Silver Dollar - Online Casino Review

Overview

The Silver Dollar Casino has been around since 1998 and runs Odds On Gaming software. Michael Shackelford (the Wizard of Odds) has certified their RNG and game results as fair. Silver Dollar follows the laws and regulations of Antigua. You can reach their customer support through a Toll Free line in the US, Live Chat, and email. I have asked several questions so far through their Live Chat and their customer service people are fast, helpful, and well informed. The minimum age requirement is 21 (and they will require proof of age), so that means you must wait until your junior year of university to deposit. J They also do not allow for deposits from players residing in the Netherlands. Israeli's have to wager double the normal requirement and people from Denmark (Denmarkians? Dutch? Excuse my blissful ignorance on this one) aren't eligible for any bonus at all.

Deposits

The writing on the site is awkward, such as "Minimum deposit amount is $30. All of the usual deposit methods are on offer:

Visa and MasterCard (Credit Cards, Debit Cards, or Prepaid/Gift Cards) – any weird activity or unusual spending habits may cause them to lock your card.
Citadel eCheck
PrePaidATM
NETeller – I'm guessing things have changed at Neteller from the days I handled the finances at an online casino, because Silver Dollar has some rather stringent guidelines for Neteller depositers:

"Level 1: Two deposits per day, max $100 per day, max $250 per week.
Level 2: Two deposits per day, max $300 per day, max $750 per week.
Level 3: Three deposits per day, max $750 per day, max $1500 per week. "

FirePay

The following have a maximum deposit amount of $5000. You must deposit in the same currency as your casino account.

International Money Orders
Certified Checks – take 21 to 28 banking days to clear. No minimum deposit amount.
Bank Drafts
Wire Transfers

Withdrawals

This one is a tad more confusing. The minimum withdrawal amount is $20 if you have a balance left in your account. However, if you have less than $20 in your account and this the last of it, then your minimum withdrawal amount is $10. In other words, if you have $30 in your account then you can cash out $20. If you have only $10 left you can cash out $10.

How they credit back your account:

FirePay – there's a 6 day waiting period before crediting back your account and they will only credit up to the amount you deposited. The rest is sent via bank draft/check. Back in the day I was able to credit any amount back to a FirePay account. I wonder if their rules have changed, or if this is just a rule of the casino…
Neteller – back to Neteller.
Credit card – the usual, if the credit card allows for credits then they will send the credits up to the amount you deposited first. Then back to your Neteller (assuming you've deposited via Neteller) and if you don't have that then you'll receive your funds back via bank draft/check.
PrePaid ATM – back to PrePaid ATM
All other deposit methods receive their funds back via bank draft / check.

Terms and Conditions

People from the Netherlands are not allowed to play for real. Other than that their terms and conditions are standard and fair, nothing outrageous or obnoxious in them. They will "void any winnings and confiscate any balance in your Casino account" if you intentionally or unintentionally have someone else play on your account. So be careful of the drunk friends and kiddies and keep them away from your gaming info! (You should be doing this anyhow.) If the name on your credit card isn't the same as on your account (if it's your maiden name then do the hyphen thing).

Like every other casino these days, expect to have to send in documentation before receiving your withdrawal.

Bonuses

They seem to really enjoy drawings and awarding only one player. These bonuses change regularly so be sure to check their bonus page.

100% Matching Bonus – Initial sign up deposit only. Minimum $50 – maximum $100.
Holiday gift draw every day of the month – only 1 winner a day, must deposit minimum of $100. The boss has already told me I will be depositing $50, so here's one win I won't be getting… (not that I would win it anyhow – these things always leave me suspect)
Extra Payday Extravaganza – Cover your losses or double your winnings. Drawing held at the end of the month with one winner.
Daily Double – Every day they award one person their welcome bonus again (How can they call this a good thing with those high wagering requirements?).
Weekend Slots Frenzy – Play slots on the weekend and enter a drawing to win money.
Instant Daily Rewards – their points program.
10% Cash back – if you deposit via Citadel or FirePay.

Bonus Terms and Conditions

Their bonus terms have some zingers I didn't expect.

If you withdraw your deposit before receiving the bonus any wagering you did does not count towards the wagering requirements. This sounded too good to be true, so I double checked it with their Customer Service Live Help:
"Marlon: You can win and cash out before you receive the welcome bonus. Because the bonus is credited 24 hours after your deposit the wager requirements dose not take effect until the bonus is credited." Now that is a rule I like. Let's hope I get lucky!

Their wagering requirements are average if you're not Israeli, 16X your deposit + bonus. In other words if you deposit $50 and receive a bonus of $50 your wagering requirement is 1600 ($50 + $50 = $100 * 16 = 1600). If you're Israeli it's 32 times. I wish I was as good as the Israeli's they don't want playing in their casino! I guarantee you with wagering requirements like that I will not be cashing out. And while I complain about the harsh requirements for Israeli's it's even worse if you're from Denmark – people from Denmark aren't even eligible for the bonus.

Once the bonus has been given the wagering requirements must be met. Many games aren't counted towards your wagering requirement: Craps, Baccarat, Roulette, War, Ultimate Hi Lo, All Star Horse Racing, Red Dog, and Extreme Lotto. If you play these before meeting the wagering requirements you could lose your winnings and have your casino account locked.

Only one per household, university, fraternity, etc… basically what they're saying is play at home.

Browser Games

They don't have a browser casino per say, instead they offer 3 Flash games in their Games section on their website: All Star Horse Racing, The Ultimate Hi Lo, and Extreme Lotto. Honestly, the games are cute and fine and all, but I really don't see why they bothered.

Download Games

This is a hokey casino based on a Wild West theme. If you like that sort of thing you'll love the look and feel of this place. Remember the TV show Green Acres with Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert? Give me Park Avenue.

One small thing I do like, they give you the option to minimize the window. That makes my life much easier while writing this review.

Purchasing credits is a little different than what I've seen before. You enter the deposit method and amount in the casino itself and confirm, then a browser window opens where you have to enter your deposit method, amount and the rest of the details all over again. It seems superfluous to have the initial request if you're just going to be transferred to a browser anyhow. I entered the information, it said it went through fine, and I went back to the casino. My balance is still 0. I must have missed something somewhere. Back to Live Chat where Marlon informs me that you must enter a game for your balance to be updated.

They offer a wide range of games to suit every taste. They also offer something they call grid games which are simply a different style of slots. Their slots were kind of dull. I didn't have any wins over $15 and that was when I wagered $5. I checked every pay table and it seems none of their slots offer a bonus round. However, they do have autoplay. Confusingly, the autoplay options has a check on the option "Skip bonus round" as if they have a bonus round. As such I decided to double check with customer service in Live Chat to find out which games offered bonus rounds. Marlon didn't know that one but promised to find out from technical support and send me an email back. I never received an answer.

They don't have any multi-player games. They offer one 100 hand mega multi-hand poker, but it doesn't come with a double down. The 4 hand poker, however, does come with the double down option. There is one thing about there poker games that I'm not sure whether I like or not – you have to collect your winnings when you leave the game or else they stay in the machine. This is good if you think you lost it all and go back to your poker game only to find some money left, but it isn't so good if you like to know what you have all the time accurately. Another thing, if you press collect and leave the game when you return you will be offered double down on your last hand. Does that make sense? Here's what I mean: I won $4 from Jacks or Better Poker, and I decided to collect rather than double down. The money went back to my account (I had $36 before and with the $4 I then had $40) when I left the game. When I returned to the game I was greeted with the double down option again, my balance showing $36 and the game showing a $4 win able to be collected. That seems like a programming glitch to me.

I have been playing for hours hoping for some sort of big win and the most I have been above my deposit amount of $50 was $11 (in other words I had $61). I bet differently this time, as per request of my boss. I played small bets only in the beginning while I was taking all of the screen shots. The rest of the time all of my bets were above $2. Personally I wouldn't take this route, however it his theory that I will either lose it all quickly or I will win big if I bet this way. I did neither. It took me 5 hours to lose it all and I didn't have one decent win. Of course that doesn't include the bonus which should be in my account tomorrow. I'll probably just take the whole $50 and bet it on one game, as there is no way I'm going to make the wagering requirements.

I have been checking back my game history and nothing is happening. Back to Live Chat where Marlon informs me that it can take up to 4 hours for the game history to be updated on my end. I tried to find out from Live Chat what I have wagered (assuming they have access to information I don't have) and I waited over 10 minutes for them to answer. This could have been a technical glitch though so I tried again after rebooting my computer. I rebooted and went back to Live Chat and sure enough they got right to me. I wagered a total of $634.53.

Overall

The games are tight, not one decent win the whole time I played. They don't offer multi-player but they do have autoplay in the slots games. My money lasted a long time and I was playing with pretty large wagers (often $5 hands of blackjack with only $50 that is risky). I personally wasn't crazy about the look and feel but if you loved playing now non-PC cowboys and Indians as a kid you will love the look and feel. The game history takes too long to load, and I don't like that you can't see it directly in the games. The slots didn't have a bonus round, which is a big negative in my opinion. The Lobby is well organized and has some good features. You can pick your favorite games and add them to the "My Favorite Games" tab. The customer service via Live Chat was helpful and fast. Their bonus requirements are a tad harsh and they don't offer a lot of real bonuses, just a lot of drawings with only one winner. Basically they come off as cheap. Overall I give them a C.