I've come to the conclusion that online gaming may not be the best thing for someone of my compulsive tendencies. I'm not writing off online poker entirely, just thinking of scaling back my efforts in that area. Taking a little break. Getting back to my first love, reminding myself that poker is not the only game in town. And so I have booked a trip to Vegas, two nights at the Stardust, and even bought a ticket to see Avenue Q at an obscene price. I figure it's time to do some serious gambling, in my prime element, where I know the score. Remind myself of what's out there, so that I don't think I have to stake my survival on becoming a better poker player.

So I decided I would tone down my gambling until the trip, but decided to make one last jab at online riches. Give poker a brief respite, and hopefully return to the game with a fresh outlook. Instead, I directed my attention away from the poker rooms and towards the online casinos, and their lucrative new player bonuses. At first glance, these deals are no-brainers, with new players often getting 100% bonuses on first deposits, sometimes up to $400. But I've avoided these offers, for two primary reasons. First, I've never trusted the casinos to offer legitimate games, and pay off fairly. They have much more to gain by cheating at casino games than at poker, where the house merely takes a cut of the action. Second, a related point, I don't trust them to give me my money if I win, especially if I win while taking advantage of a bonus offer. The terms and conditions at many of these sites basically state they can take your money if they think you're taking advantage of them, and you have no recourse. And, of course, any site can fail to pay you for any or no reason, and you really have no recourse. To be fair, most casinos seem to offer fair games and pay their obligations, but it always worries me. Moreso with casino games than poker, because, as I mentioned, the house doesn't have a direct stake in the action at poker, but also because of the higher stakes of casino gaming, where you might be chasing a huge jackpot rather than just some big pots. A casino might pay off small wins, but what if you hit it big?

So this form of online gambling makes me nervous. But I believe the major players in the market are honest and legit (they do have one thing in common with poker rooms--they're making too much money legitimately to risk cheating customers and driving off their clientele), and the sign-up offers are tempting. So I played at several casinos this week. Had some good luck at King Solomons Casino, but had bad luck taking advantage of some good follow-up offers they sent me (and also had some technical issues in taking advantage of those offers). Decent site overall, and since playing there once they twice deposited $50 into my account (one of these times was a birthday present), with no apparent strings attached (I lost it both times before trying to cash it out, but there didn't seem to be a minimum play requirement). The technical issues bothered me a bit, though, and customer service was only adequate, at best. Bodog seems a good site for people who don't want to shop around. No great signup bonus or anything, just a standing offer of 10% added to every deposit, with minimal play requirements. After playing and losing my initial deposit and my second deposit, I logged in a few days later and found $55 in my account. Never received an email telling me they gave me a bonus or anything, so I found that a bit odd. I'm not real crazy about their banking interface, and their deposit limits seem a bit low (though you can apply for a raise). I played at other sites, but only one other merits mention.

I won't actually put a link to Casino On Net, because of the horrendous overuse of popups and javascript windows, but feel free to go to their website, www.888.com, if you like (the windows are annoying, but won't download anything unless you consent). They are one of the oldest players out there, and have a good reputation, and a generous 100% deposit bonus, up to $200, for new players. So I deposited $200, and did pretty well for awhile, and then things turned ugly. I eventually went broke and deposited again, and things were looking pretty bleak. And then I hit four deuces at deuces wild. And then I returned to blackjack, and kept winning there. And now I find myself facing the situation I wondered about: Will the casino pay me when I hit it big?

I'm not too worried, as Casino On Net has a good reputation. My main concern at the moment is when the cash will hit my bank account. One annoying aspect of Casino On Net is that they basically sit on all cashout requests for five days, then spend a day or two processing them, and then it takes a day or two to finally reach your bank. So they say a wire transfer payment should take 10-13 days. Which means it will most likely post the day I leave for Vegas. So I have no guarantees I will have that money to fund my Vegas trip. And as I hate banks and their piddling interest rates, I find myself in a bit of a cash crunch, with few liquid assets. I've transfered about everything to my credit union, and I will have a decent bankroll for Vegas, but if Casino On Net pays me in time, I will have a little more flexibility for taking risks in Vegas.

To conclude my discussion of Casino On Net, I'll just say that their software is somewhat annoying, as is their website, and their cashout policy is ludicrous (they are most generous in that, after you have wagered at least $3 million at their casino, they will only sit on your cashout requests two days before processing them). But I had good luck there, and so I will most likely play again. I would have to say, though, that both King Solomons Casino and Bodog are more likely to get the bulk of my action. And I'll probably keep shopping around, as I still haven't found a casino that offers everything. And so while I have put some of my big win towards replenishing my dwindling poker bankroll, I do plan to reinvest some of that win into some more lucrative sign-up bonuses.