Games of dice have been recorded as being played by the Ancient Egyptians as far back as 2600 B.C. However, it is generally believed that the ancestor to the modern game of Craps was a game called Hazard. This game originated around the time of the Crusades, believed to have been named after the Seige of Hazarth, as dice games were the favourite pastime of Sir William of Tyre and his knights.

Hazard made its way to Europe from the Holy Land via traveling soldiers and merchant lanes. In England the game became especially popular, and by the 17th century was played by commoners in local taverns, and by the nobility in luxurious casinos. This is why today we have ‘street craps’ and ‘casino craps’. In France, the game became known as crapaud, which literally translates as “toad”. This was a reference to the squatting position adopted by players when playing the game on a floor or pavement. Crappaud has naturally been proposed as one of the origins of the modern name Craps, although some say the origin of the name is a corruption of “crabs” – a name used to describe a losing situation in the game of Hazard, in which the player rolls a 2.

The game was brought to America by British and French settlers, and thrived in particular along the southern coastline. Like poker and blackjack, the game grew and developed further in around the gambling dens of New Orleans. The man credited with inventing modern craps is the 19th century gambler John H. Winn, who devised the modern layout (known initially as the “Philadelphia layout”) and simplified the game overall. His version is the one played and enjoyed around the world today. His introduction of a variety of bets helped put a stop to the use of crooked dice, as now players could bet against the shooter.

Craps received a resurgence in popularity during World War II, when it was played by soldiers on both sides in order to help pass the time between combat. Due to using very little equipment, craps has proved popular as a military pastime throughout the centuries. Although slots was the primary form of gambling entertainment throughout the 1990s, the rise of the internet casino has ensured that millions of players around the world now play and enjoy craps every day.

Experience the thrill of craps yourself now, at Casino.com.

The Fantastic 4 lend their Earth-saving superpowers to their very own slots game. The latest installment in a series of Marvel slots available at Casino.com, Fantastic 4 is sure to appeal to fans of the comic books, the films and video slots.

Fans will recognise many of their favourite characters, with Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and The Thing all gracing the reels, alongside traditional poker rankings. The Fantastic 4 logo acts as Wild, and combines with the character portraits and other symbols (except the Scatter) to create winning payout combinations. There are also four amazing mini-games to unlock, alongside four different bonuses. Modeled around each of the four characters, each offers the player unique advantages and the chance to earn additional payouts. Players can unlock free spins when the Silver Surfer image appears three or more times. All the while enjoying stunning 3-D graphics and animations.

With 50 different pay lines, and the aid of Marvel’s greatest superhero team to help you, land the score of a lifetime now at Casino.com!

As well as the fantastic Christmas Giveaway (see previous post), Casino.com is also running a Merry Reload offer alongside, so you can truly get reloaded this holiday season. In fact, with Merry Reload you don’t just get 1 reload but a whopping 20 reloads totalling up to a massive $5,000!

And on top of this, you can still earn Christmas Giveaway prize draw tickets giving you the chance to win a brand new Audi worth up to $30,000, a dream holiday or a selection of prizes from santa’s sack-full of goodies.

It’s simple:

• Deposit $20 or more for an instant 20% Reload Bonus, 5 days a week, up to $1,250!
• Reload with a minimum of $50 to get your bonus and Christmas Giveaway prize draw tickets
• Get 1 prize draw ticket for every $50 deposit or 3 tickets for every $100

The Casino.com promotion period runs from 00:01 Monday 5 December 2011 to 23:59 (GMT) Sunday 1 January 2012, so be sure to take advantage of this magnificently merry offer while you still can. And note that you can opt in to both the Christmas Giveaway and the Merry Reload promotions to get the maximum festive cheer from your Christmas cash.

Casino.com’s Christmas Giveaway allows its players to cruise into the New Year in style. The car is here, parked up, ready for one lucky winner to drive it away. For a limited time, players will be offered multiple chances to win a brand new Audi, a dream vacation, or one of a selection of great gifts from a glittering Christmas wish list!

By depositing a mere 35€, players receive a ticket securing the chance to win the car, worth up to 20.000€. And with each deposit of a minimum of 75€, players receive three tickets to triple their chances of winning.

In the spirit of holidays, Casino.com is also offering a five-week race to win a dream vacation or a fabulous gift from a large prize pool. And that’s not all: any player who makes a deposit and earns ten points receives a scratch card, granting them a chance to win 10.000€. For a full list of prizes and further information, check out the promotions page.

Casino.com’s latest online promotion begins today, Monday 7 November 2011, giving you multiple chances to win a whole heap of fabulous prizes. The prize pool on offer includes a Euro Disney package worth up to $2,000, an Apple iPad 2, LG 3D TV, Sony PS3 Slim or one of a selection of other fantastic prizes totalling a whopping $20,000!

On top of this, you can take part in not one but four separate prize draws – one for each week of the promotion – giving you many opportunities to bag your dream prize.

It’s easy to enter the Prize Pyramid…

Simply opt in before 23:59 (GMT) Sunday 4 December 2011, earn the minimum Loyalty Points required each week and you’ll automatically be entered into all 4 weekly prize draws. What’s more, the Loyalty Points that you’ll be collecting throughout this promotion can be converted into cold, hard CASH, so everyone’s a winner!

It really is that simple! Click here to opt in today, see the full list of amazing prizes that are up for grabs and begin playing your way to Euro Disney!

Promo Period: 00:01 Monday 7 November – 23:59 (GMT) Sunday 4 December 2011.

Beer, brass bands and buxom bar staff – all these are coming to Munich, when the city will be doing what it does best and hosting the world’s largest beer festival.

To celebrate, Casino.com are offering the winner of their Oktoberfest promotion a holiday worth up to $3,500, so you can take a trip to the land of Lederhosen itself, right in the middle of party time. And that’s not all: there are 99 fantastic cash prizes up for grabs, too!

This is a two-week promotion, so opt in as soon as you can via Casino.com to bag your ticket to the best party in Europe this season.

The Oktoberfest promotion will run from 00:01 Tuesday 13 September to 23:59 (GMT) Thursday 22 September 2011. You must opt in before the final day to stand a chance of winning either the fantastic holiday or one of the 99 awesome runners-up prizes.

Click here for more info about this amazing promotion.

Good luck!

In a previous post, we promised that we’d let you know about all the extra reload bonuses we’ve got planned for you, so here’s the lowdown…

Joining our regular Weekly Reload, Mid Month Reload and host of other fantastic promotions, we’ve also recently added a Month End Reload to our awesome roster. So, if you fancy super-charging your playing power many times over each and every month, you’ve no need to look any further than Casino.com.

Towards the end of the month, we’re giving you multiple reload bonuses of 25% on each qualifying deposit during the entire promotion period. So, now you really can net thousands in reload bonuses every month, increasing your playing funds as well as your chances of winning big!

Here’s how it works…

Simply opt in to the Month End Reload every month, which you’ll find under the Promotions tab at Casino.com, deposit up to the maximum allowance and play any of your favourite games.

Please note that promotion dates and amounts are subject to change each month, so be sure to check in towards the end of every month so that you don’t miss out!

And if you need any more info, feel free to contact our customer service agents 24/7 and they will gladly offer assistance in your language – CHAT NOW.

An online casino is loaded with jargon, but once you know the buzz words, you’ll soon be using them yourself!

What’s a reload bonus?

It’s simply additional credit deposited by us into your casino account when you make a deposit. That means more funds to play with, more gaming time and more potential winnings.

For example, a “25% reload bonus, up to $200” – this means that when you deposit an amount up to $200, you’ll get 25% on top directly from us. The 25% is based on the figure that you have deposited (eg, depositing $200 actually gets you $250 to play with!) There are normally set minimum and maximum deposit amounts upon which we can fork out. In this case, it’s a maximum of $200.

Apart from showing goodwill from us, reload bonuses keep online gaming fun and exciting. Why? Because the reload bonuses you collect with each deposit allow you to play more and hopefully win more over time.

Casino.com is going reload crazy!

At casino.com, we’re well aware how much players appreciate extra playing power, especially when they aren’t paying for it! Reloads are a great way to achieve this.

Have you already been making the most of our 25% Weekly Reload bonus every Tuesday? Well, we’ve been experiencing such a huge uptake on this that now we’re throwing another regular reload bonus offer in to the mix, so be sure to keep an eye out for our amazing Mid Month Reload each and every month.

Now you have:

• 4 Weekly Reload Bonuses
• 1 Mid Month Bonus
• Other ad hoc promotions

That’s a heck of a lot of reload bonuses in one month! What’s more, we can reveal that there will be another reload promotion coming very soon indeed, so watch this space for more info!

How does a $200 Welcome Bonus and a $3000 dream vacation sound to you? What if we told you that you could win both, simply by depositing $50?

We thought that would grab your attention.

Here are the details:

Between now and 18 September, you can enter our summer raffle as many times as you like – for every $50 that you deposit, you’ll earn another raffle ticket. For the first $50 deposit, you’ll earn an extra $50 as part of our $200 Welcome Bonus, plus one raffle ticket. Deposit $100 and you’ll automatically get two tickets. Deposit $200 and you’ll get four. $300 will get you six…you get the idea.

The more tickets you get, the greater your chances are of winning the bonus and the fabulous holiday! There are also runner-up prizes that include one iPad and two iPod nanos, and much more.

The raffle takes place between 00:01 Monday 1 August through 23:59 (GMT) Sunday 18 September 2011. The winners will be chosen at random on 20 September and will be contacted within 72 hours. The exotic vacation package must be booked by the end of 2011.

Do you have more questions about our exotic holiday giveaway? Please review our promotional terms and conditions, or contact our customer service agents by using our CHAT services, available 24/7 in your language.

Remember, you really have nothing to lose here – with your first $50, you’ll be awarded a $50 Welcome Bonus and the possibility of winning that $3,000 holiday of a lifetime! Plus, you’ll have access to all your favourite online casino games, including roulette, slots, craps, poker and more.

So, make your first $50 deposit today and enter our fabulous competition – you never know, this could be your lucky summer!

It’s time for you to opt-in to another fantastic Casino.com promotion for a chance to win up to $150,000 and a dream vacation!

Starting from July 4, 2011 for 10 weeks, we’ll be hosting weekly races. It’s your job to rack up as many points as possible and race your way up to the top of the leader board. What’s more, there’ll be ten weekly races, where we’ll be giving away a whopping $10,000.

Your weekly points will go towards the final, cumulative race, where you’ll get the chance to win the grand Red Hot Summer champion prize – an exotic dream holiday and a $50,000 bonus that will be shared with the runner up.

At any point over the next 10 weeks, you can check out our Casino Promotions page to opt-in, check out the race dates, drool over the prize money and check the leader boards – both the weekly boards and the main race.

Here’s some more info about this exciting competition:

• The race begins 00:01 Monday 4 July, ending 23:59 (GMT) Sunday 11 September.
• To opt in, you must make a minimum deposit of $1000/€750 (VIP) or $500/€350 (non-VIP) during online casino promotional hours.
• If you win a weekly race, your account will be credited with your winnings within 48 hours of the end of the promotion.
• Points are awarded based on the loyalty scheme.

For more details, please see the Terms & Conditions on the Promotion page.

So what are you waiting for? The race has already begun. Simply opt-in to the event, make your deposit and begin playing your favorite online casino games.

And don’t forget, the best part about this race is that there’s no actual running involved!