentages or something like that. Nor does it have to do with the advent and upswing in online slots. Actually the reason lies with slots players in general.

Over the last decade or two there has been a shift in how slots players wager, in the denominations they wager with. It used to be that slots players would give no thought to wagering a quarter or even a dollar per payline.

Not anymore. Now slots players are mostly prone to wagering a penny or nickel per payline. Unless of course they are wagering on a progressive slot machine.

Here is where the shift comes into play in regards to overall payout: the higher the wager, the more a slot machine winds up paying out, the better the payback. With slots players lowering their overall wagers, the overall payback of falls as well. It is just math and a trend, not a conspiracy.

Unfortunately slots players are quite susceptible to becoming problem gamblers. This is because slots games, both slot machines and online slots games, are designed to slowly whittle away a player’s bankroll over time.

For slots players who are of the belief that if they keep playing, their luck will change and they can win back their losses they are highly susceptible for problem gambling.

Because of the cash cow status that slots games have, players are unlikely to win back their losses, causing them to take out credit lines or withdraw and gamble with money that they do not have or cannot pay back.

This has put gambling debt on the rise with the economy in the state that it is in. More players are have less to gamble with and so are taking out lines of credit. Casinos have tightened their rules for allowing players to take out credit lines, but some problem gamblers can and have gotten around the tightened rules.

Problem gambling is no laughing matter and there is help for those who seek it. There are resources online and off for those who wish to find help in curbing their gambling addictions.

Addictions to slots and to gambling in general can hurt lives. But there is a difference between enjoying slots and being addicted to them. Feeling the compulsion to play them is a big indicator. Also spending money you know you need for bills or food is another big indicator.

Even if you suspect that you might have an addiction to slots or to gambling seek help; it is better to err on the side of caution.

This new five reel, twenty five payline online slots game is called Paradise Riches and features an exotic summery beach theme. This comes across in the Dolphins, Coconuts, Island Drinks and other tropically oriented symbols.

While it does not carry all of the bonus features that Vegas Technology’s other new online slots game, Agent Cash, does Paradise Riches does not come to players empty handed.

There is only one Wild in Paradise Riches, but it is a Wild that pays. When substituting for any symbol other than the Scatter, there is a 3x multiplier on any winning combination that the Hula Girl helps to complete.

On top of the 3x multiplier, the Hula Girl will also payout a 10,000 coin jackpot for landing five of her on the reels.

The Tropical Flower is the Scatter in Paradise Riches. Players need only land a minimum of two to be awarded a Scatter payout.

But three or more Tropical Flowers will trigger the free spins feature. Twelve free spins are awarded and each free spins has a multiplier of 3x on it. As another little bonus, players can retrigger the free spins as long as all twenty five paylines are active.

The cost of a spin on Paradise Riches starts at $0.25 ($0.01 per payline) and goes up as high as $125 ($5 per payline) per spin. This range makes this a good online slots game for a high roller or basic player or someone who is just looking for some relaxing slots play in paradise.

Vegas Technology has done a good job in creating a new online slots game to gives off a relaxing feeling while at the same time giving players a good game.

This leads players to wondering if there is a difference between the two slot machines. Some believe that the $5 slot machines in the high limit room have a better payout percentage, a higher one than those on the regular casino floor.

This is one of those slots myths.

While I cannot say for sure 100%, it is unlikely that there is going to be a significant difference between the $5 slot machines in the high limit room and the $5 machines on the regular casino floor.

The reason for this is that the people in casinos that manage the slot machines, called slot directors, are the ones who order the casino’s slot machines. When they order them they tend to order slot machines with the nearly the same payout percentage as the other slot machines in that denomination.

This means that when a slot director orders $5 slot machines, in this instance, he or she will order them all with nearly the same payout percentage regardless if the slot machine’s final destination is the high limit room or the regular casino floor.

I believe this slots myth is something that is perpetuated by the casinos, perhaps not directly, but they certainly do not mind players being lured into the high limit rooms and being tempted to play other high limit casino games.

It is best to keep in mind as a bit of slots strategy that there is no significant difference between the payout percentages of the slot machines on the floor versus those in the high limit rooms.

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.

One such way is pre-paid gift cards. These little cards allow players to put a balance onto the gift card. They can then deposit money from the gift card to their player account so that the money does not seem to be coming straight from a financial institution.

Some online casinos accept the pre-paid gift cards, most notably several of the Vegas Technology online casinos, which do accept U.S. players.

Crazy Slots in particular not only accepts pre-paid gift cards, they also offer players a slots bonus.

The first time a player uses a pre-paid gift card to deposit money to their player account, they receive a 100% deposit match bonus. This bonus is worth up to $600. So for the player who deposits $600 using a pre-paid gift card, she will receive another $600 from Crazy Slots.

Naturally players need a coupon code in order to receive this slots bonus. For the first pre-paid gift card deposit players need to enter ZY035 in the cashier section of the online casino.

But the slots bonuses do not stop there. After that first slots bonus, players can continue to receive more slots bonuses for using a pre-paid gift card. Every time a player uses one, they can receive a 10% deposit match bonus worth up to $100.

Cray Slots is definitely giving players a good reason to use pre-paid gift cards to deposit money to their player accounts. Free money in a slots bonus is still free money.

An online slots tournament that is especially for all of those late night people!

And Go Casino has just the online slots tournament series to fill that need. They host their Red Eye Pot Percentage online slots tournament every night, or morning depending on how you view time, of the week. That means that there is always some late night online slots action out there for night owl slots players.

It is also offers a chance to play and even win an online slots tournament that most players will not play in simply because they are asleep. True, less participation means less in the Pot to win, but it also increases a player’s chances of winning the Pot.

Each Red Eye Pot Percentage online slots tournament begins at 12:30 am and runs through 8:30 am every day. So there is no single night, or morning, that leaves an online slots player without a late night thrill.

This month seven online slots games created by the ever popular Vegas Technology have been selected to be used in this online slots tournament series, one for each night of the week:

Monday: Winter Wonderland
Tuesday: Parrot Party
Wednesday: Tiki Lounge
Thursday: Northern Lights
Friday: Butterflies

And the weekend night, or morning, offerings are:

Saturday: Fire Hawk
Sunday: Eastern Dragon

Players who are interested in the Red Eye Pot Percentage online slots tournament series only need to register at Go Casino and pay the $2.99 entry fee to receive their 250 tournament credits; rebuys are $2.99.

Today we are going to take a look at the under the sea themed offering from Vegas Technology: Mermaid’s Quest.

Vegas Technology is one of the newer software providers in the online casino game industry. But just because they are new does not mean they are not good. In 2005 they won Top New Casino Software in a reader’s poll in Gambling Online Magazine.

So just because they are a newer software provider does not mean they are not capable of producing quality online slots games.

In fact, Mermaid’s Quest is one of their highest rated online slots games. This is because, with only eight paylines, it is an easy to understand game with a profitable bonus game. And we all know how much online slots players like their bonus games.

Naturally all of the graphics and symbols are of creatures that live under the sea and include the Mermaid, King Neptune and a Treasure Chest.

That bonus game I mentioned is triggered by landing at least three of the Mermaids. Players are then taken over to a second screen pick-your-prize bonus game for what is considered a strong bonus game when compared to how simple the regular play is.

There are also free spins in this online slots game. These ten free spins with a 2x multiplier are triggered when three King Neptunes are landed.

Naturally there is a wild in Mermaid’s Quest as well: the Treasure Chest. While it does not have a multiplier on it, it does offer a rather large 10,000 jackpot for landing five of them on an active payline.

Mermaid’s Quest is a fine online slots game offering from Vegas Technology, and it continues to be one of that software provider’s highest rated online slots game.