The arrival of a new online
casino isn't much of an event these days. After all there are
literally hundreds of them. On the other hand, it's also true that a
good one is hard to find and Casino,
a new Boss Media licensee, is well worth discovering.
Casino is a nice, straightforward place to begin your play. I
particularly appreciated the crystal clear instructions for
downloading. Sure, it's no big deal, but if you're like me you just
want to get the preamble over with already. Here it's select,
download, click, install. Bing, bang, boom, we're done, let's play!
Two things you'll notice right
away. The first is that this is new software. Everything looks
great! Good graphics, attractive multi-media voices and respectable
options for enabling/disabling things like music and so on. I
especially liked the animations in the card games.
Another thing you'll see is
that it's multi-player all the way. Regardless of the game you
choose, you need to select Public or Private. You'd think Private
would mean single player, but if I read this correctly people can
ask to join your Private game. This would of course make it a
multi-player Private game, so we're right back where we started:
multi-player.
Want a little tip on getting
the most out of these games? Assuming you're running in Windows 95
or better, select "Appearance" when you fire up the
package and click the DirectX radio button. You'll then be running
the games in full-screen mode and believe me, it's better!
So, to the games. I downloaded
the full package and got Blackjack, Roulette, Caribbean Poker, Video
Poker, Slots, Progressive Slots and Keno.
Standard across the board is
the Public/Private option. Also pretty standard is the choice of
betting limits: $1-100, $5-500, and $25-1000 with the obvious
exceptions of Video Poker and Slots.
Blackjack is Single-Deck,
dealer peeks and will stand on soft-17, player can double after
splitting but can't re-split. Video Poker (Jacks or Better) is a 7/5
game, with a 5000 bonus for Max Coins but notice that 4-of-a-Kind
pays only 20. Roulette is American style with its double zeros.
In the upper corner of the
Slots Room you'll see an arrow marked "VIP" but if you
click on it you'll get a message saying "Members Only" or
some such.
I asked the Manager at California
Casino how one becomes a member? "Registered members must have deposited a total of at least $50,000 in
their casino accounts and actively participated in the casino games
during the most recent month," they said, and listed off a
bunch of perks including loss bonuses, no withdrawal limits and the
like. VIP indeed.
Just announced at is a "100% deposit bonus on your first $25". I
deposited and received the bonus automatically. Support options at
Casino are many and my emails were promptly returned and informative.
Financials are standard with the slight inconvenience that you have
to wait for a PIN number to arrive via regular post before you can
withdraw, but we've seen this before so it's not unique to
Casino.
Just in case you think I've
gone all gushy over this casino, let me make a quibble or two. For
one, it's a house rule that if there is more than one bonus coming
to a player, they award the highest and cancel the rest. That's a
rule that should be made very explicit. It isn't and I
lost a bonus I'd earned in their Blackjack Contest because of it.
By the way, their Blackjack
Contest is worth checking out. Play free Blackjack for real bonus
dollars: I like it!
Another little peeve of mine
is the pop-up you get when you leave the site. I was getting ads for
other casinos. Doesn't make much sense to me, and besides, I hate
those exit pop-ups.
Quibbles aside,
Casino gets the thumbs up. And congratulations Boss Media on
building some of the best software I have ever played. Trust me, I
don't get to say that everyday.
Sunset
Casino
Sunset
Casino is one of the newer additions to the Boss Media family of
casinos. For those who don't know, Boss Media is a Swedish software
company and, together with Canadian companies Starnet (SNMM) and
Cryptologic (CRY.TO), form The Big Three of Internet gaming
software.
I'm a big fan of Boss Media
software. It's a classy, high-end product with a sophisticated look
and feel. More importantly, it installs and runs exceptionally
smoothly -- I've yet to encounter the slightest glitch. Even if you
don't want to play for money, do yourself a favor and download Sunset
Casino's free games just to experience the state of art.
Like other Boss Media casinos
-- New York Casino, Cowboy Casino, USA Casino, etc. -- Sunset
Casino is attractive and well designed. All the essential info
is there -- how to download, about the company, and so on -- and
everything is spelled out in plain English with no mumbo jumbo or
outrageous claims. Their Quick Start guide is a nice touch and their
newsletter and Lucky Numbers contest kept me amused while
downloading the games.
Sunset
Casino provides 24-hour telephone support. Someday that will be
standard practice for all Internet casinos but for now it makes Sunset
Casino a leader. They also provide the name of a real casino
manager behind the scenes. That man is Derek Turner. I don't know
why more online casinos don't put names and faces to their
operations? It would go a long way to building trust.
The Sunset
Casino games are phenomenal. They look and sound fantastic. The
Paradise slot machine was simply the best electronic on-screen slot
I've ever seen, and craps, blackjack and the other games were
equally impressive.
Sunset offers higher limits
than most online casinos. You can deposit up to $1000 a day. Bet
minimums for blackjack and roulette are five bucks so these games
aren't for small timers.
The only gripe I have about Sunset
Casino is that they charge a $3 fee for withdrawals by bank draft.
Sure $3 isn't much, but I don't like the idea of paying to get my
own money.
My rating: I give Sunset
Casino a full house.
Sunset
Casino is operated by Sun Casinos Limited, which is fully
licensed and registered by the Government of Antigua & Barbuda. Sunset
Casino promises to abide by the rules of the Interactive
Gaming Council.
