Latest Updates - Page 21 of 30 - The Canadian Gambler

Count Spectacular

Count Spectacular is a new 5-reel RTG video slot that hit casinos on December 15th, 2010. This 25 payline slot features expanding wilds on all 5 reels, a scatter symbol, and your choice of two different bonus rounds.

The bonus is triggered when the expanding wild lands on the first and last reels in the same spin. You are given a choice of either 12 free spins with a 3x multiplier, or 4 respins with the expanded wilds being held on the first and last reels for the duration of the bonus round.

The free spins can be retriggered, but not the respins.

After playing this game quite a bit, I have found that it either sucks or I’ve just been unlucky on it. Every time I play it, it seems to take forever to hit the bonus, and by that time the return on the bonus doesn’t come near covering the losses it took to get there.

This slot has great potential, but it just doesn’t want to line up for me. I like the 4 respins option, if you can get one or two expanding wilds to land on the middle reels during the respins feature, the return would be great. That being said, it’s only 4 spins so the odds are against you, and taking the 12 free spins brings the possibility of it being retriggered.

See the screenshots below for paytable information, and hopefully I will be able to add some of my winning screenshots to this page, but it doesn’t look like I’ll be playing it much.

Play Count Spectacular at any of these reputable RTG casinos.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Is Online Gambling Legal in Canada

I’ve searched the internet far and wide to find the answer to this question. Some say yes, others say no, but what I got out of it all was the fact that it is only legal to gamble at places licensed by the Canadian Government. Technically this would make it not legal to gamble online in Canada, unless of course you’re playing at the Provincial casinos currently running online. There have been no laws written, as far as I know, specifically outlawing or allowing online gambling. This puts it in a “grey area” since it’s not really legal or illegal.

There is however, an old Canadian law that states that it is unlawful to be found in a “common betting house”, which some think could be used against someone who is gambling online, but nobody playing in Canada has ever been prosecuted. Even in the US, in the states with laws against it, it is very rare for an individual to be charged. In one of those rare cases that I found, a person had to pay a $500 fine for a $100,000 online poker win (and since he’s in the US, probably a much larger sum for taxes). Authorities in the US have been targeting the banks and companies that process online gambling transactions for US players, rather than going after individuals.

The attitude here in Canada is much more relaxed. It appears that the provinces are going with the flow and opening their own online casinos to compete in the current market rather than fight. There was one company charged for running an online casino in Canada, back in 2001, but that’s the only case I could find that had anything to do with online gambling.

One interesting fact that not many people may know, is that there are many online casinos that are already licensed and regulated in Canada by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (Est. 1996) in Quebec. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission has been licensing and regulating online gaming since July 8, 1999 – longer than almost any other jurisdiction in the world. One of their rules for being licensed by them, is that the online casino must be located on Kahnawake land, on their secure servers. There have been questions about the legality of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission running in Canada, for quite a few years now, but no action has ever been taken.

Golden Tiger Casino is one of the many trustworthy online casinos that are licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

One funny thing about the situation in the US – there are now US land-based operations, like FoxWoods, launching online casinos in Europe where it is perfectly legal and US players are not allowed to play there. There are still some US friendly online casinos that Americans can to play at, but depositing and withdrawing is becoming difficult.

Update on the US situation for those who care… Much like their stance on pot in their war on drugs, some US states are completely flipping their stance on the subject and launching their own online casinos and poker sites. So after spending millions of taxpayer dollars to combat online gambling, seizing millions of dollars from big companies like PokerStars, and stopping as many Americans as possible from gambling online, they are now “allowing” US players to gamble online. How’s that for freedom eh?

Most Canadian provinces are considering launching their own online casinos, and BC actually recently launched one but it is only available to residents of BC. Quebec also just launched an online poker site, again restricted to residents of Quebec. Ontario has plans to open one in 2012, and New Brunswick may be next.

I’ve heard of some banks questioning your transactions to and from online casinos, and some credit card companies don’t allow transactions for gambling, so I like to use an “e-wallet” like Instadebit (Canadian company). I’ve never had any questions arise from transactions using those.

Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, so do not take this as legal advice, and I do not condone illegal activities.

Count Spectacular Slot

Count Spectacular is a new 5-reel video slot that hit RTG casinos on December 15th, 2010. I found it odd that they would release a Vampire themed slot at Christmas time rather than Halloween, but I’m not complaining, it seems to be a decent slot.

This 25 payline video features expanding wilds on all reels, and your choice of bonus.

The bonus is triggered when the expanding wild lands on reels 1 and 5 during the same spin. You can either take 12 free spins with all wins being tripled, or you can go for 4 respins with the wilds staying on the first and last reels for the duration of those spins.

Both features obviously have potential for great wins, but I like the respins option because if one or more expanding wilds land on the middle reels during those spins, you could get a huge win.

Read my full review of Count Spectacular on the RTG slots page.

Play Count Spectacular at any of these reputable RTG casinos.

Santa Surprise

Santa Surprise is a new Playtech slot that surprised me when I logged in to Casino.com today. I had recently looked for Christmas themed slots, since it’s that time of year, and couldn’t find any to play at Playtech casinos.

This festive slot features 20 paylines, a wild symbol, free spins, and the Christmas Gifts Bonus, a second screen bonus feature.

The Christmas Gifts Bonus is triggered when three or more bonus symbols line up left-to-right on an active payline. You are taken to a screen where you pick 3, 4, or 5 gifts depending on the amount of bonus symbols that lined up to trigger the feature. It seemed like there were plenty of those symbols on the reels because it triggered quite often.

Free Spins are triggered when three or more scatter symbols land on the reels during a spin. You are given 10 free spins with all wins being tripled. The Christmas Gifts Bonus can be triggered during free spins, and free spins can also be retriggered.

I actually didn’t do too bad playing this slot today, and I don’t normally have the best of luck playing Playtech slots. It seems most of their slots are fairly high variance because when I have been able to win, they have been great wins. See the screenshots below for paytable information, and hopefully some shots of my personal wins in the future.

Play Santa Surprise today at any of these trusted Playtech Casinos.

Screenshots

Christmas Slots

MicroGaming and RTG casinos have several Christmas themed slots for you to play during the holiday season, and it’s the best time to play at online casinos because of all the free stuff they give away at this time of year.

Check out these great Online Casinos to get in on all the action this season.

Two of the newest Christmas slots released this year are Santa’s Wild Ride and Return of the Rudolph. Santa’s Wild Ride is a 243-way slot with wild symbols and different free spins bonus features, and Return of the Rudolph is a very feature-rich 50 payline slot with a progressive jackpot.

I really enjoy the Santa vs. Rudolph series of slots found at RTG casinos. The series started with Rudolph’s Revenge, then came Santa Strikes Back, and now Return of the Rudolph. They all have great graphics and funny symbols to go along with the theme. Rudolph is quite the evil little reindeer.

Those three Santa vs. Rudolph slots are pretty much it for Christmas slots at RTG casinos, but there are several more found at MicroGaming casinos and you can find information about them in the MicroGaming Slots section.

Update: Playtech just released a new Christmas themed slot named Santa Surprise.

Gift Rap

Gift Rap is another Christmas themed slot that you can play at MicroGaming casinos. It features 25 paylines, a wild symbol, scatter symbols, and the Gift Grab bonus feature which is packed with tons of cash prizes all wrapped up in Christmas presents.

The bonus feature is triggered when three or more scattered “Rappin’ Jack Frost” symbols land on the reels during a spin. You are taken to a second screen where you pick gifts that contain cash prizes until you find a Rappin’ Jack Frost symbol that ends the bonus round; you can win up to 32250 coins.

I don’t normally play slots that only have a “pick” bonus feature, as I prefer the slots with free spins, but this one can be good at times. It can also piss you off when you get the bonus round and pick the Jack Frost symbol first and only get a small consolation prize, but there have been a few times that I’ve been able to pick quite a few gifts before it ended. See the screenshots below for paytable information and an example of the bonus round.

Play Gift Rap now at any of these MicroGaming online casinos.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Santa Paws

Santa Paws is a bit of an odd Christmas themed slot found at MicroGaming online casinos due to their choices for symbols. They took animals found in the arctic, or North Pole, and dressed them up for Christmas. There’s even a killer whale with antlers and a red nose named “Rudolf”.

This slot features 20 paylines, a wild symbol, and a free spins feature. Free spins are triggered when three or more scattered Penguin symbols land on the reels during a spin. You are given 12 free spins with a random multiplier from 2x to 7x, and Rudolf becomes wild along with the polar bear Santa. Free spins can be retriggered with 3 or more scatters, adding 12 more spins.

I have had decent luck with this slot, but it doesn’t seem to give free spins very often. I don’t play it much, usually just around the Christmas season when I tend to play lots of Christmas themed slots, seems I forget it’s there until then. When you do get free spins, there can be some very good wins with the extra wild and multiplier up to 7x.

There is also the Gamble feature that is found on many MicroGaming slots, where you try to guess the color of the next card drawn from a deck to double your win each time. You can keep guessing until you either get it wrong, or hit the limit for the amount you can win. See the screenshots below for paytable information.

Play Santa Paws today at any of these MicroGaming casinos.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Ho Ho Ho

Ho Ho Ho is a great Christmas themed video slot found at MicroGaming online casinos. This festive slot features 15 paylines, a wild symbol, and a free spins feature.

Free spins are triggered when three scattered Christmas present symbols land on the reels during a spin. You are awarded 20 free spins with all wins being doubled. Free spins can be retriggered when three scatters land during the feature.

This slot also has the “Gamble” feature that many other MicroGaming slots have, where you can gamble your win by guessing the color of the next card drawn from a deck.

Obviously there isn’t much to this slot, it’s fairly simple, but it can be a very good slot to play. It appears to be low variance, which means that wins come quite often but it’s tough to hit a huge win. I also find that it hits free spins fairly often and retriggers frequently. I find myself going to this slot when others aren’t winning for me, and it’s usually more generous. See the screenshots below for paytable information.

Play Ho Ho Ho this holiday season at any of these trusted MicroGaming casinos.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Rudolph’s Revenge

Rudolph’s Revenge is a Christmas themed video slot from RealTimeGaming, and is the first in a series of Rudolph vs. Santa slots found at RTG online casinos. This slot features 50 paylines with a fixed bet of $2 per spin, a wild symbol that doubles your wins, a progressive jackpot, and a free spins bonus feature.

The progressive jackpot is won by lining up 5 of the wild Rudolph symbols.

Free spins are triggered when three or more scatter symbols land on the reels left to right. You are awarded 7 free spins with all wins multiplied by 2 plus the number of Rudolph symbols appearing on the screen.

If four scatter symbols trigger the feature, the scatter symbol turns into a wild Rudolph symbol during free spins after the scatter wins are tallied. If 5 scatters trigger the feature, both the scatters and the Santa symbols turn into wild Rudolph symbols. When 3 or more scatters land left to right during free spins, an additional 7 free spins are added to the feature. The progressive jackpot cannot be won during free spins.

This slot can be very good at times, but it can be quite difficult to trigger the free spins feature. I have had mixed results when playing this slot, sometimes it’s been good to me, other times it’s taken my money as fast as it could. With a large progressive jackpot, it’s definitely worth playing once in a while. See the screenshots below for paytable information.

Play Rudolph’s Revenge today at any of these great RTG online casinos.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Deck the Halls

Deck the Halls is a Christmas themed slot from MicroGaming that can pay very well at times, but can also be very cold other times. This slot features 30 paylines, a wild symbol that doubles your win, a free spins feature, and Christmas tunes playing in the background. The highest paying non-wild symbol (Santa) is stacked during the regular game.

Free spins are triggered when three scattered Bell symbols land on the reels during a spin. You are awarded 10 free spins with all wins multiplied by 2. The wild symbol appears stacked on all reels along with the stacked Santa symbols. This can create some very big wins if you can get a mixture of both. Since the wild symbol doubles the wins and free spin wins are doubled as well, wins with a wild symbol involved are multiplied by 4!

Since you are only given 10 free spins, I think they should trigger more often. I find this slot to be one of the hardest MicroGaming slots to hit the feature on, but it can also give very big wins during those free spins so it’s worth playing for a bit to see if you can hit them. You can also hit some nice wins during regular play too if you can get the Santa symbols to line up. See the screenshots below for paytable information.

Play Deck the Halls at any of these MicroGaming casinos, the Christmas tunes are a nice touch.