REVIEW: online-casinos.com

The following is a paid review via ReviewMe.com:

Site reviewed: Online-Casinos.com

Preamble on Gambling

I have no more moral objection to gambling than I have to drinking alcohol or firearms. These things are addictive and dangerous and can kill you. But so can driving, surgery, and a host of other things.

The problem is not the activity, per se, but its casual use, its use by the addicted, or by those with impaired judgment. It should be restricted to adults, and the people responsible for serving these things should also take responsibility for ensuring, as much as reasonably possible, that their customers come to no harm.

In my mind, that means a capped limit on how much people can spend on gambling, as well as license to do so, and counseling for addicts.

Content

That said, online-casinos.com is NOT an online gambling site. It contains hundreds of strategy articles about gambling games, such as poker, backgammon, reviews of online casinos, rules, news, interviews, odds calculators, and so on, and also hosts free-to-play online games.

While marketed toward money gamblers, the site is actually just as useful to people who enjoy playing for free or for poker chips, or with friends.

The standard for poker and gambling sites appears to be the "green felt" background look, and this one doesn't disappoint. Aside from a hiccup or two where the navigation menus suddenly change, the site is cleanly organized and easily navigable.

Rules

The site contains rules for several dozen games and numerous variations thereof, including backgammon, baccarat, several types of poker, and so on. Many of these rules are accompanied by animated or video examples and illustrations.

If you want to learn these games, this is an excellent resource to do so.

Reviews

OC reviews online gambling sites, for those who want to actually play for money. Their reviews are thorough, beginning at how the software works, through to what the experience of getting paid is like. They spend time at several different games on each site, and really give the sites a workout.

While they claim that their reviews are independent, and they do list both positive and negative experiences in their reviews, they neglect to note if they made any money from the given reviews, or if they make money from people clicking through them to the sites.

Also, they claim to have dropped listings of sites that were suspect - in order to protect their visitors - but I would rather have read the poor reviews so as to know which sites to be wary of.

Articles

OC offers a complete beginner's guide to online gambling, as well as many, many articles for both beginner and advanced player.

The best part of the site for non-gambling gamers like me (and for gamblers, too) are the strategy articles and features. Not only do they do a thorough job of analyzing the math of the games, as well as standard variations thereof, but they also provide charts, calculating tools, and so on, which give you the odds and best play from any particular position.

Very nice.

They also have articles comparing casino types, about gambling games in general, about the World Series of Poker, and so on.

Similarly, they update once a day with an article about something related to poker or gambling news. This is probably not an exhaustive news survey, but one top story of the day.

Games

OC offers over 80 free Shockwave games to play online. These didn't work for me in Firefox, but I got them going in IE (with the occasional crash).

You can while away time playing these games for fun, use the time to hone your game strategies, or, of course, click through to a casino to play for real.

Other

OC doesn't require you to register or provide any private information, which is nice. Every part of the site appears to be free. There are no ads on the site of any sort, so one can only assume that they make their money from affiliate rewards.

One nice little addition is a small note about charity, in which they list how much of their profits they have give to which charities; so far, $5000 to the Red Cross.

Conclusion

If you're simply a gamer, and you like playing gambling and poker games, the strategy articles and features are worth a looksee.

If you're curious about online gambling, the site provides a nice introduction thereto.

If you like flashy and simple online games, they have a nice selection, although I would guess that you could find equivalents elsewhere.

And if you want to compare online casinos, their extensive list of reviews appears to be a good start, although with the caveat that they also appear to make money from the clickthroughs, so may not be entirely disinterested.

Yehuda