The Spin Room

The Spin Room is Victor Chandler's online casino. For those who have never heard of Victor Chandler before, the Victor Chandler Group operates some 30 betting shops in Europe. It's a reputable operation established in London in 1946 with a staff of 350 at its Gibraltar headquarters. The Group is currently chaired by Victor Chandler, grandson of the founder.

 

But enough with the history lesson, on to the games. The Spin Room is the only reputable real-money casino that I know of that is powered by Chartwell Technology, a Canadian casino software company. The games require no download and all transactions at The Spin Room are in British pounds (at the time of this writing 1 pound = 1.43 US dollars).

 

At the blackjack table you can play up to three spots at a time. The rules are pretty standard but I did notice one quirk: When I hit soft 17 against an Ace, the dealer didn't immediately give me my card. Instead, he (or she? or it?) asked "Are you sure you want to hit 17?" Only when I assured the dealer that I really wanted to hit did I get my card. Apparently the dealer doesn't have a good handle on soft card basic strategy.

 

Before going into the other games, let me voice my beef with the minimalist design and lack of human interaction at The Spin Room. There are no multi-player games and no chat. I didn't even see so much as the name of a human being on this site and the overall experience was pretty darn lonely, and perhaps a bit sad.

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Anyway, back to the games. Roulette gives you the option of American or Euro rules, but choose Euro -- there's no double-zero and if 0 is spun, all outside bets are halved and returned to the player.

 

Paigow poker and baccarat offered the standard 5% house commission on wins.

 

Video poker, sic bo, slots, craps and Caribbean poker are also available.

 

Despite my gripes, I did okay at The Spin Room and cashed out a hundred or so bucks ahead (even after losing a 100 pound bet -- ouch!)

 

I haven't received payment yet but expect that Victor Chandler will keep my money safe. Payments are processed Monday to Friday. I'll update this review when the check arrives.

 

Gambling Stadium

           

Gambling Stadium is a casino center where "one account gives you full access to multiple casinos." These casinos are Mona Lisa Casino, Shangri-La Casino and Snap Casino ligaz11. The concept of being able to choose from multiple casinos at one Net location is appealing, until you discover that all of the casinos in the Gambling Stadium group are virtually identical, powered by the same Unified Gaming Java (no download required) software.

 

Although Unified Gaming software is somewhat primitive, it's lauded by online blackjack enthusiasts for its favorable blackjack rules -- arguably the best on the Net.

 

At Snap Casino, the Gambling Stadium casino I chose to play, you have your choice of a single-deck game or a six-deck game. Savvy blackjack players know the fewer the decks, the better your chances of beating the house, and steer clear of the six-deck game. Table limits for single-deck bj at Gambling Stadium are $1-10, $10-50 and $25-100. The dealer stands on soft 17, you can double on any 2 cards, and double after splitting. Another player-friendly rule is early surrender against an ace, meaning that you can give up half your bet BEFORE the dealer checks for blackjack. Late surrender is available against a ten.

 

The rules had me salivating but, for reasons unknown, my credit card deposit took nearly 24 hours to go through. The site claims that deposits are processed Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. EST. If outside of this time frame, the deposit will be posted by noon the next day. Guess you're out of luck if you want to play late at night.

 

When the chips finally reached my account the next day, I dropped a couple of hundred at the blackjack tables, so I can't vouch for the withdrawal system. But if it's as slow as the deposit system, I wouldn't expect payouts to be especially prompt.

 

Gambling Stadium offers a 15% match play bonus on your initial deposit of $500 or more. Deposit $100 to $499 and they''ll add a 10% match play bonus. After you've played enough to qualify, a little "play bonus" button automatically lights up. Nice touch.

 

In addition to blackjack, video poker, slots, keno, roulette, paigow and baccarat are also available.

 

Gambling Stadium, which is headquartered in San Pedro, Costa Rica, has plans to purchase ten Internet casinos by December 2001. All the new casinos will be incorporated into this site as they are acquired, and customers will be able to play at each new casino using their Gambling Stadium account.