The website for English Harbour appears very comprehensive especially on security and banking issues which is encouraging. It does stress that it is only compatible with Windows systems however. Two different downloads are offered depending on the number of games that you want to play which we think is a useful feature, especially for those of you with slow download capability.

Unfortunately, we don't think that the casino itself lives up to the expectation caused by the website. English Harbour are no longer with Microgaming and have opted for Odds-On as their software provider. We are not aware of the reasons for the move but can only assume it was for cost concerns as the new playing interface is far less impressive than the standard Microgaming interface, in our opinion. The slots are simple and dull and only offer one 5-Reel machine. The lack of bonus features becomes tedious very quickly. The triple slots function is novel and allows you to play three slots of your choice simultaneously. They are still dull however and we could not get excited by it.

The email support is non-existent in our experience. Having asked specific questions of the support team, we received a non-relevant auto-responder and some months later, still haven't received answers to our specific questions.

It is not however, all negative. If you can put up with the average playing interface, English Harbour do offer some great competitions and prize draws. These would typically include holidays to Vegas, a sports car and various cash prizes.

Baccarat has a reputation for being a high rollers game and the tables are normally separate from the rest of the casino in there own section called the pit. Dealers normally wear tuxedos and the surrounding are is quite lavish. The game of baccarat is unlike most casino games as the is no level of skill involved the reason for this is that neither the player or dealer has any options or decisions to make during the course of the game. This means the game is quite simple especially as there are only three possible bets that can be made. The table layout is also quite simple and consists of fourteen numbered positions seven on each side of the dealer; the number thirteen is omitted as it is considered unlucky. Three dealers run the game and one of these is the caller who runs the game and stands between positions 1 and 15. Each player takes it in turns to deal from the shoe there is however no advantage to be gained from it and it is just part of the tradition of the game. Player put their bets on the numbered box in front of the players after the winner is called the other two dealers pay out or collect from the winners and losers around the table. When the bank wins the house claims a %5 cut of the winnings and the total amount is collected every time the shoe is reshuffled.

Although the casinos have always had the home court advantage, that hasn’t stopped the near-do-wells from attempting to cheat the house. In the past, panels of one-way glass were installed in the ceilings over the casino floor. Surveillance people, often referred to as, “the eye in the sky,” would tread back and forth on narrow catwalks while looking down at the games. With binoculars in hand, they monitored both the players and the dealers for any signs of cheating. They maneuvered through spider webs and around posts and rafters in the dark. Today's modern casinos are outfitted with hundreds of cameras that can rotate, pivot and zoom in on a pinhead. These cameras are housed in those half-spherical bubbles that you see, mounted from the ceiling. They send video signals that are fed into dozens of monitors with videotapes rolling. Not all of the cameras’ signals can be shown on a monitor at all times. Just because the camera is on doesn’t mean that someone is watching it. The video can later be reviewed, but the cheat or thief may be long gone. The surveillance crew must switch back and forth between cameras, focusing more on the busy-betting areas and the cashiers’ cages. If the pit is suspicious of a cheat or if a high roller steps into the game, the boss will call up to surveillance to make sure they are watching the action at that table. Eventually, the whole system will be computerized. A network of several hundred tiny digital cameras will be mounted throughout the casino. As these cameras sense movement, they will begin processing a digital signal to a computer. Surveillance software will interpret any actions it senses and the most questionable of those will appear on one of several main monitors where a small surveillance crew will be stationed. Because the footage is digital and fully indexed, it can be immediately accessed and cross-referenced with other footage taken, even if it happened six months earlier. There would be no archived tapes to search through, no hours and hours of rewinding and playing of videotapes. Everything will be stored in one central database.