About the Advertising on this Site

Almost since I first accepted advertising on this site over a decade ago, I've generally advertised only a single online casino, trying to pick the best one.  I've advertised Bovada exclusively to U.S. traffic from about 2005 (back when they were known as Bodog in the U.S.).

Here are my ideal criteria for an online casino:

1. Available to most U.S. players (most of my readership)
2. Browser-based free-play games, playable without registering
3. Good reputation on payouts, good review at Casinomeister
4. Responds promptly and professionally to player issues
5. Licensed by a reputable licensing authority
6. Publishes the RTP (return to player) for all of their slots

As far as I know, there is no online casino that meets even four of these six criteria, much less all six.  Bovada meets the first three.  They used to meet #4 too, until there was a problem with progressive jackpots which they addressed slowly and incompletely.

I'm continuing to advertise Bovada because even with their faults, they're still better than the other U.S.-facing casinos, especially in that they're the only one I know of that lets you play their games right in your web browser, with fake money, without having to register an account.  And if any readers know of a U.S.-wide casino that meets more of the criteria above, then by all means please let me know.

By the way, the reason that Bovada isn't licensed is that in the current climate with online gambling not being explicitly legal, no legitimate foreign licensing authority will license any U.S.-wide casino.  (Online gambling isn't explicitly illegal either, but licensing authorities are still steering clear until there's some clarity in the legal situation.)

Critics often allege that site owners, like me, are biased towards our advertisers because we get ad money from them.  That might make sense if I were desperate to find an advertiser, but I'm not.  There are literally thousands of casinos I could advertise on this site (and nearly every damn day one of the is writing to me begging me to pick them).  I don't pick the advertiser randomly, I've spent a lot of time trying to find one with a good reputation that will give players a good experience, one that I could feel good about recommending.  And the fact that I get advertising money from Bovada certainly didn't stop me from publicly criticizing their handling of the Betsoft jackpots issue.

That said, if you don't believe me and you think I'm biased towards my advertiser(s), then feel free to not play there.

Critics allege that I'm encouraging readers to gamble at the advertiser (and lose money).  They should read a lot more carefully. The overwhelming bulk of my advertising is for Bovada's free-play games (the kind you play without real money).  The overwhelming majority of my readers (99.97%) don't gamble online for real money (or at least not at the online casino I advertise), and the median loss is around $26/mo.   Also, one of the whole points of this site is to show how to minimize losses when gambling.  Following my advice makes gambling one of the cheaper forms of entertainment one can engage in.  When I can show people how to lose less money gambling, I'm happy.

This is a far cry from the attitude of many other gambling webmasters.  As one of them opined, "If the webmaster is not an idiot, he wants the rich, stupid and desperate gamblers to register and squeeze all the money out of him." (source)  That is absolutely not my position, and such selfishness angers me.  That webmaster's attitude goes a long way in explaining why the content on many other sites is crap.  It's also why I don't rub shoulders with other gambling webmasters except for a select few like the Wizard of Odds.

The ads shown might depend on the country you're viewing from.  That's because some casinos don't take U.S. players, and Bovada doesn't take non-U.S. players.  If you're in the U.S., you'll generally see ads for Bovada.  For elsewhere, you might see Bodog, though I intend to switch to VideoSlots for non-U.S. traffic when I have time to update the site.

Besides Bovada, some of the links on the site are affiliate links, where I get a commission if you click through to the advertiser and buy something (like a hotel room).  But that doesn't mean I'm going to steer you to a lesser-quality site in an effort to make more money.  For example, I'd get paid if I steered you to Travelocity for airfare booking, because Travelocity would pay me, but instead I steer you to HipMunk, even though they won't pay me a thin dime.  I link to HipMunk simply because I feel they're the best site for finding airfare.  I'd love it if they'd pay me, but they won't, but that doesn't stop me from linking them up in my airfare section.