Casinos are in the position that we'll all be in someday soon: you're nobody unless you've got a web presence. And who has more presence than a celebrity? So by combining the two you get the most natural of partnerships: a Celebrity Casino. Rodney Dangerfield (Rodney's Place), Evel Knievel (Daredevil Casino), Larry Holmes (BetWithTheChamp), and former football star Bubba Smith (Bubba's Casino) all have casino sites. In our article we'll cover the old and new, the fakes and frauds but one thing remains true throughout, fame sells.

Your basic celebrity casino is simplicity itself: a celeb homepage backed by a gaming package. The site is endorsed by the celebrity and features their image, biography, memorabilia and usually attempts to capture something of their character. Read the fun stuff and then go play some games. It's a clever way to spice up the basic gaming experience and help give the star a web presence. Presumably the star also gets a cut of the casino profits and good on 'em for it.

The most common approach is to use a pre-fab casino package from a supplier like Starnet. The star's name and face are added to the basic website, some bio details are added, usually a link to a memorabilia shop and there you have it. The FAQ's, support pages, basic game info, etc are all pre-prepared and ready to go. Here are a few to get you started:

Rodney's Place Casino

• a basic casino endorsed by Rodney Dangerfield.
• follow the More About Rodney link to the official Dangerfield homepage. Lots of goodies there about Rodney including sound bites, Joke of The Day, etc, etc.
• sorry, no bets accepted from the United States.

www.BetWithTheChamp.com

• a nice little site that doubles as a homepage for the Champ, Larry Holmes.
• bout records, photo album, a cool little movie of TKO TV clips: all and all a walk down memory lane and worth a visit if you've ever followed the fights.

Evel Knievel's Daredevil Casino

• some nice sounds and multimedia on the Daredevil add a lot of spice to this site.
• the bulk of the fun is accessed through Evel's homepage but the two are well integrated and make for a nice package.

Bubba's Casino and Sportsbook

• sponsored by Bubba Smith, this site offers a pretty spiffy intro page (Flash graphics) and a very professional looking website in general.
• Bubba's Casino donates a portion of its profits to The Child Abuse Prevention Foundation (CAP).

Okay, so much for the basics. One of our fave celeb casinos, Kenny Roger's Casino, is (was?) a very professional and full-featured site. Unfortunately Venture Catalyst Inc. has announced its decision to close its internet gaming division based on the uncertain legal climate and that leaves Kenny's casino in a state of limbo for the time being. We hope for its speedy return under a new flag.

Finally there are the fakes and bad-boy sites. There are casinos out there that look like they're associated with a particular celeb but aren't, or are using the star material illegally. For instance the so-called Pamela Anderson Casino has nothing whatever to do with Pam herself. If you want to see one of the lamest "adult" graphics on the web -- again, totally Pam-less -- go for it. Otherwise, save yourself the time.