GameMaster Rating: 80 points (of 100)

General Comments: Update: This used to be one of the top-rated casinos in this list, but their ridiculous charge of 5% to buy in at the casino has cost them their "Excellent" rating. Can you imagine a casino that charges you 5% of the amount of purchase if you use a credit card to make your deposit? I can't and it's a shame, because there are some good games here. If they change their policy, I'll change my rating. Here's my original review:

Now here's an on-line casino that I can get excited about, at least from a Video Poker point of view. In addition, they have some interesting variations of some of the other casino games like Caribbean Stud and Keno, all of which are thoroughly examined in their respective sections. But VP is the main reason to consider playing here; you may do it in denominations ranging from 5 cents to 5 dollars. This is a Java-based casino, so no download is required, but it doesn't have the rich graphics that a regular software-based casino usually offers. Each different game has an informative Help menu which rates high with me. It should be noted that I played here only in the 'fun' mode, but you are hooked up to their server for that, so hopefully you'll get a good idea of how things would work should you choose to play for 'real' $$$. They also have a sportsbook, but that's outside the scope of this review, though Brian Gabrielle Sports, the folks who handle the sports section of our site, have given it a favorable rating.

Recommendations: I wish their public access area had more information. For example, I have no idea of the minimum required to open an account and, while they have a Mastercard and Visa logo on the front page, are those the only credit cards accepted? Are bank wires and checks accepted? I don't know. They need to drop this 5% buy-in charge.

Games Analysis (All this information was correct on the date listed above)

Blackjack: Two types are offered here, a single-deck game and a six-deck game. The casino rules state that they shuffle the cards of both games after every hand. The rules for the single-deck game are: dealer hits A-6, double only on 10 and 11, double after split on 10 and 11, split like cards only to 4 hands, the dealer 'peeks' and insurance is available. Only one spot may be played. Split Aces receive only one card each. For the six-deck game, the player can use up to 5 spots and the rules are: dealer stands on A-6, double on any first two cards, double after split, split pairs, including unmatched 10s up to four hands (three if more than one spot is used), split Aces receive only 1 card, insurance is available and split Aces receive only one card each. The single-deck game has a casino edge of about 0.45%. The six-deck game has a 0.47% house edge. The limits are 5-cents to $500.

Blackjack playing tips: There's nothing special here.

* The theoretical return is the long-term payback a player who is using the correct strategy may expect. The return is lower for 1-coin play because the Royal Flush pays proportionately less when fewer than 5 coins are played.

Video Poker playing tips: What they call "Super Bonus " here is actually Double, Double Bonus. All games have the option for "autohold" which is good, but you need to remember that it will hold all 'made' hands and sometimes that may not be the correct play.

Roulette: Two versions are offered: a 'European' single-zero wheel and a 'Las Vegas' double-zero wheel. Neither offer the 'enprison' rule, so the casino's edge is 5.26% on the double-zero game and 2.70% on the single-zero game. Limits are 5 cents to $500.

Baccarat: This is a standard game with a 5% 'commission' on a winning Bank bet, (1.06% casino edge on a Bank bet and 1.23% on a Player bet ), with ties paying 8:1. Dealt from a 6-deck shoe which is shuffled after every hand, the limits here are 5 cents to $500.

Keno: Three different types of Keno are available and, as compared with most Keno games, they have pretty good pay outs. But we're still in the 5% casino edge area here, so don't get too excited. Limits are 5 cents to $25 with a maximum payout of $50,000 per game. Here's an analysis of each type of game:

Spot Keno - This is what most of us call 'keno', where you pick one to ten spots out of 80, then 20 numbers are chosen, etc. You know the drill. The variation here is that on many picks, you may bet either a 'regular' or 'high' version. Let me illustrate this with an example:

A 4-spot ticket pays the following: 2 for 2 hits; 7 for 3 hits and 73 for 4 hits. Add it all up and that's a 95.16% return. The 'hit' frequency (hands that pay something) is 25.89%.

A 'high' 4-spot ticket pays the following: 1 for 2 hits; 10 for 3 hits and 100 for 4 hits. Add it all up and that's a 95.15% return. The 'hit' frequency (hands that pay something) is 25.89%.

What they've done here is juggle the pay schedule so that those who feel "the big one" coming on (number, not earthquake) can really go for it. Just so you know, a 4 of 4 will hit, on average, once every 327 plays. Holdeth not thy breath, keno player.

Super Keno- I'm not sure where the 'super' comes in, so let's analyze the 4-spot ticket to see what's different. This game also has a 'regular' and 'high' payout.

A 4-spot ticket pays the following: 1 for 2 hits; 8 for 3 hits and 128 for 4 hits. That adds up to a 95.43% return. The 'hit' frequency (hands that pay something) is 25.89%

A 'high' 4-spot ticket pays the following: 0 for 2 hits; 9 for 3 hits; 183 for 4 hits. The total return is 94.93%. The 'hit' frequency (hands that pay something) is 4.6%

Well, no great difference with this. Just remember that with the 'Super' version, it takes more $$$ to stay in the game, because you're trading off more frequent (though lower-paying) hits for a bigger, yet more rarely seen 'high' payoff. You pays yer money and you picks yer poison.

Zippy Keno- This isn't a reference to 'fast' but to 'zip', which is another word for 'zero'. This version pays when you hit zero numbers, so you might find that appealing if you never get anything good at Keno. Let's look at a four-spot ticket:

A 4-spot ticket pays the following: 1 for 0 hits; 0 for 1 hit; 1 for 2 hits; 6 for 3 hits and 55 for 4 hits. The total return is 94.89%. The 'hit' frequency (hands that pay something) is 56.73%.

A 'high' 4-spot ticket pays the following: 1 for 0 hits; 0 for 1 hit; 0 for 2 hits; 7 for 3 hits and 111 for 4 hits. The total return is 95.1%. The 'hit' frequency (hands that pay something) is 35.04%.

So, even getting paid for zero 'hits' doesn't make a big difference, but at least with the 'regular' 4-spot, you'll have a lot more plays that win at least something.

Keno playing tips: First of all, don't. But, if you're going to play anyway, pick a game that will keep you in the running for a while; those are the games with more frequent payouts. Ultimately it won't make any difference, but at least you'll probably get to play longer.

Caribbean Stud Poker: Two variations of the game are offered and both have a progressive side bet. You may bet as little as 5 cents on the progressive, even though your 'ante' bet is higher. The differences in the two games lies in the progressive; in the 'regular' game, a Royal Flush is the highest hand and a $1 side bet wins it all. I did a calculation of the return and it's about 46% with the progressive at $32,000. In the 'Super' game, a $1 side bet wins a $25,000 Royal jackpot but a sequential Royal (in order: 10,J,Q,K,A) wins $1,000,000. Don't get excited; the odds on that are so high that I don't have enough room on this page to put all the zeros. Since a regular Royal pays a max. of $25,000 on the 'super' version, if the 'regular' game's progressive is higher, that's the one to play.

Summary and Rating of Oasis Casino: This isn't a fancy place, but it has a lot of good information for the prospective player, a good reputation in the business and a lot of really good Video Poker games. Until this casino drops their unprecedented 5% buy-in charge, they get an 80-point rating.