I read several main message boards daily to get ideas for my column and there was one posting recently which caught my eye. It was spam; the guy was playing on the paranoia of others and trying to get readers to email him so that he could send a list of "honest" casinos. According to his email he's from Bulgaria, a place where much internet fraud is located. I don't know whether he is fraudulent or not, as I never replied to his post. However, he did bring up an interesting point regarding multi-player games versus direct competition with the internet casino – which one is more honest?

Where to get an honest game is a common question from players in casinos both on land and on the internet. Gambling is a game which has been rife with cheating historically. Who hasn't seen a cowboy movie with gambling in the old town saloon and someone getting shot for cheating? Las Vegas was founded by mobsters and as everyone knows the house has an edge on every game, the question is how much of an edge. Many internet casinos do their best to show players their integrity by having independent auditors audit their games monthly (such as PriceWaterHouse Coopers). The audit is shown as a scanned fax with the PWC seal on it. Other internet casinos simply check themselves and expect you, the player, to trust them. eCogra is an independent watchdog organization working to promote honesty and integrity to customers in the online gambling industry. Internet casinos which apply and pass the eCogra requirements are awarded with the eCogra seal, meaning they have been checked and approved. Even with all of these things internet casinos, sports books and poker rooms are riddled with rumors of corruption and theft of players money be it through stealing in the games or denying money from legitimate winnings. Finding a legitimate game is actually fairly common online. This is to help you find ways to calm your fears of being dealt a bad game.

There are things to look for in internet casinos be they multi-player or direct against casino playing. Multi-player games sound like they would be less risk. You are playing against an actual human being in theory. As such how much risk you are taking is simply the unknown knowledge of how good the player is that you are playing against. That can be figured out by watching a few games before joining the table. Here's the thing, though, with new technologies out there you don't actually know if you are playing a human. You could be playing a BOT (robot) a program which has been programmed to guarantee perfect play with no human errors. This will place the odds in your competitions favor. However, there is something you can do about it. Multi-player games have chat and BOT's can't chat. Of course, this isn't a full-proof plan as some players may not like to chat, or you could be playing against someone who doesn't speak your language. In these cases you can double check your hunch by watching how fast the non-chatting player reacts to his hand. If it's immediate all the time then you have reason to be suspicious. Humans take their time unless the decision is completely clear. Those that don't take their time make mistakes. Perfect fast action play, be it bot or human, isn't someone you want to be against at the playing table.

Choosing the right internet casino is similar to choosing the right multi-player table to play at. As mentioned previously finding a casino that has received the seal of approval from eCogra is a great way to assure a fair game. Another thing to look for is independent auditing of monthly payouts from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. In addition to that, I recommend players do additional research. Read the entire website. Do the terms and conditions look fair to you? Check their customer service, does the site offer Live Chat or phone support? If it is email only it doesn't mean that it isn't a fair game, but it does mean that you may have to wait for answers. Try out their customer service. Do they seem knowledgeable? If not, you may want to try a different casino. Also, internet casinos share the engine for the play for fun and the play for real. This means you will get the same game with the same odds in either place. Take advantage of this and try out any casino you are considering by trying their play for fun first. Make sure that you play in the play for fun the same way you would play in the play for real. Test it by watching the amount you started with and see how long it takes to lose the amount you would use to deposit. I say this because internet casinos often give about 2,000 in virtual dollars and that is not the amount most of us use to make our first deposit. After all of that read the message boards. Have people had a problem with getting their winnings? There are enough honest casinos out there, there's no reason to waste your time or money on one that isn't. Another alternative to consider is the fusion of internet and land-based casino with a live game. This way you can see the dealer and there are no random number generators to worry about. Of course you still have to read the entire site and do research to make sure they pay.

Regardless of whether you prefer multi-player versus direct casino competition finding the right place to play can be a challenge. You can trust all of the casinos recommended by this site, as we have already checked them. If you are interested in an internet casino or poker room not mentioned here then you now know what to do to see if they are worth your time, or not. Either way may lady luck be on your side when you play.

Posted on: February 28, 2006

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