I promised you it was coming, and now it’s here.  The Jackpot Factory has launched its new online bingo site, and it’s every bit as fantastic as I hoped and expected it would be.  The site is called All Bingo Club, and it is a sister site of All Slots Casino.  We all know that All Slots is the best slots site out there, so it’s really no surprise that All Bingo -even though it’s brand new - is quickly becoming known as the top bingo site.  It has great bingo software, great bonuses and promotions, great customer support, and a great chat room where you can get to know your fellow bingo players.

I would like to offer my congratulations to our bingo manager, Mikki, for making it happen, and I urge all of you to logon to All Bingo Club and give online bingo a try.

With the movie 21 going strong at the box office, everyone’s thoughts are on the card game 21, also known as blackjack.  So I thought it would be a good time to ask Jerry Needleman, our resident online blackjack expert, for a tip I could pass along to you.  Here’s what he said:

“Hey, David, thanks for asking.  And by the way, congratulations on your promotion, Mr. Vice President.

The best blackjack tip I could pass along to your readers would be to always remember what is the object of the game of blackjack.  Many people will tell you that the object is to get as close to 21 as possible, but that is not true.  The real object of the game is to beat the dealer.  There is a big difference between the two, and I’ll give you an example to show you what I mean.

Suppose you have cards totaling 12, and the dealer is showing a 6.  If the object were to get as close as possible to 21, you would hit.  But since the real object is to beat the dealer, you would be better off standing and letting the dealer go ahead and lose.

How is the dealer going to lose?  Remember, there are more 10-value cards than any other card in the deck.  So if the dealer is showing a 6, there is a good chance that he has a 10-card in the hole for a total of 16.  Now, the rules of blackjack say that the dealer must hit on 16, whether he wants to or not.  And when he hits on 16, there is a very good chance that he will get a 6 or higher and bust, and your 12 will win the game.

Some people might say a win with 12 is not a pretty win.  I say a win is a win, and I’ll take it any way I can get it.  Pretty or ugly, the important thing is to beat the dealer.  That’s what blackjack is all about”.

The most enjoyable part of writing this blog is when I have good news to share about one of our players hitting a jackpot.  Or, in the case of Yukihiro K., two jackpots… :-)

In the span the last couple of months, while playing the slots at All Jackpots, Yukihiro first won $7,520 on Thunderstruck, and then won $18,960 on Break da Bank Again.  The win on Break da Bank Again win was the most impressive, as Yukihiro was able to use the free spins feature to go over the base game’s maximum payout of 18,750 credits.  It’s achievements like this that make  online casino gambling so exciting for so many of us.  Way to go, Yukihiro!

I told you a couple of months ago about the Number 1 in 21 Trivia Quiz going on at number1in21.com in partnership with Wild Jack Casino.  I’m bringing it up again because time is running out.  If you haven’t played the trivia quiz yet, I urge you to do it right away.  As I mentioned, entry is free and the top prize is $21,000, so it would really be a shame to let this opportunity slip away from you.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the rules of the Quiz allow you to look up the answers on Google, which make it a lot easier.  So not only can you have some fun and have a chance to win a lot of money, you can also learn some cool blackjack trivia and other facts about the number 21 to impress your friends with. 

There is really no good reason not to play the Trivia Quiz today!

The Creative Department is one of those departments here at the Jackpot Factory that does fantastic work behind the scenes and gets very little credit or publicity.  They are a group of very talented men and women who are responsible for the design and layout of our websites.  Upper management recently gave them this assignment: design a brand new website for All Slots Casino that would emphasize what All Slots really is - the top online slots casino on the Web. 

While it’s true that All Slots continues to have blackjack and roulette and keno and all the other casino games, its core strength has always been online slots.  Management felt that the old website was kind of vague and all over the place, and they wanted something a bit more focused.

Well, Creative accepted the challenge and, in my opinion, they did an amazing job.  The new website is smart, focused, attractive, user-friendly, easy to navigate, and full of useful information.  Check it out and see what you think. 

As the Vice President of Player affairs I have received a few emails regarding our customer support.  It’s amazing how sometimes one story can be seen completely different by two different people!

We had a case where a player was requested to send in some outstanding documents in order to receive their withdrawal. This might seem like a pain but it’s a preventative security measure plus an E-COGRA regulation.  We never purposefully hassle players with documents but we need to be sure the person we are paying is the player!

Anyway, this woman simply refused to send in documents. She didn’t really understand that the documents were required to receive the winnings but thought it was a stall tactic not to pay! Once she had decided to not send them in, no amount of explanations could change her mind. Therefore she thought our support service was terrible and non cooperative. To make a long story short, after a 15 minute call we managed to sort out the details and documents and she has since been paid.

I think the lesson learned here is communications. Everyone needs to really learn to listen better and not just see things from their perspective. She was sure we were stalling and couldn’t understand why she wasn’t getting paid. Our support team was getting frustrated because they didn’t understand why she simply didn’t fax the documents…

It’s all about communications..

Unfortunately our US based players are very familiar with depositing problems when it comes to using their credit cards. Their Canadian neighbors to the North don’t have much luck either. They can deposit much easier with their credit cards but have the same problem receiving withdrawals and as most players will tell you, that’s the most important part! For a while Canadians had a great option called Use My Bank. But then that option suddenly developed a lot of technical problems which threw both players and casinos for a loop.

These days we encourage our Canadian players to stick with Entropay which is the equivalent of a virtual credit card. Details can be found here: http://www.jackpotfactory.com/banking.php

If you happen to be a Canadian and are happy with other deposit methods please feel free to chime in!

We’re back to everyone’s favorite topic, the wide world of payments and withdrawals.

It seems like it should be simple, a player requests a withdrawal, the money should be processed and sent to them. Today we’ll examine the situation in the US where things are not simple at all…

In the good old days there were a variety of payment options available for US players. Neteller, Click2Pay, Echeck, are just a few of the options that were out there. Players could easily deposit and withdraw funds from the casino and have it back in their account within 24-48 hours.

In today’s times the only way for US players to deposit at the casino is via credit card or UseMyWallet. The casino is unable to process funds back to a credit card which means we must send a check. While some casinos are able to wire money, the fees are enormous and there is no guarantee the money will arrive. If the bank catches on that it is related to gambling they might just confiscate the money.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again. If you live in the US your best deposit option is USeMyWallet. You can find details here http://www.jackpotfactory.com/usemywallet.php  If you have any specific questions please feel free to contact our support team.

Next week we’ll move into Canada and review their banking issues.

The $100,000 Slots Tournament finally came to and dramatic conclusion yesterday. In all, over 10,000 people participated in the semi finals and finals. Our first place winner was Per Magnus S., hails from Norway, and has been with the casino for over 5 years. Second place went to Sheila P. from the US and has been with the casino for just over a month! She missed out on the top prize by just 2000 coins! Third place went to Roberto C. from Italy who has played in over 350 tournaments since September 2007! All in all it was a world class event with players from all over the world. I hope our winners will write in and tell us a little about their experience.

Unfortunately it wasn’t all fun and games with the tournaments. We are aware of some technical issues some of our players experienced. Some players had a hard time opening the software and other players found their reels just kept on spinning. We are working very hard with our software provider, Microgaming, to fix these issues and ensure a positive playing experience for everyone.

Be sure to stay tuned for our next $100,000 Slots Tournament coming up in just a few months!

One of the best ways for players to find a casino is to use a 3rd party reference site which is commonly referred to as an affiliate.

Affiliate websites can be forums, blogs, or just pages and pages of banner advertisements. It helps to get a 3rd party’s opinion on the casino operation and about their support service, games, and payment options. A well respected and long time affiliate partner of ours is Online Casino Suite  where you can find online casino reviews, games reviews, and software provider reviews.

Here’s an excellent example of a casino review done for All Slots Casino, which is the biggest online slots casino.

Like I said, when choosing an online casino it’s important to know who are the reputable and reliable operations. But once you’ve read the All Slots review I am sure you won’t have to look any further!