As an online gambler you want quick and easy access to classic slot88 games. Exceptional customer service. Simple site navigation. Top-notch security. Wide bet ranges. Prompt payouts. All backed by a company with a solid reputation in the gaming and wagering industry. And let’s not  forget to mention: you also want to have fun.

Odds are, your wants will be satisfied at VIP Casinos. Their Java-based games start you playing immediately, no long wait for a download. The emphasis is not on the glitz. It’s on the gambling.

VIP Casinos is one of several sites run by the VIP Entertainment Group based in Curacao, Dutch Antilles. Set up just one account for casino play, a trip to VIP Sports for a full gamut of herobola wagering, or to VIP Soccer for all soccer bets, all the time. Win or lose, wagers at each site are pooled and count for points in the VIP Slot Gacor Rewards program. Your points can be redeemed for various prizes or casino credit.

VIP take their name seriously – they are dedicated to treating the customer as a Very Important Person. E-mail inquiries are guaranteed a response within eight hours. Three x 24-hour hotlines are available for immediate help. Their site states their mission: “It is our priority to have happy customers who enjoy their visits to our sites.”

Of course, part of what makes customers happy is a bonus. New players get a 10% sign-up bonus (up to $250 for credit card deposits, no maximum with other purchasing methods). Give VIP a suggestion they use and your account will be $25 richer. Refer friends who play and that’s a $25 bonus per friend. Cash deposits – via NetTeller, Western Union, bank wire transfer, or cashiers check – earn you extra cash to the tune of 5% on any amount up to $1,000, plus the casino will pay your charges for sending the money.

A head’s up for players who want to use American Express or Diner’s Card, but can’t find casinos that accept them: VIP will set up an Earthport Account on either card, from $5 to $500, in a few minutes time. Other purchasing options are the cash methods noted above, Visa/MC and debit cards.

To the Games
Simple, simple, simple. Log-in on the home page for instant transport to the game site. All the games are on one page. At the top are three “click go” bars to access your account (balance, deposits, cash-ins, play history, etc.); navigate to other areas of the VIP sites; or come back to the casino. The unique casino games open in separate windows, which thankfully are large and easy to view. At some Java-based casinos, I’ve found myself squinting to catch the action, even in zoom mode.

A minor note about the account history reports. I’m one of those players who wants to see the bitter – or luckily better – breakdown of their gambling bouts. VIP’s reports are done on a weekly rather than monthly basis. So, if playing takes you from one late night to the wee hours of the next day, and that changeover occurs on the report cutoff date, you must access two weekly reports to view one session of play. That’s annoying. However, the actual reports are great. Along with standard win and loss columns, there’s a no-brainer description of bottom – line results. For example, “You won $87 playing 112 hands of Blackjack” or “You lost $550 dollars on two spins of Roulette” (a message only for a heavy bettor or an idiot).

Now a minor technological note. Be sure to minimize the VIP home page after you’ve gone to the casino page and begun gambling. Otherwise, play may be interrupted when the home page goes through automatic reload. I learned, I minimized. Also, I experienced a few system freezes due to the RAM on my PC being the lowest of lows (since corrected!). But don’t let low RAM keep you away – I refreshed or rebooted and went right back in, which is testament to the casinos appeal.

Poker
Gamblers who see their fortune in the cards should be pleased by VIP’s five poker choices. As with each game on the site except roulette, the poker games feature a high and low betting range – in this case, low $1 to $5 and high $5 to $25.

I’m a fan of nearly any card result china game, though no master at the betting strategies, and I found some favorites at VIP. A thrill I didn’t expect came from the traditional look and feel of the green “felt” tables and good ol’ fashioned deck of cards. No “theme park” decks with artist’s renderings of Picassoesque aces and faces emblazoned with a casino name. I felt like I was playing in a backroom poker parlor that takes a password to enter, or the Downtown Las Vegas clubs of years ago… anyone out there remember those? (For the record, I’m not all that old, but did garner some early impressions!)

VIP’s version of Stud Poker takes the usual duel of player versus dealer and adds the fun element of a progressive jackpot. The jackpot was around $17,000 when I played – not chump change. You bet on your current hands and place side bets on the jackpot. The progressive feature is optional so it can be wagered from hand to hand or on every hand. Stud Poker is a straightforward game of chance: beat the dealer’s hand with a higher card or combination, after guessing about the big question mark of the dealer’s hidden cards. This game sucked me in, I didn’t win, and yet I had a great time playing.

On the Double Bonus game, I didn’t know the rules, but simply clicked on “game rules” to learn. (A nice feature on all the games – rules are readily available without taking you out of the game to another web page.) Minimum win is Jacks or Better. Special payouts are for four-of-a-kind hands: highest for four Aces; next for four 2s, 3s or 4s; then for a quadruple match of any other cards. I had trouble deciding which cards to hold – better to keep high cards toward a minimum win, or low cards for special payouts? This wouldn’t be a dilemma for card sharks or strategists.

Other offerings include Jacks or Better and two games for players who like a wild-card edge, Deuce’s Wild and Joker’s Wild. Even though I knew it was a computer talking, I liked seeing “Congratulations!” whenever I won a Deuce’s Wild hand. The Joker’s Wild displays “best hand” and credits are nicely couched in the corner with your current bet, making it easy to track wins/losses. I did well on this game. Therefore, I liked this game.

Blackjack
Low and high rollers alike should be pleased with VIP’s betting range for Blackjack – either $1 to $25 per hand, or $25 up to a whopping $250. I appreciated the $1 minimum bet (typically $2 at other online casinos) because I usually don’t play large amounts at a time (unless I win large, in which case I invariably forget the cash-in button exists and play all my winnings right back). The table action is quite fast, yet doesn’t neglect the inexperienced player. For example, you’re alerted to splits and insurance options in case awareness of those betting options isn’t second nature. I liked the graphics, the chips traveling back to my pile, plus the boldly honest “You Lose!” announcements. Might as well tell it like it is, eh?

Roulette
Roulette is one of the easier casino games to play in terms of understanding precisely what you’re betting on and quickly recognizing the outcome. Bet on a particular number, or bet on any number showing up that is black, red, odd, even, or in a high, middle or low range. Wheel spins. Ball drops. You see the winning number. Odds definitely favor the house. You can study strategies to help increase payouts and playing time. Even so, a whole lot of luck is involved. (And I did get lucky–three red 5’s in rapid time! Pure joy… until I lost it all on the Progressive Stud Poker. Sigh.)

Here again, VIP satisfies both the gambling-budget challenged and those who have money to burn with a wide betting range of $1 to $360. The spin of the wheel was sometimes excruciatingly slow, which seemed to be more a function of Internet speed than the software. Only one “0” on the board, not “00”. Still, it’s Roulette. What’s not to enjoy?

Slots
Honestly, if you’re primarily a slots player who wants a variety of machines with multiple paylines, VIP may not prove to be your ultimate casino. The key is whether the actual gambling and the fun you can have via the slots matters to you more than how many machine choices there are.

VIP offers two slots: Seven Cubed and Flaming Cherries. Both are one-payline, five-coin maximum bet machines, low $0.25 to $1.25 and high $1.00 to $5.00. Seven Cubed uses combinations of Bars and–you guessed it – 7’s for a win. I didn’t find the graphics particularly arresting, and the three sorts of 7’s were hard to tell apart. I much preferred Flaming Cherries, with its Stars, Bars and Cherry icons, including the best cherries of all… the jubilee kind, set afire.

Comment
VIP Casinos blends modern high-tech capabilities with time-honored casino games. Their commitment and timely attention to their customers is a huge draw for me. Alistair Assheton, a VP at VIP, recently visited a GoneGambling chat session for the express purpose of learning what his customers want. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see some direct results of that exchange over time in the form of new promotions, contests and games. (In fact, as of this writing, a new craps table is being readied for launch.) Head over to VIP if you’re ready for good games and good fun from a casino that didn’t forget to include sufficient staff in its budget. There’s something so authentic about the experience, down to the essence of traditional gambling – the tables seemed real enough to touch, maybe because the green felt was a true dark hunter instead of a lime neon glow…?