My brief review of 6 years of online casino gambling

[chris87]

I hope this will be of interest to some.

I've been gambling on online casinos, slots only, for just over 6 years now. In the early days I used better known UK high street names such as Grosvenor, William Hill, Sky Bet and Betfred. I was pretty naive and didn't always fully read the T&Cs, which was a big mistake, see later.

However, in these early days I bet small and took advantage of some excellent bonus offers, the likes of which we'll probably never see again- e.g. Grosvenor's monthly £250 100% deposit bonus with 1x wagering for VIPs and Betfred's regular 100% reload bonuses, again with 1x wagering. Obviously these offers could not last for ever.

In those days I mainly played IGT games, which appeared to be of relatively low variance compared to the world of MG and NetEnt which I found when reading reviews of Immortal Romance and Gonzo. To play these I started to use Fortune Lounge casinos and soon found how easy it was to lose money as my bet sizes increased! I searched out other MG and NetEnt providers via the accredited list on here, leading me to the 10 or so casinos I use today.

Around this time I also made a mistake by not fully reading the bonus T&Cs resulting in betting over the max and £2.5k winnings being confiscated. A hard lesson to learn, but learn it I did and I have had no problems since.

So how have I done over the years? The casinos I play at have been fairly static over the past 3 years and this is my position at these casinos over the past 3 years to date-

First where I'm ahead-
Leo Vegas- up £6.8k
Casumo- up £6.5k
Trada- up £2.0k
32 Red- up £500
Energy Casino- up £200

Now the downside-
Videoslots- down £14.8k
All British- down £3.7k
Royal Panda- down £2.8k
Next- down £1.5k
Betspin- down £1.4k

So down about £8k over 3 years. On the face of it this looks bad, but looking at all the days I've played over the past 3 years, it works out at about £8 per day for the entertainment provided. I don't know my wagering so can't calculate my RTP, but I would guess at the high 90s.

Obviously other's luck at these casinos will differ. IMO all these casinos are pretty good in terms of payout times, customer service and offers, hence why I'm sticking with them, even Videoslots which is obviously the one where my luck has been out to date. The 2 casinos where I've done best I've had isolated big hits, a 4 reel IM Wild Desire at Leo Vegas and a Terminator 2 hot mode at Casumo.

After 6 years, I believe that slots are random to an extent, but there are noticeable patterns, particularly following a big win everything goes cold!

Chris

 

[chris87]

Thanks for the likes and thanks.

Would be good to hear if anyone has had similar outcomes over the last few years and any thoughts.

Thanks- Chris

 

[goatwack]

I wish I'd kept track of my slotting exploits to such an impressive degree, and my experiences differ in that I'm a humble lowroller

And much like everyone else, I'll have demon sessions for months on end, only to have an unexpected cashout from nothing. It's this random madness that keeps us hooked of course.

I'm glad that my slotting hasn't escalated but whenever I do bloody up my bets and become greedy it tends to deviate downwards more often than not. So if I were to calculate losing from winning positions, I've squandered thousands for sure.

But in the four years I've been doing it and all things considered I'm probably only down maybe a couple of grand. F*ck knows what I'd do if one of these sessions led to a huge withdrawal, but I'd hazard a guess that a large portion of that would fund further losing sessions

 

[PatrickNess]

(...) I believe that slots are random to an extent, but there are noticeable patterns, particularly following a big win everything goes cold!
Chris

Yet nobody of importance seem to give a single flying fuck about it.

 

[Jono777]

I spotted this earlier today Chris, totally slipped my mind to reply when I had more time on my hands (was in a rush when I first saw it)

Really good post and I will provide my personal experiences in a more detailed post tomorrow

These would have been very accurate but you'll have to settle for estimated guesses as a few of my spread sheets got corrupted a few weeks back and I was unable to revive them (yes, I was bloody fuming at the time )

14 years approx I've been playing here are a few "Spoilers" / "Teasers" before I make a 'main' post at another time.

Average Bets: (based on 'staying level' play)

243 = 0.30
9 Lines = 0.18/0.27

Providers: (Ranking from most played)

MGS, Netent, WMS, Play N Go - More recently Novomatic

Average Deposit amount = £25 (based on disposable income budget of £100 p/w - Excluding any withdrawal based top up's)

Biggest Win(s)

£2,430 (30p TSII)
£1,574 (£1.20 Rhino)

Most Back to back cash outs = 6
Most deposits without a withdrawal =19!!!!!!!!!!!!

Casinos I've NEVER withdrawn from

Videoslots (Granted small deposit history)
Chance Hill
Sky Vegas (took VERY long deposit break from here)

Casinos I'm well in front at

32 Red (although losing fast and furious last few visits )
Casumo
Leo Vegas
Next Casino and Casino Luck
Guts

Casinos I'd visit/deposit at a lot more if Promotions were changed

Rizk
video Slots

Fave Slots

Immortal Romance, Raging Rhino, Montezuma, Dead or Alive, Egg O Matic, CFTBL, Warlords, Most Novos (for now ) Jurassic Park, Book of Dead, MG 9-Liners

TBC

 

[goatwack]

Yet nobody of importance seem to give a single flying fuck about it.

Thing is most of us don't actually mind when this strange alternative-randomness bestows us with good wins and huge bankroll boosters.

Even if they sometimes are rare and exhibit strange patterns

 

[dunover]

Yet nobody of importance seem to give a single flying fuck about it.

Because we can't prove it. That's either because it's an incorrect assumption, or they're fucking clever about it.

Anyway back to the OP - hours and hours of fun for a net cost of basically 3 pints of Northern cheap shitty beer a week is probably a good deal over the time. You could pay more for a pizza each Saturday but with that you don't get the downs and ups (unless you have too much beer before it!)

 

[dunover]

Biggest Win(s)<<<<<<<<<<

£2,430 (30p TSII)

TBC >>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[paul7388]

Been gambling regularly at bookies for 27 years. Online for must be 15 years plus. And i have absolutely no idea how much ive won or lost over the years.

Love the way people keep track of these things.

 

[Jono777]

Been gambling regularly at bookies for 27 years. Online for must be 15 years plus. And i have absolutely no idea how much ive won or lost over the years.

Love the way people keep track of these things.

Most of it is probably Wishful thinking and "Gamblers Memory"

 

[lockinlove]

Reading the OP reminds me of why I might quit. I know I will lose it all back over time. I hate giving some of these people money aha.

I still have not deposited in awhile. Ive been using cashback, rake race and freerolls to play a bit. Yesterday I lost my freeroll/battle weekly reward so now Im down to basically nothing. A few bucks in a cashback and maybe a few bucks in the race. Then its all gone...no more freebies.

The casinos im down in are 32red, gowild, maple casino, club world group, rizk, guts and BGO..totaling approx $7,000 in losses

Casinos im up are grande vegas, trada ( i think or break even) platinum play, videoslots, slotsmillion, energy casino, butlers bingo, jackpot city total win $34,000


casinos I closed due to quick and horrific runs to stop the bleeding. Rizk, Guts, clubworld. It was the right move. These casinos for whatever reason were just awful for me. Closing them and moving to other casinos led to some monster wins.

I can see videslots being on my loss list soon. Seems like a very hard casino to win in. Id be down if it wasnt for one win of $1000.

With the loss of netent here, I can see me losing pretty bad soon. Im basically left with high votality slots. Book of dead, jurassic park, avalon 2, pimped, game of thrones...all yggdrasil slots.

 

[Jasminebed]

I've did a bit of a recap of several years in the past, and I do one for me each year whether I share or not.

I'd probably lost around $2200 in the six or so months I was gambling online before I joined CM.

And over the next few years, my results while a little healthier than yours overall being a somewhat lower roller and budget, my hobby has never cost me much, and there's been a couple of wins that left me well ahead a certain casinos and down at others. More than a few $100 or $200 in initial play at places I never returned to, or rarely.

And usually when I did get a big hit, I had something of worth to show for it. That $50 or $100 would not have been saved for a trip, I would have taken cabs or bought take out, or a box of beer.

I was ill when I started here, a nght on the town was no longer and option.

I said a long time ago it was kind of like a savings account that pays minus 7%.

2015 was the first year I did not have a cashout that bought me a trip. A trip I could have saved for perhaps, but I likely would not. I would have had to have some form of entertainment.

I'd say I was maybe $4000 up in 7 years online. And it was a barely more than a handful of lucky nights that took me there.

This year for me was needless to say, exceptional. I'm in the process of figuring out where just all my money has gone, but OLG has got back about 8K including two land-based trips, and Montreal got another grand.

Not all my money is gone, but realizing just how much did go back to OLG made me realize that I can't be down too much this year with my other casinos, which considering the volume of play must put me in in the high nineties too for RTP, across all casinos and platforms other than OLG.

Which means I lost what I consider an acceptable amount from the amount I won.

But it's going to be tough going back to a budget and planning my play next year. I've not totally been without one, or without some luck.

$100 a week is $5200 in a year. Which if you have a couple of $1000 cashouts you don't gamble back, and a maybe a couple of $400 or $500 you buy some larger items or pay some bills, and you end up $600 down for the year, that's about right for me.

And I will have more none-playing time to post at CM

 

[Mouche12]

So *** tintoil hat *** how come that, no matter what, some casinos give you more play, more cashouts and others just don't?

I am fairly lucky at Vera&John and Guts (although no recent cashouts at the latter because I played it back), but I've had only 1 or 2 cashouts over an estimated 60 deposits (weekly deposits of EUR 30-40) in the last period at Videoslots? Just hard to grasp why

 

[chris87]

Thanks all for your thoughts so far.

I didn't keep detailed records over the 3 years, but calculated myself from my deposits and withdrawals from my accounts at the casinos or asked the casinos to give me the data themselves.

I guess most of us will have lost overall, with the few exceptions of those that hit a big jackpot. Lockinlove seems to have done well too, but rightly expresses concern that there's a risk that all the gains could easily be lost. I say rightly as since my 1200x win on a £3.00 bet on a T2 hot mode bonus round, all slots at all casinos have been extremely cold. I think I predicted this at the time and whilst I don't really want to reopen the debate on the randomness or otherwise of slots, there is a corrolation here. I recall a guy recently posting similar on here where he (and his dad I think) both hit big wins and both then found all of the slots they played at to be ice cold.

Its interesting though that it appears that some casinos will lose out when we hit a big win, for others then to profit as a result when the slots generally go cold and we lose afterwards. I guess it all ultimately evens out in the end and all providers gain given the house edge.

Its also interesting though that we all seem to have one bogy casino where we just can't seem to win. Mine is obviously Videoslots, which is a shame as they are a great casino and thank goodness for the cash back and races!

I'm glad I found Casinomeister early on in my gambling career as it helped me avoid some costly mistakes and gain good advice and insight from others. I also was able to settle on the casinos I play at which are accredited and hence safe in the knowledge that there will be no problems receiving my money when I cashout.

Looking forward to your analysis Jon.

Chris

 

[lockinlove]

but I've had only 1 or 2 cashouts over an estimated 60 deposits (weekly deposits of EUR 30-40) in the last period at Videoslots? Just hard to grasp why

I have heard this an awful lot around here, on other forums and twitch. My answer is, I dont know lol. I can say with absolute certainty videoslots might end up going in my once and awhile casino. I will never close my account there though, too nice of a casino.

My first day playing there a couple weeks ago I won $1300. $1000 on one spin and $400 on another. I cashed it out.

Since then I cant win. Well I can but always on their freerolls. Lots of 100-500x wins. Which I find very strange. Thankfully their rake race and cashback and freerolls have kept me from depositing alot. Ive been smart though. When I have like $20 left. I just play freerolls and save up all my freespins. I wait for cashback and rake to be paid. Then I have a bankroll again. Rinse and repeat until that runs out. Then deposit and do it all over again...haha

 

[Jasminebed]

It's been my observance over the years here, and with talking to people in a more direct ways at times, that the same casino I can't win a lick at performs well for someone else.

Harry's shared here before his losses at 32Red were pretty steep, it's a casino I've been up at consistently over years. I certtainly go through dead spells. But I've also had some really good luck.

I'm not absolutely certain where I stand with Videoslots. I was way down, got up, they got most of the profit back, then hit that remarkable 10K on $2 bets, and although I've lost a lot back, I think I'm still well up. But is was far from that at one point.

I'm not speaking for anyone else, but as someone that usually plays bonuses, that lack of beating the bonus and having that "cash out point" definitely played a part in my losses. And DOA hated me. A really wide selection of games meant I never got bored, and wanted to cashout because I'd had my fill.

As for those reliable casinos we continue to play at, a loss of $1000 overall is really just one good night away from a profit, and those we are a grand up at are just ten bad weeks from being down.

As long as you keep playing, the house is going to have an edge. As long as you deposit money you are comfortable losing, I think you are okay whether you are up a bit or down a bit, or even down quite a bit.

But I know a 10 minute session with $100 gone you can be asking yourself: Did I have $100 worth or fun?

I think it's good to look at how we are doing over a longer period like a year, because we can surely hit bad streaks, and hot streaks that never last as long as the losing streaks.

 

[goatwack]

Truth be told, I'm extremely grateful to have not discovered the 'joys' of gambling say 20 years ago. Although a tad envious at the ridiculously good bonuses flying about back then with e.g 1x wagering mad, I am certain that I would have got carried away and possibly into debt.

It's ok now as I'm wiser and older and my life has peaked

Don't know how some of you lot have managed 20+ years of these escapades and stayed so balanced

 

[dunover]

I think as you get older and have experienced most of the thrills of life, gambling becomes less exciting. I haven't played for nearly 2 weeks now, as during December I have too much to do plus I have plenty of work to be getting on with. Unless I can allocate the time, I don't bother. I'm online bogged down with the Christmas paraphernalia at the moment and quite simply don't miss it at all - I like a good beer sometimes and believe it or not the last time I drank more than 2 beers was at the Meistermeet back in February! I would say I'm about 10-15k down over the last 6 years, again as a weekly amount not a great deal. Unless you get batshit lucky like Jasminebed you'll be down and stay down - always. I very much doubt any member here who hasn't won a jackpot is up over the time they've been gambling.

I need to get away from slots every now and then especially as my work is about slots so too much looking at them cabbages me after a while. At the end of the day they are simply a pastime pursued to fill a void, whether that be a mundane job, stale home life, lack of excitement/adrenaline in life or simply too much time on one's hands. Or worse still those poor buggers who are simply addicted to them. We all need to let steam off, and slots is simply the vehicle to do so.

 

[Steviedoo]

Unless you get batshit lucky like Jasminebed you'll be down and stay down - always. I very much doubt any member here who hasn't won a jackpot is up over the time they've been gambling.

this is the truth and utterly depressing....

 

[KasinoKing]

I think as you get older and have experienced most of the thrills of life, xxxxing becomes less exciting.

What you need is a new slot every month...

KK

 

[chris87]

I think as you get older and have experienced most of the thrills of life, gambling becomes less exciting. I haven't played for nearly 2 weeks now, as during December I have too much to do plus I have plenty of work to be getting on with. Unless I can allocate the time, I don't bother. I'm online bogged down with the Christmas paraphernalia at the moment and quite simply don't miss it at all - I like a good beer sometimes and believe it or not the last time I drank more than 2 beers was at the Meistermeet back in February! I would say I'm about 10-15k down over the last 6 years, again as a weekly amount not a great deal. Unless you get batshit lucky like Jasminebed you'll be down and stay down - always. I very much doubt any member here who hasn't won a jackpot is up over the time they've been gambling.

I need to get away from slots every now and then especially as my work is about slots so too much looking at them cabbages me after a while. At the end of the day they are simply a pastime pursued to fill a void, whether that be a mundane job, stale home life, lack of excitement/adrenaline in life or simply too much time on one's hands. Or worse still those poor buggers who are simply addicted to them. We all need to let steam off, and slots is simply the vehicle to do so.

I think this is spot on. I've certainly been playing more recently as I've had more time on my hands as my missus has been working away. Also, the last 2 weeks certainly have been less exciting for me as my luck has been shocking.
Once you're into online gambling if you have time on your hands, funds and the opportunity you'll likely play. Controlling it is the key as it's a very addictive pastime as we know. Having other things to do helps.

Chris

 

[lockinlove]

I want to add a couple reviews myself and I dont want to create my own thread.

Videoslots.

Games play great usually
Ok timed payouts
fun games
great rake race, freespins/battles and cashback
Very active rep who knows how to treat people

Bad

The finance section is lacking as they dont respond to queries very often. They just brush them under the carpet and hope you go away.
Size of the freespins

Overall rating B+

Slotsmillion

Quick payouts. You can even request it from chat on a Friday and they will push it through before the weekend
Smooth playing games.

Bad

Bonus banning.. even holiday events if you are a winner
Removed the reward levels and didnt replace it with anything
Never freebies or freespins

Its basically a caisno where you play with your own money and thats that.

Overall rating

D+

Fortune Lounge

They pay with echeck so there are zero fees
Games run smooth for the most part

Bad

Their support is outright awful. Some dont understand simple things. If there is an issue that is their fault, there will always says its your fault. Rude people overall ..although there is 1 or 2 good.

Terrible policy that burnt me twice. One was having 5 cents left from a bonus awhile back and they held me to $5500 wagering on a fresh deposit.

Second. Their client crashed on me mid play. I opened it back up it didnt take me to the game so I went to a different slot. Weeks later I deposited and played and went to cashout. Only to find out there was $3200 in wagering because when the client crashed I hit freespins. Even though I zeroed out my account to cancel out any bonus. Because of this error I had this wagering left from something previous. Their casino doesnt have a pop up or tell you there is a game in play. Staff reviewed my account many times and didnt make me aware of any of this or any wagering. Only when I went to cashout.

They treat their VIP like trash. You never get good bonuses, match bonuses, free spins or anything.

Overall rating is an F

Trada Casino

One of the best support teams ever
Smooth playing games
Great manager
Quick payouts
Willing to work with players

Bad:

Some of their bonus offers
lack of game providers

Overall rating

A

Grande Vegas

Great VIP scheme. Huge bonuses and Huge freechips
Support is quick to respond
Games run smooth

Bad

Cashout policy of $2500 a week and misleading info on their website claiming $10,000 a week

RTG

Overall rating

C-

 

[chris87]

Thanks for your review.

I'd agree that Trada and Videoslots are very good, but have limited bonus offers due to there reward system being different (cash back in the main)

For mainstream deposit bonuses the wagering seems to be getting higher, I try to avoid the D+B ones (e.g. Energy) that's what I like Royal Panda and Leo Vegas's schemes where you can get out early when you win as long as you haven't touched the bonus money. Casumo's is good too.

Chris