Introduction

What we call "Slotland" software is the software used by the Slotland and Win a Day casinos. Whether this software actually has a name, I don't know. It is evidently proprietary to these two casinos.

The Slotland casino and its software has been around since 1998. I can remember when it was one of the few Internet casinos out there. While the simplistic interface and graphics can be forgiven for the early anything goes days of Internet gambling they seems as dated as an Apple II computer in 2017.

Both casinos that use this software are on my Grey List of Internet casinos that are somewhere in the grey area between Internet casinos I see nothing wrong with and those on the blacklist that I strongly advise against playing. The reason for the grey listing is they both use an artificial method of triggering progressive jackpots in card games. I feel very strongly, as does the Nevada Gaming Control Board, that electronic representations of card games should follow the same natural odds as in a fair live game. Instead, Slotland triggers jackpots somehow behind the scenes at an unknown probability. There is more about this in the video poker section below.

What makes this worse is that for many years this practice was not disclosed. I know advantage players who played tens of thousands of hands chasing the progressive in Space Jack to quit with the belief that the jackpot was rigged against them. At least they disclose it is not naturally triggered now, which is why I moved them from the blacklist to the grey list.

I all fairness, I must give Slotland points for creativity. While most casinos deal out the same old games -- blackjack, baccarat, roulette, craps, Three Card Poker, Casino War, Caribbean Stud, Let it Ride, Pai Gow Poker -- Slotland offers none of these games. The only mainstream games they offer are slots, video poker, and keno. However, they do offer two games that are totally out of left field -- Fore Cast and Space Jack. So all due credit for offering the players something new, which is seldom the case with Internet casinos. For more on those games, see below.

Finally, I will give credit where credit is due. Very few of the original Internet casinos survive today, but Slotland is among them. Win a Day came along later. Maybe Slotland's stingy video poker odds and holding back on jackpots have helped. Whatever it is, they have passed the test of time, and that says something.

Video Poker

The Slotland Video Poker has pretty awful pay tables with a house edge close to 2% on most non-progressive games. The only multi-play game is called Wild Heart and is based on Joker Poker. The joker features a picture of a tiger. Forgive the lack of cards in the screen shot. I didn't have any money in my account, it doesn't allow free play, and that is all I could see of it as an observer with no money.

In all the progressive games the jackpot is not triggered by the natural deal of the cards but internally predestined. Here is how they put it in the Jacks or Better help file, "Please note that all Slotland games which share the Progressive Jackpot also employ the same mechanism that determines the jackpot win. Therefore, the probability of hitting the jackpot combination on Jacks or Better when playing for maximum bet is not natural but controlled by this shared random mechanism in the same was as slot machines' wins."

I feel very strongly that every card in every game should have the same chances of being drawn. So any electronic representation of a card game should have the same natural odds as in a fair live game. For this reason, I would avoid any progressive video poker game by Slotland software, as the probability of winning is not disclosed and cannot be calculated.

The following table shows the Video Poker games available in alphabetical order.

Here is the same list in returns range, choose your game wisely.

Keno

This is the first online keno game where the player fills out a Scantron form, as if playing in a state lottery. Following is the pay table at the time of this writing. The best bet is on the pick 13 with a return of 94.90%.

Slots

The Slotland slots are very simple dated. The screenshots should speak for themselves. No information is given on the returns. In such cases, looking at keno is usually a good estimator, and that game is set to around 94%.

Spacejack

In my 20 years writing about casino gambling, Space Jack is one of the strangest games I've ever seen. If forced, it could be compared to playing three hands of blackjack at once. However, the player must play all three hands at once! Yes, one decision applies to all three hands. There is a huge progressive jackpot for getting three blackjacks. However, don't get too excited. The odds of getting it are not natural, according to the cards, but determined somehow behind the scenes. Same way as their video poker progressives.

For more information, please see my designated page on Space Jack. It includes the strategy and house edge (without factoring in the jackpot). I probably spent way too much time on that page than this crazy game deserves, but that is my calling.

Update December 2022: Spacejack is no longer available at Slotland.

Four Cast

Fore Cast is a unique game to Slotland software. It involves picking the suit and rank (low, medium, or high) of four cards, one at a time. At the beginning the game multiplies the players bet by 100. Then every incorrect decision lowers it. After four cards, whatever is left is what the player gets. It has the same phony progressive I rant about in the video poker section.

For more details, please see my page on Fore Cast.