Roulette is like the odd middle child of gambling. While slots have enjoyed an immense success in the online space, and blackjack has been taking physical casinos by storm for hundreds of years, roulette is kind of stuck in the middle. It has received moderate success both online and offline, especially in Europe, but its profits aren’t really something worth writing home about. Still, it has remained probably the most emblematic casino games of all time, to the point where the word “casino” and the symbol of a roulette wheel are practically synonymous! I mean, who can forget that famous scene in Casablanca where Rick Blaine shows his compassionate side by helping out a Bulgarian couple at the roulette table? Inspired by him, you might have wanted to try your own luck there, offline or online. If you have, here are a few things you absolutely need to know:

1. Different Online Casinos Offer Different Games

At first, the choice of which online casino to select might seem like a no-brainer – duh, I’ll just go with any of them! It’s not like they won’t have roulette, so what does it matter? Well… It actually matters quite a bit, because the bonuses that you’ll receive are different everywhere. You need to do your research in order to figure out the specifics of each casino, and the perks which you’ll gain within. Luckily, some of the best sites to play online roulette with real money are listed and readily available for you, so all you have to do is look through them and see what they’ve got! This example will give you a 100% match for your first deposit of up to £500, which isn’t bad at all, but don’t take my word for it and do your own research!

2. Not All Roulette Versions Are Equal!

This is some knowledge that’s actually going to be pretty useful to you both online and offline – even though the differences between roulette version may be minute, they are still there! The secret lies in the green number zero, and more specifically, in the fact that American roulette has two of them (a 0 and a 00), which doubles your chances of losing if you bet on a color. This could further explain why roulette isn’t really all that popular in the West, and why some Vegas casinos have started importing European and French roulettes. French is the best, by the way – just so you know!

3. Live Roulette Is Your Best Friend

I’ll never understand why more people don’t play live roulette! If you have some kind of problem with online roulette (too impersonal, you feel it’s not fair, etc), 99% of them can be fixed if you simply switch to live roulette. The overwhelming majority of respected online casinos offer this feature for free (in the sense that you don’t need to pay additionally to access it, you can use your deposit to bet on live roulette spins), and trust me, it’s going to change the way you see the game! I don’t really have enough time to go into the numerous benefits of playing with a real live croupier as opposed to with a lifeless machine, but take my word for it, it can bring fresh new life into the game!

When online casinos first started becoming truly popular over 10 years ago, they made a promise – that any gambler, regardless of where they were or what they were doing, could log in and play some casino games without ever needing to set foot inside a physical casino. That promise, however, remained unfulfilled for many more years. You can’t log in and play while waiting for the bus, after all! Or while at the doctor’s waiting room, or even during your break at work. At least you couldn’t, until mobile casino started to become prominent. Now, with a mobile device, a good 3G connection and a registration to an online casino with good mobile support, you can truly play casino games wherever you want… Except, as a new study shows, many players give up on online casino before even making a registration.

According to Jumio, which is a leading ID credentials authentication company that aids businesses in reducing fraud, ¼ of all gamblers who attempt to sign up for a mobile casino in the UK end up quitting before ever completing the process. The information comes from a study on poor mobile experience conducted from information taken from several UK-based online casinos, and reveals that a lot of the players who end up registering anyway quit before making a proper deposit, which leads to a lot of players who might have otherwise been interested in online casino have left before playing a single game. This is a huge problem, and one that has cost casino companies approximately £39 million.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is pretty bad for business. But why does it happen at all? The principal reason is that the sign-up and deposit process is needlessly long and complicated. If you look at some of the most popular online communities, such as Facebook, you’ll notice that the sign-up process is actually very simple and straightforward, requiring the minimal amount of information (usually name, age, e-mail address and password). Online casinos, on the other hand, require an astonishing amount of information. A typical online casino will require, on top of all the things already specified, full address, postal code, bank account and more. Online casinos actually have no use for a lot of this information, but it’s still required by law, or to try and prevent money laundering or other illegal activity. By having all the necessary information, with the system verifying that it’s legitimate and not made up (it rejects applications with fake information automatically), the people behind the online casino have the possibility to pursue those suspected of illegal acts, but in the process of gathering that information they’re also pushing away thousands who just want to play. A long sign-up is already a pain in the neck on desktop, and it’s only increased on mobile. If mobile casino owners want to increase their revenue, the best thing they can do is make the sign-up process easier and more robust.

I know you are as fascinating with gambling as I am if you are here, so let’s look at some interesting and funny facts about our favourite games. Some of you love to spend their time in the casino, others – sitting in front of the screen. Some love cards and some – bingo numbers. Let’s have a look.

Age of the Players

Back in the 70s of the last century, the age of gamblers ranged from 25 to 35 years. Today people play in casinos from 18 to 70 years. Since you can obviously only be allowed if you are of legal age, the average age in some specific countries may range to 20+.

Baccarat – What’s that Name About?

The Italian word “baccarat” means “zero.” It’s pretty much the same in French, so it is not very clear which one of those countries gave the original name to the game. Oh well. Let them sort it out.

Bingo – Who’s In?

Bingo is one of the oldest of the bunch and is popular between people of all ages nowadays. It may not be the quickest way to win money, but playing bingo, you can rip a huge jackpot. In some places in Las Vegas Bingo you can win more than $20,000! Oh, whilst I am at it, I got you all uk´s best bingo sites under one roof, you can thank me later.

Keno – What on Earth is That?

Keno – this is one of the oldest gambling. It is known that Chinese emperors of the Han dynasty staged drawings, similar to the modern keno lottery to raise money to maintain the army.

Who’s Playing Across the Board?

About 2/3 of the total world population made any bets back in 2011 (latest stats available of that scale). People whose annual wealth is below $10,000 are three times more likely to buy lottery tickets than those whose wealth is above $50,000 per year. Makes sense if anything.

The Good Old Cards

Mathematicians say that a deck of 52 playing cards can form a 2,598,960 unique combinations. 1,098,240 of them can form a pair. So, the probaility to get a pair in combination is 42.26%. Wow!

The Lottery – Believe it or Not

It does not matter on what basis the player crossed out the number. The odds of winning are always the same. Lottery – is a game based on luck. Get it?

Aaaand for Dessert – Poker

According to statistics 6.8% of the population of adult people on the planet, that is, 40 million people regularly play poker. About 76% of poker lovers are men. Damn it girls, you gotta catch up!

And that’s it for now, I await you back soon for more interesting developments and fun facts from the world of casinos and gambling.

Gambling addiction has been a problem literally since gambling has existed, to the point where some religions, such as Islam, have placed gambling in the same category as alcohol and have completely forbidden it. But now, with gambling and casinos being more accessible than ever (in no small part thanks to the immense popularity of online gambling), the problem has increased tremendously. Dozens of people get diagnosed with gambling addiction across the world every week, and despite authorities’ best efforts, things are somehow becoming worse instead of better. Countries around the world are taking various preventative measures, but at this point it’s anyone’s guess if any of them will end up working out.

The UK, for example, has recently faced some controversy when it was discovered that doctors have been permitted to prescribe powerful drugs to people suffering from gambling addiction – drugs typically reserved for the most severe cases of alcohol and drug addiction. While many have called the practice desperate, it is important to note that these drugs will only be prescribed to gamblers who can’t be helped in any other way. The US has also seen a sharp increase in cases of gambling addiction, but whether that’s due to an actual increase in cases or due to psychologists learning to recognize its symptoms more easily is up for debate. Either way, 3.4 million Americans have been diagnosed as suffering from gambling addiction – a record high. The state of Minnesota has declared March to be Gambling Addiction Awareness Month, dedicating numerous resources to raising awareness and letting people know that this problem exists, and that if they believe they have it they should seek help as soon as possible.

Minnesota has achieved this by creating numerous videos featuring gambling experts and people suffering from gambling addiction talking about the problem. The videos are available online, on a special website or on the Facebook page “nojudgment”, and will also be playing in sports clubs and in gas stations across the state. The videos talk about how many gamblers feel the need to deceive themselves and others, to convince themselves that they’re not addicted and they can stop whenever they want, when in reality that’s not really the case. “It’s critical that people who are concerned that their gambling is out of control reach out to get the help they need,” says Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper. “Having the conversation with loved ones, with people who have gambling problems themselves, or with professionals is a great place to start.”

There are numerous places where you can receive help if you believe you’re suffering from gambling addiction. In Minnesota, you can call a confidential helpline at 1-800-333-HOPE, while the UK has several organizations dedicated to preventing problem gambling, such as GambleAware.

Online slots are the most popular casino games be it at land-based casinos or at online casinos, but if you decide to play on the Internet, you’ll have way bigger choice of game variations. In fact, there are thousands of different real money slot games out there, many of which also optimised for mobile, i.e. you can play them even on your smartphone. This might sound as a very overwhelming number of slots that you might try, but the fact to the matter is that some of them are pretty similar or at least have similar features, because they are developed by the same software house. This is precisely what we’ll talk about in this article – the biggest online slot developers in the industry and their best titles. And let’s start with the best one, at least in my humble opinion, and that’s NetEnt.

NetEntertainment, better known as NetEnt, is one of the oldest companies in the field. Founded in 1996, this software house has proven itself to be the one that develops the games of the highest quality. They might only have around 150-200 games in their portfolio, but every last one of those has perfect graphics and animations and an exciting theme. Some of their most popular titles include Gonzo’s Quest, Jack and the Beanstalk, Starburst, Mega fortune, Twin Spin, Jack Hammer, South Park, Dracula, The Invisible Man, Beach, Reel Rush and Dazzle Me, to mention but a few. NetEnt have upped their game even more in terms of quality and attention to detail with their latest releases: Guns N’ Roses, Koi Princess, Cosmic Fortune, Creatures from the Black Lagoon look and feel simply amazing. On top of that, NetEnt are also the best mobile slot provider, as the mobile counterparts of their slot games are as great as their desktop originals. Surely a company to watch out for!

Microgaming is yet another big name in the casino software development industry and, in fact, the first ever company of its kind. Since their founding far back in 1994, they’ve developed around 1000 different casino games, most of which slots – classic 3-reel and modern 5-reel ones. Some of the most popular titles in their portfolio are Mega Moolah, Jurassic Park, Kings of Cash, Thunderstruck II, Stash of the Titans, Kings and Queens and so on. The best thing about this company is that they don’t only develop separate casino games like NetEnt do, but whole platforms. They offer their clients all types of solutions – a download casino, an instant-play casino, a live-dealer casino and, last but definitely not least, a mobile casino. And considering the fast success of their relatively recent releases such as Game of Thrones, The Black Knight Rises and Jurassic Park, it’s more than obvious that this giant is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Lastly, I just have to present to you the software giant Playtech which is, in fact, the most widely adopted casino platform in the world. There are hundreds of different casinos around the world that have trusted Playtech with the provision and maintenance of their software, and, consequently, hundreds of casinos that offer their games. Their most famous slots are based on movies and TV Series and especially on the Marvel franchise. If you sign up at a Playtech casino, make sure you try these slots: The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Spiderman, Avengers, Gladiator, Little Britain, Monty Python Spamalot and Rocky.

As you can see, there are plenty of great games to try, even when you consider only the top 3 software houses in the field. But remember that with a simple google search you can find everything you need to know before playing online slots for real money, so make sure you take full advantage of the available knowledge.

Hey, thanks for visiting my online publication, stranger! You look wonderful today! Have you done something to your hair? Anyway, my name is John (yeah, my parents weren’t the most creative folks) and this is Clicksouris, the magazine which, despite its humble beginning, will soon grow into something that’s going to attract a much larger audience. Still, all great journeys start with a single step, and that single step is you, dear reader. So thank you for being here, and thank you for supporting me in my endeavor!

So, what are we going to be discussing here? Well, it’s mostly the things that come to mind when you think of casino magazine – reviews, strategies, news, interviews and more! It’d be exactly like a physical casino publication, only, well, online and free! I’ve got literally years of online casinos (sorry, bear with me, but I have to say it – I gambled online before it was cool), so I feel like there’s plenty of casino-related topics that we could be discussing, which is precisely what we’d be doing! I hope you enjoy my magazine!