What would you do with €11.7 Million? That’s a question that a 20 year old student from Norway now has to answer after hitting the largest online casino jackpot ever this past week. Most people assume you have to be a high roller to hit such a jackpot, but not in this case. The casino player (name has not been released) was on a free spin campaign betting €0.50 per spin and was down to his last €8 playing the Mega Fortune progressive slot machine at Betsson Casino when the magic happened.

According to the reports from Betsson casino, the player is a 20 year old male student from Norway who decided to give a free spins campaign a try after going to see a movie. His spin landed him in the bonus round where he had the chance to win the jackpot. For those not familiar with the Mega Fortune slot and want to see how the dramatic win happened check out the video of his game play:

Personally I thought the pop up notifying the player of his €11,736,228 win could have used a little more excitement. I don’t know what I’d think if that came up on the screen and apparently neither did the jackpot winner. Here’s what he had to say: “It was a shocking experience when the €11.7 millions dropped before my eyes. I couldn’t believe it….I had to call my brother and a few friends. It hasn’t really sunk in yet…It was just impossible to sleep, and I am shaking and sweating. I haven’t thought about what to do with the winnings. I need to try and calm down before even thinking of what I do with the money!”

The previous record for an online casino jackpot win was a measly €5 Million; making this record even more impressive. Even the WSOP in Las Vegas has only ever topped out at just over $10 million, and that was USD too.

I’m sure that this student never thought winning €11.7 million was ever possible when he sat down at his computer, but you never know! Large progressive jackpots like this are across the network of sites using the same software and there are others waiting to be won! Make sure you read the reviews of the best online casinos before trying to become the next million.

Sloto’ Cash Casino has announced that they will move to RTG software and start accepting US players. The official transition date has note been announced, but is expected to be the first week of October. As we first reported on August 15th, Rival software was forcing their licensee’s hands to exit the US market which would be a drastic blow to revenue for many casinos.

On the popular industry message board, Affiliate Guard Dog, the Affiliate Director for Deckmedia (parent company of Sloto’ Cash) made the following announcement a few days ago:

Sloto cash will become RTG next week!

We are a few steps away from completing the full software integration which will go live next week! Due to the switch we will be unveiling a new marketing line including new promotions, new creative and new tracking links, new members area and of course ALL PLAYERS WILL BE ACCEPTED again!

RTG Casinos have a good reputation, a wide range of games and are one of the few software providers that allows their licensee’s to continue to accept US players. There’s no doubt that the decision by Sloto’ Cash was based on the fact that they were forced to leave the US market. Sloto’ Cash had made a great name for itself over the years and built a strong following of players. Although many software providers offer very similar table games (there are only so many variations to blackjack), that generally isn’t the case with Slot Games. This is especially true in that Rival was very well known for their iSlots series that essentially had a story unfold while players played the slots. These games will no longer be available at Sloto’ Cash (although they weren’t available to to US players once Rival forced their casinos to withdraw) so it will be interesting to see the casino is received by existing and new players.

We encourage players to review the new Sloto’ Cash once it goes live to help other players decide whether this is a casino for them.

Breaking News: The U.S. Attorney has announced today the filing of a motion to amend the forfeiture and civil money laundering charges against Full Tilt Poker and its board of directors. According to the statement released by Preet Bharara of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Full Tilt Poker was essentially a “Global Ponzi Scheme” by misspresenting their player’s into believing that funds were safe when in actual fact Full Tilt Poker had a shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars. Individuals from the Full Tilt board of directors who were included in the new motion are: Raymond Bitar, Howard Lederer, Christopher Ferguson and Rafael Furst. Lederer and Ferguson are by far the biggest names that have now been added to these serious charges.

Full Tilt Lied to Players

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara had some damaging remarks about how Full Tilt Poker has been operated the past few years saying: “As the proposed Amended Complaint describes in detail, Full Tilt was not a legitimate poker company, but a global Ponzi scheme.” going on to say “Not only did the firm orchestrate a massive fraud against the U.S. banking system, as previously alleged, Full Tilt also cheated and abused its own players to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. As described, Full Tilt insiders lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike about the safety and security of the money deposited with the company.”

Accused Made Millions Off the Scheme

According to the motion between April 2007 and April 2011 “Bitar received approximately $41 million, Lederer received approximately $42 million, and Furst received approximately $11.7 million. Ferguson was allocated approximately $87,486,182.87 in distributions, and received at least $25 million, with the remaining balance characterized as “owed” to him.”

Poker Stars vs Full Tilt

Even after the initial indictment on April 15th, 2011, many international players believed that Full Tilt would remain a viable poker site, much like PokerStars who successfully started paying back American players within weeks of the indictment. Poker Stars has reportedly paid over $125 million to date to US players as well as continuing to accept international players and remaining as the largest poker room in the world. Full Tilt Poker on the other hand has not had such a smooth ride. They have not paid back a single dime to American players and according to this latest motion it doesn’t look good for those non US players as Full Tilt Poker “continued to accept foreign player funds (after the April 1th indictment), despite the fact that it had liabilities to players around the world for over $300 million and held only a small fraction of that amount in its bank accounts.” This is on top of the fact that Full Tilt Poker had its gaming license revoked from their jurisdiction, Alderney and has been offline for almost three months. The hearing on the outcome of the gaming license is underway this week, although this latest motion will not help the situation. Many players were hoping for a buyout from another company, however based on these latest numbers of the liabilities held by Full Tilt Poker that seems to be unlikely.

At this point in time it does not appear that criminal charges have been laid against Lederer or Ferguson. We continue to follow this breaking story; for the latest information follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

Ever wonder how government run lotteries fair? With all the talk about tough economic times one might think that consumers are being more conscious of how they spend their money, possibly taking less risk and storing cash under their mattress. Well based on the data that the World Lottery Association released this month for the first half of 2011 it appears that the opposite is true. Consumers appear to be looking for the easy way out these days as lotteries around the globe saw an increase in sales.

According to the World Lottery Association, whose organization represents lotteries from 80 different countries and 6 continents, global lottery sales were up 12.4% worldwide; with “All major lottery markets witnessed increases in sales of between 5 and 25% for the first half of 2011, versus the corresponding period of 2010.“

The biggest year over year increase in lottery sales were seen by the mainland China lotteries which boasted an impressive 30.9% increase when compared to the first half of 2010. Not too far behind was the Latin American countries who came in at a 24.9% year over year increase. Interestingly enough many online casinos have considered the Chinese market as well as the Latin American market as regions with great opportunities when it comes to online gambling. Whether an increase in lottery sales would directly translate to success for an online casino remains to be seen, however it does show that the lure of gambling isn’t losing steam there.

As for the North American lotteries, they had meager gains in comparison to Latin American and China with only a 5% increase. However, the one standout was the California Lottery which had a respectable increase of 19.5%. California is considered one of the front running US states in terms of being on the forefront of regulating online gambling, and we’re sure that these lottery results can only help their case in terms of showing what their population wants.
For our loyal readers you’ll know remember how we looked at the difference in odds of winning a government lottery versus a casino game like blackjack. Obviously our research didn’t get to everyone.

American online casino players’ options continue to dwindle. Over the past few months we have seen some of the major casino groups close their doors, such as English Harbour and Casino Coins; but now comes word that the software provider Rival Gaming has told all licensee’s that they can no longer accept NEW US players. Back on April 19th we reported that many of the Rival Gaming white label partners were no longer accepting new US players; however this latest announcement (although there hasn’t been a public statement as we’ve seen with many of these departures) comes from Rival itself.

Online casinos that have used Rival Gaming and accept new US players have a big decision to make; do they accept the fact that attracting new US casino players will no longer be a part of their marketing strategy, or do they find a new software provider. Switching software providers is not a simple task and without going into the technical details of it all the integration period is usually a few months. But for those online casinos whose business survives based on US players, we suspect that they will make a push for a quick integration to ensure that it’s business as usual.

One such company that will be moving software providers from Rival Gaming to TopGame is ThoughtsLinks LTd (as known by their affiliate program, AffiliateWide) and even better known for the three online casinos they operate: box24casino.com, blackdiamondcasino.net, spartanslots.com. They announced to their business partners on August 3rd that they “received notification from our software provider, Rival that as from 7th August we will no longer be able to accept New US player registrations…In light of this decision we are changing our software provider to the TopGame so we can continue to promote our product to the US. The process will involve migrating existing players and affiliates for our 3 brands with an expected completion date of the 15th August 2011.”

Is has not been made clear as to whether existing US players will be forced over to TopGame Software or if they will be running different casino platforms based on when you open your account. On the website box24casino.com it still lists Rival as the software provider and at the time of publication we had not heard back from Rival customer service to clarify the situation. Rival Software was very well known for their iSlots series of slot games where a story unfolded as you played; those will definitely be missed by players. We have yet to review the TopGame Software, however in light of the fact that they are picking up some bigger US brands they will be next on our list to review, so stay tuned for that.

We expect that the dust hasn’t settled in the US market place and more casinos or software providers will change their stance on US players. The options for US players when choosing an online casino continue to dwindle. With many of the big names and trusted online casinos leaving the US market it becomes even more imperative to be careful when selecting a new casino. There are still good online casinos for US players, however there are definitely some bad ones that you need to avoid.

UPDATE: FEBRUARY 28th, 2012. Calvin Ayre has been indicted by US DOJ and the Bodog.com domain has been shutdown and seized. We are following this story closely; read more about the Bodog.com shutdown.

UPDATE:December 14th, 2011. Bodog is now closed to US players and has redirected all existing accounts to a newly launched site called Bovada.lv. Here are the latest details about Bovada.lv. The following article overviews the initial announcement of Bodog closing to US players, which was first made public in July 2011.

BodogBrand has announced that at the end of 2011 it will cancel its licensee agreement with the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group that will effectively shut down Bodog to US players. On the surface this may seem like a shocking development as many in the online gambling industry assumed that Bodog would be one of the last to leave the US market. However after a closer look at the news it has become clear that this is simply a rebranding by the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group. Having an understanding of Bodog’s corporate structure, their reliance on the US market and attempts to expand internationally is important and we will look at how each play a role in this decision by Bodog.

Morris Mohawk Gaming Group

Prior to 2006 Bodog was one company, owned and operated by Calvin Ayre, which became a mass marketing machine and one of the largest online gambling companies around. During 2006 Calvin Ayre states that he devised a new corporate structure resulting in the creation of BodogBrand.com which would sell the rights to operate the brand to licensee’s in different regions. The Morris Mohawk Gaming Group (MMGG), headed by prominent Mohawk and Olympic Gold Medalist Alwyn Morris was the licensee for the US market. BodogBrand also created licensee’s for Europe/Canada and Asia. This technically put Calvin and all licensee at arm’s length of each other; and more specifically the US side of the business which would presumably make some business partners or regulatory bodies feel more at ease. However with recent developments in the US market after Black Friday, it appears that even this well crafted licensee structuring agreement, having the Bodog name in the US market still put some companies and regulatory bodies on edge – there needed to be more separation.

Bodog in the US Gambling Market

Bodog was undeniably one of the best marketers in the US gambling market and could be seen dominating industry websites and appearing in mainstream media outlets. They ran a healthy and very profitable business that allowed for attempts into the music and MMA industry with Bodog Music and Bodog Fight ventures. Both of these were seen as unprofitable and eventually shut down. Bodog has continued to maintain its perch among the top online gambling companies that operates in the US market and have received good casino reviews. Sources close to the industry suggest that Bodog still generates a majority of their profits from the US market. So some questions still remain as to how the agreement was structured such that Bodogbrand could simply walk away from their largest market, and potentially the cash cow that drove international expansion.

Bodog’s International Expansion

Bodog has been making attempts to grow in the UK and other European markets. This can be seen from their sponsorship agreement with Fulham FC the past few years, a new shirt deal with Ayr United for this season and BodogEurope boasting a new downtown London office. More importantly and probably the biggest impact on this move to shut down the US market was that they recently announced that BodogEurope is the first gambling company to hold a UK license. The UK regulatory body has decided that they are changing the rules with respect to how business is down there, and companies will soon need to hold such a license (and pay more tax). It is understandable that they don’t want any association with companies that offer gambling to US players and that’s why the bodog brand will no longer be available in the US as of December 31st, 2011. The question remains as to whether Bodog can be successful in the UK and the rest of Europe. It is a very saturated and mature market, and they will either need to spend boat loads of cash to further brand themselves and compete with very well established companies, or have a product that is a game changer. Based on history, we expect that it will be the former.

What does Bodog Shutting Down Mean to Players?

Bodog has stated that players will simply have their accounts and balances all transferred over to the new brand (which hasn’t been announced) run by MMGG. It is supposed to be seamless and you won’t notice a difference which falls in line with the speculation that this is simply no more than an effort to change the brand in the US.

When we consider that Bodog will need deep pockets to fund their push into Europe we suspect that this is simply an effort to distance the name Bodog from the US market. We think it’s a smart move and for Bodog to be taken seriously outside of the US market, it was needed to be done. In the end, players in the US market need a reliable and trustworthy company, and there aren’t many left these days. MMGG will no longer be able to rely on the strong brand recognition that Bodog has built over the years so it will be interesting to see how they perform. The proof will be in the product and we’re sure that user written reviews of the new mystery brand will be the true test. Players still have to wait nearly another 5 months until they are moved over to “MMGG’s new brand”.
 

Alternate Gambling Options

We have received many questions about safe online casino alternatives to play for US players who have reservations about the new “bodog”. We have a couple recommendations:

Sports, Casino & Poker

INTERTOPS Accepts US players. Solid company that’s been online since 1996! Offering Sports, Casino and Poker from one account. $100 Sportsbook Bonus, 100% casino match and up to $600 in the poker room. Open an Intertops Account today!

Online Casinos

CASINO TITAN Open to US residents. Recommended online casino that is currently offering a 400% bonus up to $1000 for new players.Open Account Here

SLOTS JUNGLE Open to US residents. Great for slots players with a massive 250% up to $2500 bonus. Credit cards Accepted.Open Account Here

On August 1st, 2011 English Harbour and their group of 6 other casinos will be closing their virtual doors for good. They made the announcement official over the weekend. As reported by Real-Casino-Reviews.com on May 17th, the casino group (also known referred to as Casino Coins) initially made the decision that they would block new US players from opening an account. However they taken this action a step further and will be completely shutting down operations, not just in the USA but worldwide. The online casinos that are effected by this decision are: English Harbour, Millionaire Casino, VIP Slots, Slots Galore, Silver Dollar Casino, Super Slots and Caribbean Gold Casinos.

The English Harbour group of casinos now all have a message on their website that announces the August 1st closure of the website and recommend players withdrawal their funds now. Here is what can be found on EnglishHarbour.com:

English Harbour Closing on August 1st

This group of online casinos has built up a strong reputation over the years and will be missed by many players. Although they don’t publicly state the reasons behind the closure, it can be assumed that they have to do with the recent indictments in the online gambling space and concerns by the owners for their own vulnerability. Although the casinos were no longer accepting new US players, they probably still felt it was best to get out while they still can. They have made their money and the risk for the owners was probably not worth the reward anymore. It could also be possible that they were having issues finding processors that could handle their players and they decided it was time to make an honorable exit, pay out players and not have to worry about funds being seized.

Although this is a large group of quality casinos that will be shut down on August 1st, there are still lots of great online casinos available for players worldwide. However, in particular for USA players as more of these quality online casinos are leaving the market you need to be extra vigilant in researching where to spend your money. We recommend reading casino reviews and sharing your experience by writing reviews as well.

Cryptologic is a Toronto based software development firm that is listed on the NASDAQ (CRYP) and was established back in 1995. Originally specializing in encryption technologies, they quickly realized there was a much greater potential in the online gambling sector. In 1996 they launched their first casino, InterCasino. With an impressive suite of over 280 casino games available at 30+ different licensees, Cryptologic offers a great selection of entertaining and exciting casino games for players.

Cryptologic History

Similar to many casino software companies, Cyrptologic took a hit when the UIGEA was passed in the fall of 2006 and they no longer accepted US players on their software. This cost them some licensees and had a dramatic hit on the bottom line. Even with these challenges they continue to deliver an impressive casino product that is highlighted by their progressive jackpots. This includes Millionaires Club slot which boasts the largest online slots win ever in May 2007 when an Italian factory worker won over $8 million USD.

 
Hits

• Multi-Player games (ie. Blackjack & Roulette)
• Large progressive jackpots
• Exclusive Marvel slots games (Thor, Spiderman and others)
• User-friendly lobby with advanced features

Misses

• Don’t accept US players
• No Slots or Blackjack Tournaments

Licensee’s

Although Crytologic is the most widely known name for the company, the software is actually licensed through a wholly owned subsidiary, WagerLogic. With over 30 licensees using the Cryptologic software, casino players have some notable brands to choose from. This includes the likes of betfair casino, 888 Casino, Intercasino and 1Casino amongst others.

Customization

The Cryptologic software is extremely user friends and allows for multiple languages and currencies, with 888.com offering 21 different languages. Another attempt at allowing players to customize their casino experience, Cryptologic has developed a user-friendly lobby that shows the most recently play casino games and the most frequently played casino games. In addition players have the option to save their favorite games and can be accessed directly from this section without having to search through the games menu.

Casino Games

Cryptologic has also signed a deal with Marvel and provides some pretty cool themed games such as Thor and Spiderman which are very popular with casino players. Some of these movie based slots also run clips from the films within the actual slot which adds to the entertainment. That along with a bonus bet feature that provides additional bonus games. Even more impressive is the auto bet feature which is unique to Cryptologic and allows players to change the bet amount in a preset pattern. For casino players that enjoy more of the real casino feel, Cryptologic has developed an impressive Live Casino software and offers multiplayer games.

Although Cryptologic has been around for over 15 years and developed a strong reputation they have struggled as of late and in Q1 of 2011 they posted a small loss of $628K. As a casino player, since you play with one of their operators and not the software company directly, this isn’t as great of concern. However it will be interesting to see whether they can continue to develop and deliver high quality casino games in the future. As it currently stands, they offer a great quality online casino experience. Write a review of your favorite Cryptologic casino today!

It has been over two months since Full Tilt Poker was indicted by the US government, however on Wednesday June 29th 2011 they may have received a more serious blow to the future of the company. The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), who Full Tilt were licensed with, suspended Full Tilt’s license and effectively shut down the company to players worldwide. According to Alderney, the Full Tilt license will be suspended until a hearing on July 26th in London at with point they will have a chance to plead their case. If you go to Full Tilt poker you are greeted with a message that says that they are performing “scheduled maintenance”, but that’s not the case – we presume they did not know what else to say.

The AGCC released two statements today, the first of which is as follows:

“Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has today issued Hearing Notices under Regulation 46 of its Regulations to Vantage Ltd, Oxalic Ltd, Filco Ltd and Orinic Ltd, collectively trading as FULL TILT POKER.
In addition, AGCC has issued Suspension Notices under Regulation 47 to the above named companies requiring them to suspend all operations with immediate effect.
The decision to suspend these licenses follows a special investigation prompted by the indictments unsealed by U.S. Attorney General’s Office in the Southern District of New York on April 15, 2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees and their business associates were operating contrary to Alderney legislation. The nature of the findings necessitated the taking of immediate action in the public interest.
The venue and date for the hearing will be announced in due course.

This statement was followed up with the following:

“The above-named companies must, until the Suspension Notices are cancelled or the Commissioners of AGCC have reached a determination at the conclusion of the hearing convened in accordance with Regulation 46 of the Alderney eGambling Regulations, 2009 cease to exercise their eGambling licenses, which means that these licensees must from today cease to:
• Register new customers;
• Accept deposits from existing customers;
• Allow existing customers to withdraw funds that are held in their accounts; and
• Permit customers to participate in any form of poker game play or gambling transaction.
The Alderney Gambling Control Commission will hear the matters contained in the Hearing Notices at a Regulatory Hearing which will commence at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday 26th July, 2011 at the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel, 239 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EQ. In the event that there is a change to these details this notice will be amended.”

It is our belief that the pressure was most likely mounting on the AGCC from its other licensee’s. Full Tilt had been going through a PR nightmare since the original indictment back on April 15th in that they had yet to pay their US players any of their funds back. The longer that this carried on (and it appeared that Full Tilt didn’t have enough funds on hand) the worse it looked. The validity of the AGCC was being questioned and some were doubting whether they had any power or control over their licensee’s. It appears that they answered that in a big way and we are sure that even amongst the ever growing player frustration it probably wasn’t a quick and easy decision by the AGCC.

Although Real Casino Reviews is focused and dedicated to providing its readers with news and information related to online casinos we feel that news of this magnitude is important to report on for a couple of reasons. The first of which is that we know many of our readers who gambling in casinos, also have poker accounts and we want you to be informed. Secondly, the move by Alderney is unheard of in the online gambling space. Sure some rogue or small casinos may get their licensee suspended or revoked, but Full Tilt Poker was massive with some estimates putting their daily revenue at $3-$4 million per day – that’s close to $1 billion in revenue per year! It also highlights the fact that players around the worldwide need to be careful with where they play; if you live outside the US maybe selecting a casino that does NOT accept US players is a good idea these days.

Compared to some of the other casino software products like Cryptologic or Playtech, Rival Gaming is a relative new comer to the online casino sector. Coming late to the party does have some disadvantages, however Rival Gaming has made inroads with a respectable number of online casinos, and they have some innovations with product launches that helps set them apart.

At Real-Casino-Reviews.com we try to provide our readers with an unbiased view of online casinos and allow your reviews and feedback about individual casinos help others decide where to play. The Rival Casino group has been under a lot of scrutiny of late by others in the online casino industry. Although we have great respect many of these business, we believe continuing to allow casino players to post their reviews is important and like our other reviews this is an unbiased review of their software. With that said, practically all software providers do have some “rogue” casinos who use their product, that’s why it’s important to read reviews and share your experiences. Read on if you’re interested in Rival Gaming Software.

Casino Games

Rival European Roulette

With only 5 years under their belt, Rival Software hasn’t had as much time to develop a large suite of games which is a primary reason as to why they only offer about 100 online casino games. Of these 100 casino games you can find all of your favorites such as blackjack, craps, video poker, roulette and slots machines. Typically online casinos and software companies that boast a large number of casino games, have a lot of slot machines, which isn’t necessarily the case with Rival Software. However where they lack in the volume of slots games they have made up with innovation through the iSlots series of games.

i-Slots

iSlot Heavyweight Gold Released 2010

As with most casino slot machines, the iSlot series provides its players with themed games such as golf themed slots, cosmic themed slots all the way to crime/spy themed games. But Rival Gaming took it a step further by making the slot machines games interactive and provides the players with a story. As you play, a story unfolds on the slot machine that gives you new screens, new bonus rounds and new symbols the further you make it in the game. And when you stop playing for the evening and come back to the game the next day, the story continues. These types of slots have become very popular with some casino players and they can only be found at online casinos that use Rival Gaming Software.

 
 
Hits

• Download Mac Compatible
• US Players accepted at some Rival Groups
• Unique iSlots Series of Slots

Misses

• Some questionable white label operators
• Small Number of Casino Games
• No Multi Player Game Options

Gaming Software

Rival Gaming business partners have a few options on how they want to use the casino software. Online casinos can either completely integrate with the Rival Gaming platform, using their system for everything from payment processing to casino games and customer service. While the other option is for an online casino to choose some or all the casino games that they would like to offer their players and have that integrated with their own platform. In the later instance the online casino would provide the customer service, payment processing and marketing of the casino.

As a player you may wonder how this impacts you; it means that by playing at two Rival casinos you may have exactly the same experience or a completely different one. That is why it’s important to read casino reviews and do your research prior to depositing your hard earned money. Some of the more popular Rival powered casinos include Slot o Cash, Superior Casino and the This Is Vegas online casino.

Stay connected with Real-Casino-Reviews.com as we continue to review all major software providers on what matters most to online casino players. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to see what we have to say about other casino software products.