Charles Fey, an American was the inventor of the slot machine in 1895 and the game started to gain popularity around 1907. There are various types and forms of slot machines. They range from three reel slot machines to five reel slot machines which have multiple pay lines, bonus slots and progressive slots. Generally most of the casinos, both land-based and online possess all the varieties. In online casinos you also have eh option to play for free. That way your playing is purely for fun, devoid of the possibility of losing any money.

The casinos employ some specific software to enable slot playing. Microgaming, Cryptologic, Playtech, RTG and OddsOn which use the same RNG (Random Number Generator), to name a few of them. The procedure and eth structure of eth game are the same whether a player is playing with real money or playing in the fun mode. In order to ensure that the pay outs are true and verified, all the Microgaming and the Cryptologic casinos are independently audited by large accounting firms of the likes of PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Many feel that the online version of the game is far more exciting than the traditional land based casinos. Well the free slots being the added attraction. So it’s no wonder that the online casinos nowadays hand out large cash free bonuses to both the new and old players. To play, the player selects a slot game which appeals to his fancy. In a reputable casino empowered with reputable software, a player can rarely go wrong.

Now, how does it all happen?

Follow the Slot machine instructions appearing on your screen after you click ‘insert money’. Then you select the credits from the denominations offered to you and place your bet. This can be done on the left side of the machine generally. Now, check out your balance in the credit box. Playing slot is extremely simple. You click ‘bet max’ if you want to bet the maximum limit, otherwise you have the option to click on ‘bet one’ to choose individual credits. Now you are ready to click ‘spin’ sit back to watch the numbers/images/symbols spinning away before your eyes. If you happen to hit the winning combination after the reels stop spinning, you shall receive your cash pay out posted at the pay out table. To check out the amount you are just required to click the ‘winner paid’ icon. Then if you wish to try out your luck in a different machine, click on the ‘switch machine’ button. So, isn’t it a child’s play?

The rules vary according to the software that is backing the particular slot game. It is a simple game of luck that promises hours of pure fun and of course with cash rewards.

Keno is a bingo like game played in a circular glass enclosure called the ‘bubble’. It contains 80 ping pong –like balls which determine the ball-draw result. Every ball has a number imprinted on it between 1 and 80. The system is to push air through a blower and randomly mix the balls inside the bubble. A lever which opens a tube is pressed by the ‘caller’ and the balls get lifted one at a time into the ‘rabbit ears’, a V-shaped tube. Each of the 20 balls drawn gets recorded by the ‘caller’ and the ‘verifier’. The wagers are calculated based on the numbers drawn by the computerized Keno system.

The pay scale choices are called ‘pay tables’ and every casino has its own series of ‘pay tables’; no two casinos have identical pay tables. The players mark an ‘X’ on the ‘spot’ choices on a blank keno ticket. There are 80 numbered selection boxes. After the wagers are placed the casino draws 20 balls at a random. The customers can choose from different pay tables to different keno bets and each has its exclusive house edge. The house edge ranges from 4% to 66%. For a non-slot casino game, the usual house edge is between 0% to 5%.

Keno is fairly simple and easy to play game. You need to decide the numbers and the amount of the wager. There is an option of ‘quick pick’ where the lottery’s computer chooses 20 winning numbers from 1 to 80 randomly. The winner is decided on the basis of matching of the winning numbers. You have chance to win about $100,000 per draw. It is a fast paced game played at your convenience.
How is the game played?

You select your wager amount from the top right of the keno card. You can either go for the Quick Pick option or use the mouse to select 1 to 15 numbers on the keno card. To deselect a number, you need to click the number again and the pay table will change accordingly. After the bets and the number selections are established, you are required to click the $$$ button. The 20 numbers will now roll out in random. After this has been completed the Results Table on the lower end of the keno card will show how many you have been able to match, the total bet amount and the total payout amount.

The players have the option of playing the multi-race keno in the modern keno game. Here you can book a keno ticket for a number of sequential keno which can race up to 1000. After the sequence of the wagered games is completed, the player redeems the winnings within the time constraint. It is specified in the casino’s rule book and is distinctive for each casino.

Craps is a game of two dice. A player may wager money against each other, the other players are called ‘street craps’. Money can also be wagered against a bank, the game is then called ‘bank craps’. The dices being the basis equipments, it doesn’t require exemplary formal settings. It is believed to be very popular among the soldiers. Bank craps involves a game played with one or more players against a casino. All the players’ bets at the table are covered by the casino. The player who rolls the dice is known as the ‘shooter’. Every player takes his turn in rolling it. The other players call their bets on the shooter’s dice rolls. The first roll of every new round is known as the ‘come out roll’. The player who wants to be the shooter is required to bet the table minimum on either the ‘pass’ line, which means ‘win’, or the ‘don’t pass’ line, which means ‘don’t win’ bets.

The game begins with the ‘stickman’ putting down five dice and the shooter picks up two of them. If the shooter’s come out roll happens to be 2, 3 or 12, the round ends immediately and it is called ‘craps’. The players lose their pass line bet. If the dice result is 7 or 11, the round is called ‘natural’ and eth players who made pass line bets win. When 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 are rolled on the come out roll; the number is called a ‘point’. The shooter re-rolls the dice in an attempt to roll the same point again. If he succeeds, the players who had bet the pass line wins.

A casino craps table is run by four individuals. There is a ‘boxman’ to guard the chips, to supervise the dealers and also handle coloring out players. There are two ‘base dealers’ stand on either side of the ‘boxman’ to collect and pay bets. Then there is the ‘stickmen’ who announces the result of each roll and collects the dice. He stands directly across the table.

The different types of bets are: Fire bet, Line bets, Pass odds, Don’t pass odds, Come bet and Don’t come bet. There are also single roll and multi-roll bets.

There are certain unwritten rules apart from the actual rules of the game. They are called etiquette and are considered as important guidelines.

There are several betting strategies employed in the game of craps. They are:

The Martingale system – only in craps the wagering system can consistently beat the casino games. Here the player starts his bet with a certain amount and double it whenever he loses. If he wins, he starts back with the initial amount.

The Free Odds basic Strategy – these are continuation bets paid at true odds and they are the best available bets in the casino.

The Iron Cross – this betting pattern allow the player to win every roll which is not a seven.

The Gambler’s Fallacy – its more of a psychological strategy. Its like the crap player bets on 11 if it has not appeared too often in the recent 20 rolls.

The Parity Hedge System – this is a mathematical impossibility. It is a hoax promulgated by the Quatloos.

Dice setting or Dice Control – this involves in ‘setting’ the dice in a certain manner such that they do not easily tumble. It is to ascertain the probabilities of each outcome. It’s manipulative and the casinos take a lot of precautions against this.

21 was not at all popular when it was introduced in America. To popularize it the gambling houses began to offer various bonus payouts in order to get players to the tables. Black Jack could either be a Jack of clubs or a jack of spades. If a player’s hand consisted of an ace of spades and a Black Jack, he would receive 10-to-1 pay out bonus. His hand would be called a Black Jack. These bonus pay out were soon abolished but the name got ingrained. Now when the game is played, it is not necessary that a ‘Black Jack’ would contain a jack or any black cards for that matter.

The betting amount is printed on a sign which is imprinted on the table. It varies from casino to casino and table to table. $5 dollars is the minimum bet. The ‘dealer’ deals the cards from a single or a double hand-held deck of cards after the completion of the initial bets. The decks of cards are called the ‘pitch’ game. Each player receives two cards including the dealer himself. One o the two cards of the dealer is placed face-up for everyone to view it. The face-down card is called the ‘hole card’.

In European Black Jack the hole card is not dealt until all eth players complete playing their hands. In the American Black Jack, if the dealer’s face-up card happens to be an ace or a ten value, the dealer is allowed to check his hole card to find if he has Black Jack. This is done after the players receive their insurance and they begin their play.

In order to win, the players aim to beat the dealer by holding a higher and ‘unbusted’ hand. If a hand has a higher total than 21 it is called a ‘bust’ or ‘too many’. Card numbers of two to ten are equivalent to their face- value and the face cards (jack, queen, king) are all valued at 10. The ace is worth 11, but if it enables a player to bust, it is valued 1. The hand where the ace is worth 11 is termed a ‘soft hand’. If the player happens to ‘bust’ along with the dealer, he stands to lose. When the player and eh dealer are at the same point value, it is known as ‘push’, where neither of them stand to win.

While Black Jack strategy does change from casino to casino, most casinos fall under one of the two categories: Las Vegas rules or Atlantic City rules. An ace and a 10-value card in a two card hand of Twenty One is called a ‘Black Jack’ or a ‘natural’. If the dealer has a Black Jack as well the hand will be called a ‘push’, otherwise the ‘natural’ becomes an automatic winner. The player stands to receive 3:2 on his bet.

There can be only three possible results for this game. They are: Player, Banker and Tie. It should be noted that the terms do not refer to the identity of the individuals but are options on which the customers can bet. In a game of baccarat, cards 2 to 9 are worth their face value while the King, Queen, Joker and 10 are worth 0 and the aces are valued at 1 point. 10 is called a ‘modulo’ and a ‘modulo’ is equal to 0. The score is calculated by adding the value of the cards with the tens digit being ignored. A hand that has 4 and 6 is equal to 0 or Baccarat. This is typically unusual as the name signifies the loser. The highest score achievable is 9.

The cards are dealt face-down. The initial deal consists of two cards each to the ‘player’ and the ‘banker’. The ‘croupier’ calls the total after the cards of both the players are turned over and the values added. Then the ‘tableau’ or the ‘table o play’ determines if further cards are required to be drawn. It is a ‘natural’ if the banker attains a total of 8 or 9, and the game ends there. The winner is the hand with the highest total. If the banker’s and the player’s hand have eth same value, the croupier calls ‘Egalite’, that is ‘tie bets win’.

The game is called Mini-baccarat when it is played at a smaller table, akin to the ones used in the game of Black jack. Here a single dealer handles the entire game. Makccarat too is the same game but in a hugely modified version. In the American baccarat, regardless of the number of players, only two hands are dealt with. Out of the ‘banker’ and the ‘player’, the one whose score is closest to 9 wins the hand.

Baccarat has three betting options:

1. Player Hand
2. Bank Hand
3. Tie Hand

The features of the game:

• The objective of Baccarat is to draw a two- or three-card hand that totals closer to 9 than the banker.
• 10, J, K, Q count as 0, A is a 1 and all other cards are face value.
• If your total is more than ten, you drop the ten. So a 7-9 hand totals to 6 (16, drop ten).
• There is no such thing as a “bust” hand.

The game in Paris was played in almost the same form as it is been played today. But Roulette is said to have its origin in multiple other games. During the early 18th century an Italian ball game called ‘biribi’ was very popular. And later it got combined with another wheel game involving colours and not numbers. This gave birth to the modern Roulette form. Then in 1720 an English game called ‘Roly-poly’ acme into vogue. It was played with black and white slots. Roulette is said to be the hybrid formation of ‘biribi’ and ‘roly-poly’. Another Italian board game called ‘Hoca’ then Ace of Hearts and E.O., both English wheel games were also said to have a profound influence over the modern version of Roulette.

The earliest reference to the Roulette game is found in a French novel “La Roulette, ou le Jour” by Jaques Lablee, where roulette wheel is described in the Palais Royal in Paris in 1796. During the 1800s the game spread all over Europe and USA and eventually turned out to be the most popular and famous casino games. It was hailed as the ‘King of Casino games’. There is a legend around eth famous Blanc family of Monte Carlo. François Blanc is said to have apparently bargained with the devil to obtain the secrets of roulette. The legend is based on the fact that the sum of all the numbers on the roulette wheel (from 1 to 36) adds up to 666, which is the “Number of the Beast”.

The game is played where the players place their bets on a single number or a set of numbers or the color red or black. The croupier spins eth wheel in one particular direction and eth ball in eth opposite direction over the tilted circular track which runs around the edge of eth wheel. The winning number or color gets determined in this fashion as the ball falls on the wheel into one of the 37 (European Roulette) or 38 (American Roulette) colored and numbered pockets after losing momentum.

The pockets of eth Roulette wheel are numbered 1 to 36 with alternate colors of red and black. There is a green pocket with the number 0. The American Roulette has another green pocket marked 00. The pocket numbers have the following clockwise sequence.

Single-zero wheels: 0-32-15-19-4-21-2-25-17-34-6-27-13-36-11-30-8-23-10-5-24-16-33-1-20-14-31-9-22-18-29-7-28-12-35-3-26

Double-zero wheels: 0-28-9-26-30-11-7-20-32-17-5-22-34-15-3-24-36-13-1-00-27-10-25-29-12-8-19-31-18-6-21-33-16-4-23-35-14-2

The betting area on a Roulette table is covered with a cloth. It’s known as the ‘layout’. The layout can be either the single zero or the double zero. Selecting the number of pockets that the ball might land in the players place ‘inside’ bets and ‘outside bets’ are placed on the positional groupings of pocket and pocket colors. The types of bets can be: Straight Up, Split, Street, Corner, Six line and Trio.

There is a famous Albert Einstein quote: “You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it”. The strategies employed are: Martingale betting strategy, where the gambler doubles the bet after every loss, then there is another strategy called the Fibonacci system. But whatever the strategy, the casino’s advantage cannot be denied. The Labouchere System is a sequence betting strategy like the Martingale but the gambler is not required to risk his stake as quickly with dramatic double ups but rather involve the using of a series of numbers in a line to decide the bet amount, following a win or a loss.

The name is derived from the Spanish word which stands for ‘the meadows’. Until 1885 the place had no real settlement. On May 1905 a huge land auction took place and there Las Vegas’s first saloons and gambling houses were built. These gambling parlors were much ahead of their times with respect to their functioning and structure. The state of Nevada legalized gambling in 1931. The mammoth structure of Venetian is the world’s largest casino. The $550 million stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower, standing 1149ft is a must-see attraction for every Las Vegas visitor.

The beacon called Las Vegas has on offer:

Casino Games - Every type of gambler can take his pick. There is Keno and Baccarat for the quieter and the more laid back player. The craps and the Roulette is for the one who wants the thrill of the fast pace. For those in between, there is the poker with all its variations and also black jack.

Thick or Thin, you have enough money in your wallet - Gambling is a business where you require expensive and extensive flashing of money. You can provide your self hours of recreation depending on how you play your cards. You can finds casinos that offer $20 for a hand of black jack and you will also find casinos where with $20 you can buy hand after hand of minimum three dollar black jack.

Make your self safe - A gambler in Las Vegas stands to lose more money than his expectancy if he doesn’t care to be careful. You are required to protect your wallet and your wit equally. Also take care of your alcohol limits.

Get yourself accustomed to some typical Las Vegas lingo: Action, Aggregate, All In, Bad Beat, Bank Roll, Basic Strategy, Bones, Box man, Burned card and Color me up.

A few tips which will help you go a long way –

• Ability to remain consistent in every session of play
• Keep a watchful eye on the other players. Don’t play at a table someone plays reckless
• Put your big bet when you are winning. Be patient at loss
• Have nerves of steel