By: Jerry Whittaker

Playing at online casinos is fun; get yourself over to the casino party because you are guaranteed to have a ball. The amount of different games you can play is literally endless and all you need to know is what you like best. You will find roulette, craps, baccarat, backgammon, blackjack and poker online. There are slots, scratch cards, bingo, keno and lotto styled games. There is any number of varieties of video poker and the internet really is a huge big casino party.

The most widely played games are definitely slots, although poker is pretty big and bingo is nearly as popular. Remember one thing before you play poker, this is a thinking mans game. If you simply want to while away an hour having fun, then play the fun games. Slots are amazingly simple to play, but then so too is bingo. Simply choose where you want to play first and play. These games are themed on a wide variety of styles from adventure to Marvel heroes, animals to Ancient Egypt – everyone knows what they enjoy the most. You can even play skill games for cash prizes today.

Slots games have been played for a very long time and at first they were implemented at casinos to keep the girls busy while the men enjoyed their own casino party. Men like to play with the big money and games such as blackjack or roulette, while the girls like to spend a little gambling and enjoy a lot of fun. With advances in technology these games have translated well into online formats and even the old fashioned fruit machines can be found. However the trend is more towards video slots with five reels, tons of symbols animations, graphics and sounds, even bonus rounds which play more like arcade games to entertain you further.

In slots games with bonus rounds you get better value for money and imagine being able to turn your initial wager into something like 500 or even 5 000 times its size. This is what playing video slots bonus rounds can do.

Slots offer massive PJP’s too (progressive jackpot prizes) and there is more than one game with over a million in prize funds. PJP slots are generally funded with an initial amount and the prize money grows as the game is played more. The more people play, the bigger the prize money becomes and imagine the casino party you will have if you win one of these – everyone congratulating you, saying WTG and wishing they were you. There have been more than a few millionaires made by playing slots PJP’s online and if you win one of these, just think of how lucky you must be.

By: Jerry Whittaker

It is not only in online casinos that volatility plays a role, it plays a role in all casino games and this is a term meaning fluctuations up and down, in winning and losing. Volatility is chiefly used with regard to slots but in keno it also applies as standard deviations are very much a participating factor. This is particularly so in these random number games.

Keno is in fact an extremely volatile casino game and there are two main characteristics which come into play. One – the possibility of winning a very large amount of money for a very small wager and two – more frequently experienced low to moderate payouts. In low volatility games the second possibility applies, in high volatility games the first possibility applies.

Much like playing online slots, keno volatility is determined from the pay tables. If you are playing this game online it will always come with a pay table for you to consult. With keno, as you mark more numbers off on the play board you will see the pay tables increase and as well as determining the wager required, this also determines what you will win if you win. To compare relative volatility in this game, two games must be compared side by side and this will allow the player to see which game is the best value for their money and which will pay the most on a win.

Keno generally allows for up to 15 slots to be marked on the card, and this is usually the maximum. When making any kind of comparison you have to compare apples with apples which means compare the same amount of slots marked off on each keno card.

Different software games have different levels of relative volatility. For example the Real Time Gaming version of keno: All online casinos operate off specific software platforms, and this is what Real Time Gaming is, a software platform. Their keno has high volatility and this means it offers the potential for very large payouts. For getting 12 numbers out of 15, they will pay 25 000 currency units, for 13 of 15, this is 50 000 and for online casinos using Vegas Technology, this is far lower. They offer only 600 currency units for obtaining 12 out of 15 and for 13 out of 15, this is 1 200. This is a relative volatility comparison example at its best. If you are paying the same amount of money for a wager and the prize is higher at another online casino, then the aim of the game is to play where you get the better value for money. Always try to make sure you compare games that are the same at different online casinos as volatility is a pretty important variable.