Las Vegas Casino Online
The Start Of Something Big?
Following the introduction of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act in the USA in late 2006, few would be forgiven for thinking that online casinos would become illegal in the USA. And expecting to find any Las Vegas casino online immediately following the Act and the subsequent fallout would have been reserved for the eternal optimists. But the UIGEA stopped short of making online casino gambling illegal and merely focused on imposing restrictions on banks and credit providers to police online gambling. Consequently, the decision as to whether US residents can gamble online was left to individual State regulators.
Much of the mainstream media incorrectly assumes that online gambling is illegal in the USA which is exactly what the Government would like you to think. It's not helped by the fact that slot game manufacturers such as WMS and IGT block their games to US residents. You'll notice that slot games like DaVinci Diamonds and the new IGT Star Trek slot machine here at OCV are blocked to access from the USA right now.
In 2010, news filtered through that Harrahs (since rebranded Caesar's Entertainment) had employed ex-Partygaming CEO Mitch Garber to head up their online operations division. Tasked with handling the Harrahs (CE) brand and their much coveted WSOP (World Series of Poker) product, Harrahs subsequently announced that they were teaming up with the long time estalished online gambling brand Dragonfish to deliver their products into online casinos although at this stage (Autumn 2010) who, where and what those casinos will be is still in the air.
However, there are caveats. Most notably, Harrahs are starting out by purely targetting the UK market. With the gambling laws in the US sufficiently grey and keen to ensure they protect their lucrative land gaming licences, Harrahs won't be touching the US market until it is regulated although it is worth noting that they are actively lobbying for a clear Fedral law to regulate online gambling.
Caesars online casino will be the first Las Vegas casino online, albeit UK-only initially, but it is very unlikely to be the last although after somewhat abortive attempts to penetrate the online market in the early 21st century, other Las Vegas casinos will no doubt be looking on with interest.
As far as the games go, 888's software is a pretty decent offering and will have most of the table games that regular land-based casino visitors will expect to find. As far as slot games go, then 888 do not currently have licences from the manufacturers of the "kiosk" style games you will find on Harrah's gaming floors, although a recent tie in with IGT means they do now have one familar face: Cleopatra is arguably one of IGT's most popular slot games and while it can't be found in the Harrahs online casino, it can be found in the Flash-based "Games" suite on their website and of course, you can play it free here at Online Casinos Vegas with a stack of other IGT games that you'd normlly find in Las Vegas casinos.
Because of restrictions in the USA, the current choice of online casinos and slot games that can be played online is limiting. I would suggest that you check out three of the free spins slots I have here which can be played online for real money: the Cleopatra's Gold slot which is a clone of IGT's Cleopatra slot - a favourite in Vegas casinos - the Aztecs Treasure slot with it's free spins bonus and stacked wilds and finally, one of my personal favourites, the Ronin slot which has no less than 3 seperate free spin bonus rounds.
