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GameMasters Secret's Page
The GameMaster's Secrets
The Internet Blackjack Report - Part 4
BeatWebCasinos.com Book Review

Subtitled "The Shrewd Player's Guide to Internet Gambling", this book chronicles the experiences of the author during a year of part-time gambling on the Web. To most people, the thought of giving one's Visa or Mastercard information to some Cyber-casino located in a second-world country and then gambling with real American dollars on a computer whose games may be rigged or otherwise flawed registers about 10 on an insanity scale of 1 to 10 where 9 is "completely nuts". But Bill Haywood, the author of this book, did just that and he not only survived the process, but actually made a very nice profit to boot!

Haywood does a good job of showing the reader that the on-line gambling experience isn't a walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death, but more an unusual investment opportunity which must be approached in a rational and unemotional manner. In the relatively new world of unlicensed and essentially unregulated Internet casinos, the newcomer's best protection against fraud is the experiences of players who have "been there" before. The Internet as an institution has many, many flaws, but one of its strongest points is the ability to disseminate information, real and false, very quickly. While one cannot believe every comment which is posted on the Internet, it doesn't take long to develop a sense of which information sources are good and which aren't. Not only does Haywood name his favorite sources, he becomes one himself through what at least appears to be full disclosure regarding his actual experiences. Eager to name names, the author provides, for example, a list of casinos where his experiences were satisfactory and he also provides two lists of casinos which he recommends the prospective player avoid. Since there are hundreds of Internet casinos from which to choose, Haywood is, and rightly so, less discriminating about casinos to avoid but that may at a cost of some fabulous opportunities. It's like putting your retirement fund into a passbook savings account; the money is certainly safe, but will the return offset inflation?

Risk comes in many forms but for Mr.Haywood the biggest risk in gambling at Internet casinos seems to be patronizing an operation which has developed its own software. His conclusion is that if a casino has developed its own software, it also has the resources to manipulate the games in such a way as to cheat the player. Thus, one of the most important points a reader may get from this book is to do business with casinos that utilize software from the "big" companies like Microgaming, Starnet or Cryptologic. Haywood doesn't offer any guarantees, of course, since events move quickly in Cyberspace and that's shown by the recent actions of one of the casinos on the book's "Recommended" list, Golden Palace Casino. This operation, once one of the most respected on the 'Net and one which uses software from Microgaming, took unilateral steps to curtail what they called "bonus abuse" by refusing to pay out the money in the accounts of more than a few players. Very little explanation for this virtually unprecedented action has been given by the casino and no proof has yet been offered to define the meaning of "bonus abuse", but there are some former customers of Golden Palace Casino out there who feel they've been cheated and the software manufacturer has done nothing to help in the situation. So, to think that doing business with a casino which uses "name-brand" software is good and that doing business with a casino that uses "no-name" software is bad is oversimplifying. However, it is a good place to start and, if all those players who have had funds confiscated by Golden Player Casino had the benefit of Mr. Haywood's book (this happened before the book was released), they might have avoided the situation.

Which games to play, how to play them properly, how to employ camouflage to keep the welcome mat out and many other, well-considered "tricks of the trade" are in this book. But it's not just a question of beating the casinos at their own game, though the reader will learn a lot about that. The heart of this book lies in taking advantage of the free money which many Internet casinos offer to new and existing customers and Haywood shows you how to do that, step-by-step. If you're at all familiar with casinos, the concept of "free money" may seen laughable, but it really isn't. Almost every brick-and-mortar casino now has some sort of slot club which gives cash rebates to customers and comps for dinners or hotel rooms, etc. are the norm in Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City and many other gambling venues. So, for an Internet casino to offer a $25 bonus for opening an account, or to offer an additional 20% on top of any new deposits made by an existing customer isn't unusual. Mr. Haywood tells you how to get the most out of these bonuses so that, perhaps for the first time in your life, you may walk away a winner.

Will the publication of this book spoil the party? Will good promotions go the way of the buggy whip? Hardly. Haywood addresses that in a chapter of the book and I'd like to add my two cents' worth. On the Video Poker page of this publication, I periodically update my results from playing 25-cent All American Video Poker at two local brick-and-mortar casinos. See that article for more particulars, but let me say that the casinos pay me about $4 an hour just to show up and play, win or lose. I also get room comps, free meals, free concert tickets, reduced room rates at other casinos, etc., etc. Now, I'm not aware of any All American games on the Internet which have the same 100.72% long-term return as the games I play and I can't get a meal from a Cyber-casino and few of them offer slot clubs. When I play at a "real" casino, I use cash and I get my winnings immediately, but at a Cyber-casino, I have to use a credit card and it may takes weeks to get a check for my winnings. Plus, I know the games are honest at my local casinos, but I can't say that for sure about any Internet casino. My list could go on and on, but the point is that Internet casinos have only one advantage over brick-and-mortar operations and that's convenience. Is convenience enough to get someone to play at an online casino? Perhaps. But the reality is that these Internet casinos will find it necessary to not only continue to be generous with bonuses, but also upgrade their games, find a new way to pay off winners quickly and make the whole process a lot more simple and secure if they expect to survive.

This book won't kill the goose laying the golden eggs, but will, I believe, usher in the golden dawn of the smart Internet gambler. Even if you're just considering the notion of playing at an Internet casino, you owe it to yourself to read this book because at only $14.95 it's a steal. And I'll save you the trip: Amazon.com won't have it until September, 2000. You can purchase the book now at www.beatwebcasinos.com and a few other retailers on the Web.

Beatwebcasinos.com by Bill Haywood (RGE Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-910575-14-2 $14.95)

  

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