Industry giant Microgaming is once again proving to be on top of its game and leading the pack with yet another big deal that sees a multi-year licensing agreement with Warner Bros Digital Distribution to create a series of video slots based on the legendary The Lord of the Rings trilogy which is sure to have Tolkin fans glued to their PC’s.

The slots are set to be as epic as the books and movies have been and with permission to use animation materials, themes and characters from all of the motion pictures to date including:  The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy generated $3 billion in box office takings and raked in 30 Academy Awards, being awarded first place for 17 of these, including Best picture.  With this kind of backing, it only seems logical to capitalise on the success of the brands and this strategic business decision yet again proves Microgaming’s commitment to bring players first class entertainment all the way. 

According to Roger Raatgever, CEO of Microgaming, the group is extremely excited at the prospect of creating state-of-the-art video slots from the best movie trilogy of the decade and are looking forward to bringing The Lord of the Rings into the online gaming arena, where their expertise in game quality and speed to market will ensure its success. He adds that The Lord of the Rings has a huge entrenched fan base with over 97% awareness of the film franchise, as well as phenomenal and unprecedented home video success.

This announcement comes hot on the heels of the launch of Microgamings latest launch of the Hellboy Video Slot which is already proving immensely popular amongst the Microgaming powered casino fans.  So make sure you check back in at Slotsgallery for release date information!

The Major jackpot on Mega Moolah has paid out an astounding 9 times in the past month. The last jackpot amount won was $43,402. Less than 24 hours prior, one lucky player won $45,000! The Mega Moolah Jackpot is now at $1,844,238.50!

Mega Moolah has a jungle theme, featuring scatter symbols; free spins; wild African animals, like zebras, elephants, giraffes, buffalos, and lions, which are the Wild symbols. The monkeys are the Scatters, which can trigger the free spin cycle. This awards 15 free spins all of which are tripled in this round. The coolest feature of Mega Moolah is the spinning of the Jackpot Wheel, which rewards the Mega prize of $1,000,000 and upwards! The jackpot amount is limitless and will keep increasing until 1 lucky person wins.

In addition to your Mega Moolah wins, Platinum Play Casino will also give you 1,500 Free bets and up to $200 in bonuses when you sign up.

Get 1,500 Free bets and up to $200 in Welcome Bonuses. To participate in this promotion, you must register a new account at Platinum Play casino. This promotion is not available to persons with existing Platinum Play casino accounts. Once registered, click on Start Free Bets. You will be issued 1,500 free credits and you can then begin playing your favourite Slots game. You have 24 hours to win as much as possible over the initial 1,500 credits. Whatever is won over that amount is yours to keep. Even if you lose, you can still participate in the 100% Match Bonus, which is available in multiple currencies and awards you a Welcome Bonus up to $200. To claim your winnings, you must make a minimum deposit of $20 first. Then, click the Claim Your Winnings button in the casino software. If you make your first deposit using EcoCard, Entropay, NETeller, Click2Pay, Moneybookers, Ukash, Clickandbuy, or Lobanet, you will receive a 10% bonus. Codes for this bonus apply, so be sure to enter the correct code in the designated area to claim the bonus.

Golden Riviera Casino offers 50 Free Spins on Tombraider. To begin, download the casino software and register an account. You will be issued 2,500 free credits. Click the Free Play button and use your free credits to play Lara Croft Tombraider or any other slots game of your choice. You have 1 hour to make 100 bets or more. Any amounts over and above the 2,500 free credits is yours to keep. To transfer these winnings to your Real Play account, you must deposit $50 or more into your account.

Don’t forget that you will be awarded 50 FREE MAX PAYLINE SPINS on the Tombraider Slot. Claim your bonus within 7 days to avoid disqualification. If you don’t win this casino promotion, you are still eligible to claim the intial deposit Match Bonus. Register your Golden Riviera account now!

A new slot was released on the Microgaming network on September 1st, 2009. It is called Jewels of the Orient and is based on Far East lands like India and Japan and hidden treasures.

The clarity of the graphics is impressive and the symbols featured include beautiful Asian women, treasure chests, sparkling jewels and more. There is a Jewel of the Orient logo, which is the Wild symbol and substitutes for all others except for the Scatter. It is also the Jackpot symbol and 5 of these on any active payline will reward you with the 2,500 coin jackpot. The Scatter symbol is a temple and if you get 3 or more of these anywhere on the spinning reels, you will trigger the bonus round where you can win between 10 and 40 FREE spins with a 120x multiplier.

This feature works a bit differently than the other Free Spins rounds you will find in other popular Slots. If you get 5 temple symbols, you get 20 – 40 free spins, with multipliers of 1x to 5x. 4 Scatters will result in 15 – 20 free spins with multipliers of 1x to 5x. 3 Scatters will result in 10 – 15 free spins with multipliers of 1x to 5x.

Jewels of the Orient has 5 reels and 9 paylines. The coin denominations range from $0.01 and $0.25 per spin with a maximum coin drop of 180 coins per spin. You will not find a Gamble Feature in this slot game but you can practice it in Free Play mode before you deposit to play for real. If you want to give it a shot playing for real money, sign up at Jackpot City Casino, where you will get 30 minutes free play with 500 credits plus a 100% Match Bonus.

UK residents can expect to see many online casino ads from Party Gaming fold of online casinos on their televisions as the industry giant runs the second part of its global advertising campaign this month.
  
In addition to the well known Party Casino brand, Casino King which has been around since the inception of the online casino industry, will be featured in the ad campaign which is set to be aired across a variety of UK based channels. 
 
This casino not only has the backing of one of the biggest online casino groups around, but also has years of experience behind it and is powered by leading Playtech software, which means that it offers unbelievable game quality and crisp clear graphics on a secure platform.  What’s more is that players at this casino are always treated like a king with a generous welcome bonuses (currently valued at $300 on your first two deposits) and exciting ongoing promotions as well as 24/7 live support at their fingertips, so it’s really no wonder that Party Gaming has decided to give this property the attention it deserves by including it in their August ad flights.

So if you’re in the UK, be sure to look out for this campaign, because if the Party Casino advertisements are anything to go by, the Casino King ones are sure to be a treat!  Otherwise, save yourself time and just visit the Casino King website now.

Microgaming powered casinos like Roxy Palace and Golden Riviera recently announced the launch of the all new Grand Slam of Slots tournament which will feature not only a first prize of €1,000,000 but also car giveaways and additional prizes to the value of $415,000.  With prizes and rewards like this, the competition is sure to have one of the largest numbers of entries ever, and is more than just a little exciting even for the most jaded of slots veterans.

Never before has there been a slots tournament of this magnitude held across casinos in all the history of online casinos.  But like most rational people if you find yourself asking “is this type of tournament too good to be true?” then read on…

The Slotsgallery team has been hot on the investigation trail since the launch of this promotion and we can tell you that there are a number of factors to consider before you get too excited and lose touch will all common sense as you start daydreaming about the prospects of becoming Microgaming’s latest millionaire.

First of all, remember that giving away over €1 million in prizes, plus additional cars and cash is not just a benevolent gesture on the part of Microgaming and its associated casino properties who came up with the concept out of the goodness of their hearts…this is of course a business strategy which will be hugely profitable to them.  There are literally thousands of qualifying rounds to be held within the tournament schedule, entry fees are charged and there are re-buy options throughout which tend to add up after a few rounds!

Also, you will need to have quite a bit of time on your hands for the duration of the tournament as the whole process takes quite a long time if you don’t hold an invitation for entry into the later stages of the tournament.  If you are not one of the invited “VIP’s” you will have to start off in the Freeroll tournaments, each of which takes approximately 5 minutes per round, often with up to 10 re-buy options, which is 50 minutes and counting.  Not to mention that you are bound to a single slot machine and the slots spin rather slowly as there is no “quick play” option for you to use if you feel like speeding things up a little.  In addition to the Freerolls taking time, they also present you with rather low odds of winning, given the fact that this type of tournament is held across the entire Microgaming network with thousands of players taking part and competing against you.

BUT it’s not all doom and gloom, there are a number of positive aspects, the greatest being that the tournament is relatively cheap to enter and participate in.  Another great thing is that you get to play for a long time without paying too much which is not always the case with slots (usually progressive jackpot machines) that offer this kind of prize.  Not to mention the fact that you just might get lucky and make it all the way, and even if you don’t the dream of doing that is enough to make you smile as you imagine how to spend each and every euro!

So if you are dying to enter The Grand Slam of Slots hosted by casinos like Roxy Palace and Golden Rivera, then take note of a tip from our professionals:  try to enter at a later stage and buy-in to the qualifying round if possible.

Good-Luck!

Get ready to hit Paydirt with RTG’s (Realtimegaming) 5 reel, 25 payline game of the same name and win! 

This mining themed slot, complete with a gold miner, a bandit and a really cute dog with a gold nugget in his mouth as well as  cocopans full of gold, gold mining equipment such as dynamite, lanterns, and pick axes, will have you infected with Gold Fever as you join the Gold Rush at every spin of the reel.

Paydirt Slot boasts one of the highest paying non-progressive payouts of 50,000 times your bet per line (max 10,000 coins jackpot), but there is also a random Progressive Jackpot that can be won on any spin. This means that there are a number of ways to strike it lucky in this game where Gold Nuggets are Wild and triple the prize in winning combinations, 2 or more scatter symbols pay up to 200x the total bet.

There are also three Bonus Features to excite and delight you including Gold Rush, Gold Fever and Strike it Lucky.  These are activated by 3 or more scattered PayDirt logos which triggers a pick feature where you can select the game you wish to play, and one thing is for sure, it’s definitely a difficult decision to make!

The Gold Rush feature awards 12 free spins during which grouped Gold Nugget symbols can appear on any reel and 3 or more Paydirt logos appearing during these free spins will add another 12 free spins.  In the Gold Fever feature, 5 free games are awarded, the third reel turns into Gold Nuggets, and 3 or more Paydirt logos appearing during these free spins will give you 5 additional free spins.   The bonus feature option, Strike it Lucky reveals 5 Gold Mines and you are required to select a Gold Mine to reveal a Bonus Symbol. Additional picks may be awarded during this feature, revealing an extra Bonus Symbol. 10 free spins are then played, during which any Bonus Symbol appearing on the reels will be replaced with a Gold Nugget, before payouts are awarded. Any retrigger will add an extra 10 free games to the current free games balance.

So go prospecting at Intertops Casino today, and with all the ways to win on this awesome slot, you just might hit Paydirt!

Sunset Showdown is an exciting Slot machine game provided courtesy of Microgaming. It is a 5-reel, 25-payline, and 250 coin slot machine. multiple paylines and bonus games increase your chances of winning. The features include:

• a cowgirl symbol, which is a substitute, multiplier symbol.
• 2 cowgirl symbols displayed on reels 1 and 5. These symbols activate the Re-Spin bonus game.
• a revolver symbol. This is a scatter symbol and can appear in any position on the reels.
• 3 or more revolver symbols. These activate the Baddy bonus game.
• the Baddy Bonus Game and the Gamble Bonus Game

The Cowgirl symbol can be substituted for other symbols to complete winning combinations. When it acts as a substitute symbol, the Cowgirl doubles the payout of any combination it completes. It does not substitute for the Revolver symbol to complete winning scatter combinations and it does not activate the Baddy bonus game. You win 3 FREE re-spins if your winnings are doubled in the Re-Spin bonus game. When the Re-Spin bonus game is activated, the Cowgirl symbols on reels 1 and 5 expand to all the positions on the reels, and remain in these positions for the next 3 free spins. Then reels 2, 3 and 4 automatically spin 3 times in a row. All the bets and paylines played in the Re-Spin bonus game are the same as the spin that activated the Re-Spin bonus game. You are only paid out one winning combination per payline. In the event of 2 or more possible winning combinations, you are paid out the value of the highest combination only.

As it is a scatter symbol, the revolver does not need to appear on an enabled payline to win. If 2 or more scatter symbols are displayed along with the revolver symbol, even if it is randomly scattered on the 5 reels, you will win. To calculate winnings, simply multiply the Revolver symbol combination payout, according to the Regular Payout Schedule, by the total number of coins bet. If you have 3 or more Revolver symbols displayed anywhere on the five reels, the Baddy bonus game is activated. A scatter win and a regular win are paid out as separate wins.

In the Baddy bonus game, you win a random bonus amount for every bad guy that you shoot. The game ends when you shoot 5 bad guys. This value is then multiplied by the number of coins you bet per payline to give you a bonus win amount, which is displayed.

Any win activates the Gamble bonus game. If you guess the correct card colour, you winnings are doubled. If you guess the correct card suit, your winnings are quadrupled. To play the Gamble bonus game, you will need to 1) click the Gamble button; 2) select one of the gamble options (i.e. colour or suit). A correct answer allows you to collect your winnings or gamble again. You are able to play 5 gambles per game and can gamble your winnings until the gamble amount limit is reached. Your winnings are automatically collected during the Gamble bonus game.

In all instances, you are able to bet 10 coins per payline. The formula to calculate the conversion of your coins to credits is Number of coins x coin size bet = amount in credits.

In my quest to find the perfect slot machines, I’ve tried every type of bonus casino slots there are at online casinos. However, in my opinion Microgaming has managed to combine stunning graphics, exciting bonus rounds and most importantly, their slot machines offer by far the highest average percentage return. On an average this operates between 95% and 97% across all Microgaming online slots. This is also higher than any land based casino, which is also one of the reason why I choose to play at online casinos.

I often get asked, how can you trust that these online casinos will pay you your winnings? Well, that’s an easy question to answer! Every Microgaming casino operator is scrutinised by Microgaming security before being granted a license to use the Microgaming online casino platform. Microgaming also runs probate (background) checks on all owners and personnel involved in the operation of each online casino. Lastly, each Microgaming powered casino holds in Escrow a large capital reserve, with more than enough funds to pay winners.

Whilst on the topic of cash, did you know that Microgaming is one of the few casino platforms that actively places all Progressive jackpot wagers into a separate escrow account? The purpose of this is that when a player wins on one of Microgaming’s many jackpot slots, the player is paid directly from this account & not by the online casino. Another thumbs up for Microgaming!

If you’re not an Online Slots fan, then visit Poker Online UK and try your luck.