Should you play slots online or at land based casinos?

There's been a great deal of discussion about online gamblingrecently with legislators, operators and the global community ofgamblers trying to fathom complex matters such as Internet"locality". In the midst of these deliberations, many playershave been wanting to assess the relative merits of gamblingonline or at land-based casinos.

Through all of this there has been a lack of focus on theexperience of the person who actually plays money at a casino.How about the gamblers who are central to any issues concerningcasinos? We pose the sensible opening question - which arebetter, online or land-based slot machines?

Land-based slots are the world's most popular casino game. Theypay more winnings to gamblers than all of the other casino gamestogether. But how well does this cherished form of land-basedgambling adapt to online play? The vast majority of slotsenthusiasts believe it has made the transition splendidly. Theonline versions of slots have become the most-played form ofonline casino games, owing in part to the ease of finding slotson the Internet (they're also easy enough to find and play atland-based casinos) and in part to the fact that the game playis so simple. Slot machines at land-based casinos have beencontrolled by computers for many years, so it's relatively easyto adapt the game to play online. Some players are puzzled whenyou tell them a land-based slot machine is no more than acomputer in a fancy case, but this is exactly what it is. Theseslots are driven by a microprocessor with a built-in randomnumber generator. They work just like the online versionsbecause the operating software is hard-coded in themicroprocessor.

This means there is not much of a difference between the way thegame works and how the odds compute for online or land-basedslot machines. But there are some differences.

The most obvious difference, the one that will forever separatethe two forms, is that you can't physically put your hands on anonline slot. Similarly, land-based machines have much bigger andmore spectacular light and sound displays, although the graphicson the online slots are sophisticated enough these days toemulate reality pretty well.

There are numerous less evident advantages of playing onlineslots. For a start, you choose the time, place and the mostcomfortable seat in the house. You can play with your ownrefrigerator, DVD music system and other personal comforts closeto hand. This is one of the great appeals of online casinos -you can visit them and experience all of their excitementwithout stepping outside your own home! And you can interruptplay whenever you like without worrying that some other gambleris going to annex your place at the machine. Possibly the mosttelling difference between playing slots at an online comparedwith a land-based casino is the nature of the comps you receive.At a land-based establishment, the keen slots player may receivea coupon or some similar small comp as a reward for slaving awayat a machine for several hours. It's quite different onlinebecause the competition among casinos is so intense.

With the Internet it doesn't matter where in the world you live,every online casino would love to lure your custom. As a resultyou can get a comp simply for deciding to play at a given casinoregardless of how much you've gambled there. The sign-up bonusis a common online attraction. It gives you a substantial valuein real credits at the casino and you can exploit this bonus toswell your bankroll, spend more time playing the slots andexperience more opportunities to be a winner.

Many slots players find it genuinely gratifying to receive acomp in advance rather than after having to earn it by achievinga certain level of play. If you add the comps to the otheradvantages of online slots, it should be easy to see whichversion best meets the needs of the players.