Online bingo is the game of bingo (US|UK) played on the Internet. Online bingo is a multi billion dollar business.
Unlike balls used in regular bingo halls, online bingo sites use a random number generator. Online bingo halls usually offer online casino games as well as the bingo, but the actual bingo play works almost exactly like playing online poker or online casino games, with everything being virtual. One notable feature of online bingo is the chat functionality. Successful online bingo sites foster a sense of community and interaction between players.
Getting started
Some operators require players to download free software to play their games. Other operators use Java or Flash based games that allow you to play immediately online after registering a player account.
Depositing
Free games are available, but before playing for real money players are required to fund an account. Most sites accept a standard range of e-wallet funding options, such as Neteller, Firepay, Citadel and PrePaidATM.
Sites often provide a number of incentives to deposit, including matching bonuses where the site will reward depositing players by matching a percentage of their deposit.
How to play
Bingo is one of the easiest games to play and the online version is no different. Playing bingo online, players can make use of optional features which make playing the game easier, such as auto-daub. Auto-daub automatically marks off the numbers on cards as they are called, so players don’t have to. Most software providers support other gaming features as “Best Card Sorting” and “Best Card Highlighting” where players cards are sorted and highlighted by closest to bingo. Some of these features are designed to free players to enjoy the communal pleasantries of the chat features.
Chat & the CM
The Chat applet brings a different dimension to gaming. This is where all the players of a game can meet and chat during games of bingo. Whereas in land-based bingo where talking is strictly forbidden during a game, it is actively encouraged in online bingo. Chat functions as an effective retention tool, aimed especially at the predominantly female audience.
CM stands for “chat monitor”. The CM works for the bingo site as the host of a chat room and plays a role in welcoming players and creating a friendly and communal atmosphere in the room. This includes, but is not limited to, congratulating players when they win a game as well as playing chat games in-between bingo. Most sites have a chat protocol known as chat etiquette or chatiquette.
0 Ball versus 75 Ball
There are two types of bingo played around the world. North America plays 75-ball bingo on a 5×5 card with the centre square usually marked ‘free’. In the UK, parts of Europe, Australia and parts of South America they play a 90-ball game, marked on a 9×3 card. Both types of bingo are prominent online.
The desired pattern which players aim to achieve in 75 ball can vary dramatically, from a simple single line to more complicated themed patterns. The aim of the game, however, is always the same: to mark off the numbers to achieve the desired pattern. Speed Bingo is a variation played exactly the same, but numbers are simply called much quicker.
In 90-ball bingo, each card has three horizontal lines and nine columns. Each line contains five numbers, meaning each card has 15 numbers. The first column contains numbers from 1 -10, the second column contains numbers from 11-20, all the way through to the final column which contains numbers from 81-90.
A game of 90 ball bingo will normally be played in three stages: one line, two lines and Full House. In a “one line” game players need to mark a complete horizontal line across one card (i.e. 5 numbers marked). The aim of a ‘two lines’ game is to complete any two marked lines horizontally across one card (i.e. 10 numbers marked). Finally a “Full House” means all the numbers marked off on one card (all 15 numbers), as in a regular coverall game. The prize split differs for each stage of the game. The Full House is always the largest prize in any one game.
Bingo networks
There are a number of sites that will have the same promotions, similar graphics, the same bingo rooms and the same CMs. This occurs because they are part of a bingo “network”. In very simple terms, this means a number of different sites (or “front ends”) are playing with the same numbers for the same jackpot. Multiple sites act as doorways to a single game, leading to larger pools of players in chat and sizeable pots to win.
Online bingo in the UK
Bingo is now the most popular leisure activity in the UK for women between 20 and 25 years old. The UK market has seen an influx in big brand names launching bingo games on their already established websites. Huge brand names such as Yahoo!, Virgin, AOL UK and most recently MSN UK are all now associated with the UK online bingo market. Gala Bingo the biggest bingo operator in the UK is also now online, this is as well as other brand names such as:
The Sun, plus most other tabloid newspapers
Closer Magazine
Hit UK TV shows such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale and I’m a Celebrity
LastMinute.com
Park Hampers
Butlins
Ladbrokes
Littlewoods
A number of products from one of the UK’s leading media companies, Emap plc. These include MagicFM, Top Sante, Yours and New Woman.
Keith Chegwin now has his own branded bingo game.
Former Atomic Kitten star and celebrity mum Kerry Katona signed a £500,000 deal to be the face of Bingos.co.uk.
Software providers
Notable bingo software providers include:
Parlay Entertainment
Playtech
ChartWell Technology
1Gaming
Leapfrog Gaming
PartyGaming
WorldBingoNetwork
Cribbage or Crib is a card game for two, three or four players that involves forming combinations of cards over a series of hands to accumulate points. Points are mainly scored by runs, regardless of suit; by pairs, triples and quadruples; by flushes; and by cards that add up to 15.
Cribbage is the only card game that can legally be played for a wager in British pubs.
According to John Aubrey, cribbage was invented by Sir John Suckling, a British poet, in the early 17th century. It was derived from an older card game called Noddy. It has survived, with no major changes, as one of the most popular games in the English-speaking world.
It is generally played by two people, although it can be played by three or four, or by a pair of two-person teams.
The game has several unusual features: one is the crib (or box), from which the game takes its name. This is a separate, four-card hand made up of discards from each player, which counts for the dealer. Another is that each hand has two distinct scoring stages: the play and the show.
Visually, cribbage is known for its scoring board – a series of holes (streets) on which score is tallied with pegs. Scores can be kept on a piece of paper, but a cribbage board is almost always used, since scoring occurs throughout the game, not just at the conclusion of hands as in most other card games.
There are two main designs of cribbage board:
The older has four rows of thirty holes and a pegging-out hole in the middle at each end (allowing the board to be used both ways round). It is not suitable for three player games. In variations it can however be used for team crib with four players and five cards each. Partners are normally opposite each other.
The newer has three or four rows of 120 holes with a pegging-out hole at the end and is often brightly coloured. It is best suited to games played to 121, though it can also be used for 61-point games.
In both cases there are two pegs for each player (except team crib where it is two pegs per team\partnership), so that if a player loses track in the count one peg still marks the previous score. The holes are divided into groups of 5.
Variations
Six-card cribbage is the most common game, and is the version played exclusively in organized tournaments. Here each player is dealt six cards, leaving them with four once two are placed in the crib. Play is to 121 — two streets of 60 (up and down) and the pegging-out hole.
For three players, five cards are dealt each and one to the crib. Each player places one card in the crib. Then play is as six card.
Five-card cribbage (for two players) is the oldest version, and is sometimes known as “old game”. Each player is dealt five cards, so the crib consists of four cards but each hand only three. Whoever is non-dealer first is given a three-point start and play is to 61. The pegging is also slightly different from six card.
For four players, five cards are dealt each and each player places one in the crib. Play is as six card. In partner crib, players opposite each other form a partnership (as in bridge) and the scores are combined.
Seven-card cribbage is rare. Seven cards are dealt each and one to the crib, so the hands have five cards. The points can be very complicated to calculate. Play is to 151 (two and a half times round a traditional board).
Low-ball is a variant of six-card, in which the first person to score 121 points loses.
Muggins (see below)
CrossCribb
Statistics
There are 12,994,800 scoring hands in Cribbage (52c5 x 5, 5 cards then any of those 5 as the turn up card).
Approximately 8.5% of randomly drawn four-card hands will score 0 (not including pegging).
The highest score is 29 (555J in hand with the turn-up 5 of the same suit as the Jack).
The second highest score is 28 (any 10/J/Q/K+5555 in hand and turn-up excepting the above 29 hand) and the third highest is 24 (A7777, 33339, 36666, 44447, 44556, 44566, 45566, 67788, 77889).
All scores between 0 and 29 are possible, with the exception of 19, 25, 26 and 27. Players will sometimes refer to a 0-scoring hand as having a score of 19, which can confuse new players.
The odds of getting a 28 hand in a 2 player game are 1 in 15,028.
The odds of getting a perfect 29 hand in a 2 player game are 1 in 216,580.
The odds of getting a perfect 29 hand in a 3 or 4 player game are 1 in 649,740.
The dealer will always peg at least one point in 2 player, 6 card cribbage (unless opponent pegs out before all the cards are played).
The most points that can be pegged by playing one card are 15. This is accomplished by completing a double pair royale, while making the count 15 on the last card (12 for Double Pair Royale, 2 for 15, 1 for last card). Although this is rare, players declare it as “15 for 15.”
The highest score as a dealer is 53. The turn-up must be a 5, and one hand must have J555 while the other has 4466. The first being a 29 (With the right
The gambler’s fallacy is a logical fallacy that mistakenly believes past events will affect future events when dealing with random activities, such as many gambling games. It can encompass any of the following misconceptions:
A random event is more likely to occur because it has not happened for a period of time;
A random event is less likely to occur because it has not happened for a period of time;
A random event is more likely to occur because it recently happened; and
A random event is less likely to occur because it recently happened.
These are common misunderstandings that arise in everyday reasoning about probabilities, many of which have been studied in great detail. Many people lose money while gambling due to their erroneous belief in this fallacy.
Put simply, the chances of something happening the next time are not necessarily related to what has already happened, especially in many gambling games.
Examples
You flip a fair coin 20 times and it comes up heads every time. What is the probability it will come up tails next time? (Answer: 0.5, although the probability of a coin coming up the same 21 times in a row is only 0.000000477.)
A couple already has two daughters. What is the probability that the next child is a son? (Answer: 0.5, assuming the gender of a child is completely random)
Are you more likely to win the lottery by choosing the same numbers every time, or by choosing different numbers every time? (Answer: you are equally likely with either strategy. In reality, you may be better off choosing numbers in such a way as to reduce the risk of splitting the jackpot.)
Non-examples
There are many scenarios where the gambler’s fallacy might superficially seem to apply, where it in fact does not.
When the probability of different events is not independent, the probability of future events can change based on the outcome of past events. An example of this is cards drawn without replacement. It’s true that once a jack is removed from the deck, the next draw is less likely to be a jack and more likely to be of another rank. Thus, the odds for drawing a jack, assuming that it was the first card drawn and that there are no jokers, have decreased from 4/52 (7.69%) to 3/51 (5.88%), while the odds for any other card have increased from 4/52 (7.69%) to 4/51 (7.84%).
When the probability of each event is not even, such as with a loaded die, a number which has come up more often in the past may very well continue to do so, if that number is favored by the weighting of the dice. This has been dubbed Nerd’s Gullibility Fallacy — assuming the coin indeed is fair and the gamblers are honest when it isn’t the case. This is an example of Hume’s principle: twenty tails in a row indicates that it is far more likely that the coin is loaded than that the coin is fair and the next toss will be fifty-fifty heads or tails.
The outcome of future events can be affected if external factors are allowed to change the probability of the events (e.g. changes in the rules of a game affecting a sports team’s performance levels). Additionally, a rookie sports player’s success may decrease after opposing teams discover his or her weaknesses and exploit them. The player must then attempt to compensate and randomize his strategy, ultimately resulting in Game Theory.
Many riddles trick the reader into believing that they are an example of Gambler’s Fallacy, such as the Monty Hall problem. Similarly, if I flip a coin twice and tell you that at least one (i.e. one or both) of the flips was heads, and ask what the probability is that they both came up heads, you might answer, that it is 50/50 (or 50%). This is incorrect: if I tell you that one of the two flips was heads then I am removing the tails-tails outcome only, leaving the following possible outcomes: heads-heads, heads-tails, and tails-heads. These are equally likely, so heads-heads happens 1 time in 3 or 33% of the time. If I had specified that the first flip was heads, then the chances the second flip was heads too is 50%.
Gov. Bob Riley sent letters Wednesday to gambling machine manufacturers and suppliers, warning that some machines found in Alabama appear illegal and prosecutions will begin if they are not removed.
Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) are computerised machines normally found in betting shops which allow players to bet on the outcome of various games and events with Fixed Odds. They were introduced to UK shops in 2002, shortly after the abolition of the Betting Tax in October 2001.The most commonly played game is Roulette. The minimum bet per spin is £1 and the maximum is £100. Chips can be as small as 20 pence. The maximum amount that can be won on any spin is £500.
Other games include Spoof, Bingo, Virtual Racing and Triple Disc.
Shops are allowed a maximum of four such terminals, although since this number also includes fruit machines, many shops have fewer than four.
Three local businesses were temporarily closed Tuesday evening after Murfreesboro Police detectives conducted an investigation into illegal gambling operations at the sites, according to spokesman Kyle Evans.
A typical selection of games offered at an online casino might include:
Baccarat
Blackjack
Craps
Roulette
Slot Machines
Video Poker
Signup bonuses
Many online casinos offer signup bonuses to new players making their first deposit. These bonuses normally match a percentage of the player’s deposit with a dollar maximum, and almost all online casino signup bonuses require a minimum amount of wagering before allowing a cash out. Gameplay at specific casino games might be excluded from the wagering requirement calculation.
A fictional signup bonus offer follows as an example:
The online casino offers new players a deposit matching bonus of 100%, up to $100
The player must wager 25 times the total amount of the deposit plus the bonus before withdrawing
Wagers on baccarat, craps, roulette, and sic bo do not count towards meeting wagering requirements
For this particular example, this would mean that a player depositing $100 would start with $200 in his account. The player must make $5000 ($200 × 25) in wagers before being allowed to make a withdrawal.
Advantage play in casino signup bonus situations is mathematically possible. For example, the house edge in blackjack is roughly 0.5%. In the example above, $5000 in wagering with a house edge of 0.5% will result in an expected loss of $25. Since the player received a $100 signup bonus, the player has an expected profit of $75.
Advantage players who use bonus offers for an expected profit are often called “bonus hunters”, “bonus abusers”, “bonus baggers”, “bonus whores” and “casino scalpers”. Some online casinos have restrictions regarding “the spirit of the bonus offer” which they sometimes use as a deterrent to what they consider “bonus abuse”.
A player who wishes to do this at a large number of online casinos must be careful. Some casinos are rogues (see below) and do not pay. Others have terms and conditions that are not favorable to the player, such as most bonuses that are restricted to slots.
Oicho-Kabu (おいちょかぶ) is a traditional Japanese gambling game similar to the Western games blackjack and baccarat. It is typically played with special kabufuda cards. A hanafuda deck can also be used, if the last two months are discarded. (Western playing cards can be used, if the face cards are removed from the deck and aces counted as 1.)The goal of the game is to reach a total closest to 9 without going over. As in baccarat, the last digit of any total over 10 makes your hand: a 15 counts as 5, a 12 as 2, and a 20 as 0.
The word yakuza originates from this game. The worst Oicho-Kabu hand is 8-9-3, or “ya-ku-sa”. This gives a sum total of 20, or 0 points.
In poker, the starting hand is the initial set of cards dealt to each player before any voluntary betting takes place. For example, in Seven-card stud this is two downcards and one upcard; in Texas hold’em it is two downcards; in Five-card draw it is five cards.The one decision made by every poker player on every deal of every game is whether to continue playing that hand after seeing that first set of cards. Since making this decision correctly will lead to the most long-run profit for a skilled player, players often put considerable study into what the appropriate starting hand “standards” are for the game being played.
Optimal starting hand standards can be very sensitive to factors such as the betting structure of a game, position, and the character of the other players, as well as the rules of the game being played.
Faro was undoubtedly one of the most popular card games of the 18th century, especially among the lower classes. Although both faro and Basset were forbidden in France, on severe penalties, these games continued to be in great vogue in England during the 18th century; apparently because it was easy to learn, it gave the appearance of being very fair, and, lastly, it was a very quiet, quick game, and could be played discreetly. “Our life here,” writes Gilly Williams to George Selwyn in 1752, “would not displease you, for we eat and drink well, and the Earl of Coventry holds a Pharaoh-bank every night to us, which we have plundered considerably.” Charles James Fox preferred faro to any other game, as did american con man Soapy Smith. It was said that every faro table in Soapy’s Tivoli Club, in Denver, Colorado in 1889 was gaffed (made to cheat). Faro was played all over the United States, by the rich and the poor, during the 19th century.
Faro’s detractors regarded it as a dangerous scam that destroyed families and reduced men to poverty. This reputation is likely due to the use by some bankers of rigged dealing boxes that allowed the banker to manipulate the draw of the cards after observing the players’ bets.
Faro bankers were alleged to employ ‘gentlemen’ to give a very favourable report of the game to the town, so that the games would be allowed to transpire without further inquiry.
Major gambling companies’ ledgers have told the same, sinking story for a year: Fewer people are visiting casinos, their trips are getting shorter. and they are not gambling as much.
Cee-lo (sometimes spelled cilo, celo, c-lo, or cee-low) is a game of chance played with three six-sided dice. The game is stereotypically played in urban settings such as alleys or stoops.Each game involves two or more players. A bet amount is decided upon and each player puts that amount in the pile or pot. Each person then goes on to roll all three dice at once, and continues to do so until a recognized combination, or number, is rolled.
The most common combination is two of the same number, and a third different number. The value of the roll is the third unique number. The objective is to have the highest valued roll to win. However, there some special combinations:
1 2 3
The lowest possible roll.
4 5 6
The highest possible roll.
“Trips”
If you roll three of the same number, this is known as rolling “trips”. All other players must now roll a higher number with trips or 4 5 6 to win.
If two or more players roll the same highest combination, a new round of the game begins between those players. Sometimes each one deposits twice as much money into the pot as he did in the previous round. The rolling process again occurs, with only those left in the game rolling. The game ends once there is a single winner in a round, with all the money in the pot going to them.
Common variations
A common practice is that if a player wins with trips or 456, all players must pay double the original bet.
If a player rolls the dice 5 times without getting a combination, they are out.
Cee-lo is sometimes played that if a 456 is rolled then it is an automatic win and no one else can even tie it.
Likewise, a 123 would be an automatic loss and the person who rolled it would be automatically out. This loss includes for all “pushes” that may occur in a hand.
In the West Coast Version, besides a 456, the highest pair wins and the 3rd number is of no meaning. 123 is meaningless, but roll “trips” and you’re out.
In a two player game if you roll the dice and If the odd dice is a “1″ you “aced out”…lost automatically If the odd dice is a “6″…”head crack”… you win automatically…
Seven Twenty-Seven is a vying game similar in some respects to poker, and often played as a “dealer’s choice” variant at home poker games. It uses the same equipment and betting system, but the value of hands does not use traditional poker hand rankings, either high or low. Rather, only the sum of the cards is used to calculate the worth of a hand. The game is somewhat of a cross between blackjack hands and poker bluffing.The game play proceeds like this:
Each player is dealt a downcard and an upcard.
A betting round begins with the player on the dealer’s left, and proceeds exactly as in poker: all players must either equal the largest bet or drop out.
After the betting, each player may draw a card, face up, in turn from the dealer’s left. If all players pass on their opportunity to draw, there is one more round of betting, followed by a poker-style showdown. Otherwise the game continues with another betting round (often beginning to the left of the player who began the previous round) and another draw, so there can be as few as two betting rounds in the game, but more often three or four.
Numbered cards are scored at face value; face cards count for one-half a point. Aces count for one and eleven, so a hand with a five and two aces scores 7 and 27 at the same time.
On showdown, the pot is split in half, with the hand(s) valued closest to 7 and the hand(s) valued closest to 27 each winning one half of the pot. If there is a tie where two players are off by the same amount, but in different directions (6 to 8), the lower hand wins. If there is an exact tie, that half-pot is split again among the tied players. Ties are common. The same player may contest for both high and low, usually because of aces. A player with a five and two aces can win the whole pot.
There are a few variations in rules that complicate things somewhat: first, the rule about ties in different directions varies; also, some players play with a declaration, while others play cards speak.
PROVIDENCE — State Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr. is proposing an amendment to the state Constitution to allow full-scale casino gambling at both Twin River and Newport Grand.
Keno, in its modern form, is like a lottery or bingo in that it is a numbers game. Unlike bingo, the keno player picks the numbers for his or her ticket(s). Keno cards have 80 numbers; the keno player can pick as many (or as few) numbers as desired. This is done by circling or otherwise marking them with a pencil. Once the player has picked his or her numbers, he must bring his or her card back to the clerk at the keno booth. The clerk will then issue a receipt after recording the player’s numbers.
After picking numbers and recording them at the keno booth, the player will then watch either a “big board” in which winning keno numbers will light up or on a video monitor showing the selected numbers. As the winning numbers light up, the player usually marks them on his or her card with a bright-colored marker. The amount of numbers the player originally picked that match winning numbers of a particular drawing will determine if any money is won and, if so, how much. The winning ticket needs to be taken to the keno booth immediately if it is an individual game ticket, as drawings usually take place every five minutes. If the player tries to redeem a winning ticket when the next drawing starts, it is void and no money is paid out.
To avoid having a void ticket, a keno player can purchase a “multi-race” ticket with the same picked numbers on anywhere from 2 to 20 tickets. When the maximum number of games (matching the number of tickets) is finished, the player can then redeem any winnings and avoid the peril of a void ticket. Another option is the “stray and play” ticket, which is usually a number of games greater than 30. Unlike standard keno tickets, the “stray and play” doesn’t have to be redeemed immediately and is often good for up to a year after purchase.
Lottery versions of Keno are now used in many National Lotteries or state licensed Lotteries around the world. The games have different formulas depending on the wanted price structure and whether the game is slow (daily or weekly), or if it is a fast game with just minutes between the draws. The drawn numbers are typically published on TV for the slow games and on monitors at the point of sale for the fast games.
There are several free and some subscription-based servers available for playing bridge on the Internet. OKBridge is the oldest of the still-running Internet Bridge services; players of all standards, from beginners to world champions may be found playing there. SWAN Games is a more recent competitor. Bridge Base Online is mostly free, and now has a much larger membership base than either of the above. Some National Contract Bridge Organizations now offer online bridge play to their members including the English Bridge Union, the Dutch Bridge Union and the Australian Bridge Federation. MSN and Yahoo! Games have several online Rubber Bridge rooms.
There are many advantages to playing Bridge online:
The ability to choose when you play.
The ability to choose your opponents. In a club game, you may be forced to play against pairs that are much weaker, rude, or much stronger. Playing online, you can play against opponents of nearly equal ability.
Most servers offer an accurate player rating system. The ACBL and EBU masterpoints systems give credit for how much one has played rather than how well; most online systems have a rating system which attempts to measure one’s ability without regard to the number of games played.
There are fewer restrictions on which conventions one is allowed to use.
You can not make inferences from partner’s tone of voice or other cues available in real life. However, intentional cheating, such as instant messaging your partner, is easier.
A detailed record of every hand may be kept, to help resolve complaints.
It is impossible to make an illegal play by accident, as the software won’t accept a play or call which does not conform to the rules.
The main disadvantage to playing online is that bridge is a social game, and many people play because they enjoy the social atmosphere of the bridge club.
Computer Bridge
After many years of little progress, at the end of the twentieth century computer bridge made big strides forward. In 1996 the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) initiated official World Championships Computer Bridge, to be held annually along with a major bridge event. The first Computer Bridge Championship took place in 1997 at the North American Bridge Championships in Albuquerque.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo made his initial pitch for legislation that would allow more gambling at Kentucky horse tracks, which raised concerns among gambling opponents, including the head of the state’s largest Protestant denomination.
A croupier (in European usage) or dealer (in American usage) is a person who takes and pays out bets or otherwise assists at a gambling table, often in a casino. In American usage, dealer may imply a card game, but this is not always the case. For example it is common to refer to a craps dealer[1].In general, the croupier works only for their salary (and tips) and does not have a personal interest in the outcome of the game.
An Exacta is a type of bet placed in horse racing which requires the bettor to select the 1st and 2nd place finishers of the race in the correct order.This is more difficult than selecting only the winner of the race, and the resulting payouts for correctly placing an exacta bet are therefore correspondingly higher.
Called a perfecta in some New England (U.S.) states, though this particular use of nomenclature is widely considered to be anomalous.
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