Online Casinos > Reviews

Positive

The games at Casino Joes are fast-loading, very stable, attractive and operate well on most systems even though they aren't of the download type. They offer penny slots and progressive jackpots at their slots and Caribbean Stud Poker, low $1 minimum wagers on Blackjack, Spanish 21, and Caribbean Stud and a great variety of games including Pull Tabs, Big Six Wheel, Table Poker and Battle Royal. All checks are sent for free and any problems will be solved in real-time with a chat-type program. Historically, players have not had any difficulty with Casino Joes. They offer an online bingo hall as well.

There may be negative features

We suggest that you also read this review of "Casino Joes" from NoNuggets.com before playing.

Supported languages

•

English

Financial Info

Casino Joes accepts Visa and Mastercard, credit- and debit cards with Visa or Master Card connection. Surprisingly they do not accept anything else. All accounts are limited to max. deposits of $500 per day. The min. deposit is $10. Winnings will be credited back to your credit card up to the amount that was originally deposited. Any exceeding amounts will be sent via cashiers check.

Software

Casino Joes was developed by Gambling Software. This was a JAVA-based casino, so no download was required. Therefore it didn't have the rich graphics that a regular software-based casino usually offers but on the other hand you didn't have to wait for a download or install their software either.

Licence

It is not known whether this casino is licenced or not. To have a gaming license means that a casino is able to 1) deposit enough money yearly as a financial backup for players (approximately US $50,000 up to US $100,000 per annum), 2) pay the taxes (of about 2,5% up to 5%), and hence 3) is subject to the control of the government that issued the gaming licence in case of any disputes.

Games

•	Blackjack (2)
•	Craps

•	Roulette [American]
•	Slots (4)

•	Video Poker (2)
•	War

Blackjack

Blackjack Review

Game: In Blackjack each card has a point value. You first get two cards, calculate their value and decide whether to draw more cards or not where the maximum total points allowed is 21. The dealer does the same thing. You try to be better than him (draw closer to 21).

Odds: Casino Joes uses 4 decks which is not too good: as less decks are used as more easy it gets to keep track of the cards and to estimate your chances correctly via card counting. The cards are shuffled after every round. The house edge with the rules listed below is 0.25% which is standard.

Set: The dealer stands on soft 17 (Ace & 6) which is good because he does not get more chances to draw closer to 21 this way. Doubling down is allowed on any first two cards which is better than what land based casinos offer you (usually you can double down only on a two card total of 9, 10, or 11). You even can double down after you split pairs. Pairs may be split up to 3 hands which is excellent and lots of fun. If you split two aces, you get only one additional card for each hand. If the dealer's first card is an ace you are offered insurance.

You can choose between a $1-$25 an a $5-$100 table.

Summary: This blackjack game is pretty good. You can find better ones in our Best Blackjack List.

Craps

Craps Review

Game: In Craps two dice are thrown by a player. If he rolls a 7 or 11, he wins. If he throws a 2, 3, or 12, he loses. If he throws any other number (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) he continues throwing the dice and hopes that the same number will be thrown again before the 7 comes up. When the 7 comes up first, he loses. You can bet on the player or the house.

Odds: Casino Joes offers 3x odds: if you bet $10 on the pass-line (bet, that the player will win), you can increase your original bet after the dice have been thrown by 3x the amount you bet. This is called "wagering behind". And to wager behind is what a good craps player will do and a criteria of a good craps game is how many odds the casino offers you to wager behind. As the amount of allowed odds increases, the house edge decreases considerably. The house edge is 0.85% / 0.68% (pass-line / don't-pass-line bet) when offering 1x odds - as many online casinos do, 0.61% / 4.5% when offering 2x odds - as some casinos do, and 0.47% / 0.34% already when offering 3x odds - as Casino Joes does. (Land-based casinos sometimes offer up to 100x odds).

But Casino Joes does not exactly offer the 3x odds the way land based casinos do: 3x usually means that you can wager behind 3x the amount you could win. So if you bet $10 you could win $20 and hence wager 3x $20 = $60 behind. Because Casino Joes does not follow the real rules - as almost no online casino does - the basic house edge stays at 0.47% for pass-line-bets but grows to 0.45% for don't-pass-line-bets.

A good strategy for craps is to always wager behind.

Set: Limits are $5 to a $100 maximum total on any one roll. The 'prop' bets (hard-ways, etc.) have a $2-$25 limit.

Summary: Casino Joes offers a very good craps table. You'll find similar and better online craps tables in our Best Craps List.

Roulette (American)
Gamblingsoftware Java American Roulette

American Roulette Review

Game: A wheel with pockets numbered 0 to 36 is spun in one direction. A ball is spun around the wheel and as the ball slows, it drops into one of the pockets of the wheel. You bet on which pocket the ball will drop into.

Odds: This is an 'American' double-zero roulette (with two zeros on the wheel) which sets the basic house edge to 5.26%. Actually this house edge is too high to play here. No additional rules to decease this huge house edge are offered. For example the 'la partage' rule (also called the 'en prison rule' or 'Hamburg variation of the European half back rule'): if the zero comes up you lose only half your bet when betting on the 'outside' bets (the 'outside' bets are the bets that pay even money: high/low, red/black, odd/even). By losing only half your bet, the house edge on these ('outside') bets is cut down to 2.63% which is slightly better than the basic 2.7% house edge at an European Roulette table. Again, Casino Joes does not offer such a rule.

Consider that inside bets offer far better payouts than outside bets, so bet the middle 12 once in a while. Generally the best idea is to bet on the streak that is running at the moment (e.g. if the last number was red, bet red). Avoid the five-number bet.

Set: Limits are $1-$25 with a total of $200 permitted on any one spin.

Summary: Being a standard American roulette version this is one of the worst games any casino has to offer. Even the betting limits are too small here. There are better roulette tables in our Best Roulette List. If you would like to bet big, go to Global-Player Casino. You can bet up to $6,000 on a spin there.

Slots

Slots Review

Game: Slots are machines with three to five wheels with symbols on them, spinning downwards when you pull a lever at their side or similar and coming to a stop after a few rounds of spinning. If the symbols align you win.

Odds: It is difficult to calculate the payout probabilities of slot machines without knowing how many times a certain symbol appears on each real. You could sit in front of the slot machine, pull the lever 1,000,000 times and write the results down or rely on the information that Casino Joes gives you. They claim that their overall payout was 98% which is very good amongst online casinos.

Set: Casino Joes offers more then 10 different slot machines. The jackpots do not get very big here. The choice of betting denominations is excellent with 1c, 5c, 25c, $1, or $5 slot machines.

Summary: The choice of slot machines is good. The slot machines themselves are not. You'll find the best ones in our Best Slots List.

Slots Payoffs
Slot Name	Reels/ Lines	Winning Comb.	Wild Symb.	Bonus Screen	Top Prize JP=Jackpot
All American	3/5	12	No	No	x 2,000
Vegas VIP	3/5	12	No	No	x 2,000
Star Battle	3/5	12	No	No	x 2,000
Classic Slot	3/5	12	No	No	x 200 or JP
3 Wishes	3/5	12	No	No	x 200 or JP
Cherry Pie	3/5	12	No	No	x 200 or JP
Grand Slam	3/5	12	No	No	x 200 or JP
Wild West	3/5	12	No	No	x 200 or JP
Triple Diamonds	3/5	12	No	No	x 200 or JP
Casino's Angels	3/5	12	No	No	x 200 or JP
Flying Fortress	3/5	12	No	No	x 200 or JP
Pirates Slots	3/5	12	No	No	x 200 or JP
High Roll'n Bonus	3/5	12	No	No	x 200 or JP

Video Poker

Video Poker Review

Game: In Video Poker you receive five cards and decide which ones to change (only once) in order to make a good poker hand. As better your hand as better the payout gets.

Odds: Returns range from 99.3% to 99.73%.

Set: Casino Joes features five video poker machines: 3 of them are Jacks or Better types. The coin denominations you wish to play are $1, or $5 so you can bet up to a max. of $25. This choice of denominations is a bit sparse.

Summary: The excellent payoffs are good enough to give it a try.

Video Poker Payoffs
*Name*	*Type*	*Max.Pay*	*Max.Coins*	*Min.Coins*
Deuces Wild	4/3	4,000	99.73%	98.9%
Video Poker	9/6	4,000 or JP	99.54%+	99.5%+
Jacks or Better	9/6	4,000 or JP	99.54%+	99.5%+
King's Ransom	9/6	4,000	99.54%	99.5%
Joker Poker	7/5	4,000	99.3%	98.7%

War

War Review

Game: Sometimes called "Battle Royale" or "Royal Rumble" war is a card game where each player and the dealer get one card. If your card is of a higher rank you win.

Odds: Again, if your card is of a higher rank you win. If the dealer's card is higher you lose. If it is a tie (same rank) you can surrender and lose your bet (you lose only half the bet when playing in land-based casinos) or go to war: you double your bet and play another game. If your second set of cards beats the dealer you win even money on the total wager (in land-based casinos you win even money on the raise only and get back your original wager). If the dealer's second card is greater you lose both bets. If there is a tie you win 3:1 (in other words an initial wager of $5 can lead to a $30 win) which is excellent since many online casinos offer you a simple 1:1 payout on ties after going to war. You can bet on a tie from the start as well, which pays 10:1 if the first two cards tie. The house edge on the tie bet is 18.65% though. The basic house edge depends on the number of decks used and lies between 2.42% (1 deck) and 2.9% (8 decks). Casino Joes uses only 1 deck which is very good since it sets the basic house edge at 2.42% (most land-based casinos use 6 decks offering a house edge of 2.88%). Because Casino Joes offers you a 3:1 payout on ties after going to war and using only 1 deck the overall house edge is 0.66% which makes it the best War game compared to both land based and online casinos.

Summary: War is one of the best games in a casino anyway. That's why it isn't offered by many casinos. And the war game at Casino Joes is truly great (1 deck & 3:1 payout on ties after going to war).