History

The Hippodrome has a long history as an entertainment venue in London, having been originally built back in 1900. Believe it or not (ironic, since Ripley’s is round the corner) was originally used as a circus venue, with a massive water tank in the centre (I’ve seen it – it’s big) that was used for shows with acrobatic divers and elephants.

The building was then converted into a theatre and had a variety of occupants, including the famous ‘Talk of the Town’, before succumbing to Peter Stringfellow and becoming a nightclub until 2005. The redevelopment plans to take the Hippodrome back to its glory days, with a stage for cabaret style acts, a first class restaurant from Gordon Ramsey and top quality casino games.

The New Casino

The plans for the Hippodrome Casino look pretty impressive & we’ve even had a tour through the building site – and it certainly looks like it’s going to be something special. It’s not due to be finished until late 2011, however, not to fear, they’ve launched their online casino several months ahead of the completion date. This is planned to be integrated with the casino (once it’s been built!), meaning that you’ll be able to withdraw your funds there, as well as play at the tables, and enjoy the evening’s entertainment. For now, we’ll just concentrate on the online bit.

Licencing and Security

The Hippodrome’s online casino is licenced in Malta, who are on the UK governments’ whitelist of approved gambling regulators, so you can take comfort in the fact that they have someone watching over them to make sure that the games are fair.

At present, the Hippodrome’s online casino doesn’t have any third party verification certificates on their site, however, as noted below, the software is from a company that is owned by Lottomatica – the Italian Lottery operator; they are a huge company and operate their own gaming services, so you can take comfort in this that the software will be fair and above board.

Software

Currently, Boss Media’s software is in use at the casino. This is not the most popular software out there, but it is part of the excellent Gtech G2 group, who in turn are part of Lottomatica (- for more information, check out our page on Gtech G2 Casinos).

Also offered is a poker client. When the real world casino is up and running, the Hippodrome are planning to run poker tournaments that will culminate in the final rounds being played out in the casino itself! There’s a whole floor planned for poker, right at the top of the building which will offer some of the best views in the house!

Banking

The transactions with the online casino are handled by a company called WebDollar who use 128 bit encryption to ensure that your details remain private (take a look at WebDollar’s security page where you can find more about the procedures they have in place to keep you safe).

Most of the standard options that you would expect are able to be used at the Hippodrome:- Credit/Debit cards, Bank transfer, NETeller, Moneybookers and the usual multitude of eWallets. Withdrawals can take 2-4 business days, and amounts can be reversed back into your account up until the payment has been processed by the customer support team.

Support

Support is currently only available via Live Chat or e-mail. It’s also restricted from 9am to 11pm on Monday to Saturday and 9am to 1pm on a Sunday. That said, there’s a comprehensive FAQ section that can answer most of the easy questions, which is both searchable and has the more frequently asked questions (should this be labelled FFAQ?) already linked up and ready to go.

Summary

It’s early days yet for this casino, and certainly it is not as comprehensive an offering as some of the more established online casinos out there. That said, it does have an awful lot of potential, particularly once the ‘real world’ casino is completed. The new owners have said that they are looking for the casino to have a clubhouse feel to it – you’ll certainly be welcome as an online player and if it turns out anything like the concept sketches, it’s going to be one of the most spectacular nights out in London – so get in there early and start working your way up their VIP program!

As you might have guessed from the name, High Noon Casino has a Wild West theme, and as with the other Online Casinos from Club World, it utilises Real Time Gaming’s casino software, which means that it is US player friendly . High Noon Casino is available in both download and instant play formats, though the download version has a much greater selection of games available.

The casino lobby itself is nicely done, resembling a town straight out of the Wild West. To select a game, simply pick the building with the relevant sign e.g. slots, which then reveals a menu listing out all the games that you’re able to play in that category.

High Noon Casino Lobby

High Noon Casino also has a funky way to showcase their promotions – it is done via a shooting game that you would find in a fairground (or you can just click on the quick links bit, but where’s the fun in that?). These are split into 3 categories: Daily, Continual and Welcome. It’s all pretty self-explanatory, Daily Promotions are short term offers, whilst the Continual Promotions are always on offer (at the time of writing, the continual promotions are a choice of reload bonuses).

At the moment, as one of their launch offers, High Noon Casino are offering a no deposit $60 free chip, which as for all promotions, is claimed through the cashier by entering the relevant code for the offer that you want to claim.

Support at High Noon Casino, like for the other casinos in the group, is available 24 hours a day and can be accessed through all the usual paths: toll-free phone number, e-mail, live chat and even snail mail. There are a wide variety of deposit and withdrawal methods, several of which are described as instant, though we’ve not tested this at present.

In conclusion, with the organisation of the experienced team from Club World behind it, and the great site and lobby design, High Noon casino is definitely worth a try. Try High Noon Casino by clicking here.

As for the reputation of the company, it is one of the biggest in Europe, sponsoring top flight teams including AC Milan and Real Madrid as well as events such as the MotoGP. bwin publish their payout percentages monthly, are eCOGRA certified and are licensed in the highly regarded jurisdiction of Gibraltar – unfortunately, they do not take US players at present, but for the rest of you, this casino is definitely worth a try.

It is difficult not to get excited when a leading name in the gaming industry, launches an online casino. So, excited I was, when I learnt that the very same company which brought us “Sonic the Hedgehog” and some of the first ever slot machines, ventured into the online casino industry in October 2009.

The website itself looks great, is well appointed and has all the information you need available with one click. The software is supplied by the industry leading, Playtech, and as you would expect performs fantastically well. Downloading the software was quick and painless although registration was a bit of a chore. The website seemed to be having ‘one of those days’, as at first I kept getting a “server temporarily unavailable” message, however, after a few attempts I was in, and in a couple of minutes registered and ready to play!

Segacasino.com has a commitment to providing the latest cutting-edge games and a quick look at those available will reassure you of their fulfilment of this promise. Segacasino.com provides all the casino games you would expect, plus ‘LIVE games’ in Blackjack, Roulette and Baccarat. The slots at segacasino.com are outstanding, particularly those that Sega have put their own indelible stamp on, you will find these under the ‘Sega Games’ tab.

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For the convenience of its customers, segacasino.com provides a “proprietary single wallet platform”, this means that you can use the same log-in and account details on all of the Sega gaming sites. In addition Sega have created the segabuddy.com website where you can create your own profile, invite friends to play and collect ‘Gold Rings’ in order to win prizes. A quick look on the forum of this website shows it hasn’t exactly taken off, with very few posts having been made, however, this is a new idea and it may simply need just a little more time to catch on.

To check out the customer support, I used the instant chat facility and was very impressed when they answered my general queries straight away. Deposits at the moment are only able to be made via Neteller or Moneybookers, however, this does mean that withdrawals only take 24 hours. Any deposits can be made in Euros or Pounds Sterling.

Manhattan Slots offers both a download version and an instant play version of their online casino, though if you want to access all the games, you will have to use the download version. Club World Casinos have an excellent reputation as operators, and they bring this experience to Manhattan Slots, offering amongst others; 24/7 customer support and a variety of instant cash-out options – a very attractive prospect indeed.

As one would expect from an online casino these days Manhattan Slots offers a variety of perks and bonuses to its members. It has a VIP program (the Manhattan Slots Club) with 4 levels, offering progressively more bonuses and rewards as you work your way up to the Premier Class, and for the launch of the casino, Manhattan Slots are offering the chance to win a 3 day, all expenses $10,000 shopping trip to New York, for members that sign up before the end of May 2010.

If you love retro-chic, you’re going to love the look of the newest RTG casino to hit the net.  As mentioned above, Manhattan Slots is the latest of the online casinos under the management of Club World Casinos Group and is a huge hit with players. The look, feel, animation, music & set-up of the main website is very pleasing to the eye & very user friendly. No waiting for pages to load, everything is ready on the main page, accessible with a simple click of the mouse.

Manhattan Slots offers their players table games, video poker & various specialty games. (If you want to try out some RTG games before you play, you can play a selection in your browser (without registration) in our RTG free play games section).

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Manhattan Slots reward their players with a Cash Back comp program based on points. For every $10 wagered you will receive 1 point. When you accumulate a minimum of 100 points, you can redeem those for $1.00 playable cash right from the cashier section of the casino. Another reward for their players is the casino’s Slots Club. To be eligible to be a member of the Slots Club, simply make three deposits, then sit back and enjoy the increased VIP Rewards, free chips and loyalty bonuses.

The download version of the casino is themed in line with the main website and is very easy to navigate. I personally didn’t care for the way the game selections are displayed at the casino… they’re displayed as small icons with the slot name on it, and when you hover over the name, it rotates. You then choose to save it as a favourite game or to play it. To select a slot, you go to the alphabet listing on the bottom of the page which is too “unfriendly” for me. Just give me a drop-down menu and get me there!

Live support is available for players 24/7 at Manhattan Slots Online Casino via live chat, toll free telephone, email, snail mail or you can send a message directly from the website form found in the “contact” section.

Current promotions at this new casino include a $747 Welcome Bonus Package plus a chance to be entered to win a $10,000 Shopping Spree to downtown Manhattan. Be sure to check the website often for other daily & weekly bonus codes as well.

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Withdrawals can be made after security verification is sent to the casino. The form needed can be found on the casino’s main website. You can withdrawal your funds via Courier Check, Use My Wallet, ECOcard, Click2Pay, Wire Transfer, NETeller, Moneybookers or eWalletXpress.

USA Players are welcomed to play at WinPalace Casino, as well as players from Canada, the UK & other European countries.