CHUCK - Ted, you're the first online casino manager I've seen post his photo and bio at his casino website. Most online operators seem to be in hiding. Is this openness part of your casino's philosophy?

TED - I always maintain that honesty is the best policy. All our efforts from the beginning of this project have been to be as open as possible with our customers. I believe that the personal touch is a major factor in making people feel comfortable and secure. Although I did not like the idea of a photograph being placed on our website, it does help to create the realism of a land based casino where the managers are recognizable and approachable. It makes a lot of difference when you can put a face to a name and it helps communication to be a lot more relaxed.

What else makes Global Player unique? Why should we play there?

Our casino is not an "off the shelf" clone. We have developed our own software over the last three years to totally suit our philosophy to make customer needs and customer satisfaction a priority, but most importantly we have gone further than anybody else to offer realistic limits, a wide choice of game rules to satisfy all players and the option of trying the more sophisticated games such as French Roulette. We are also one of the first to offer multi-player games with chat functions. Our program of continuous development has already produced more favorable odds on Blackjack and our "Wild American Roulette", with a 0% house edge, has got to be the first of its kind worldwide. Furthermore, there is our Progressive Jackpot which is now more than $40,000. All of this, plus our excellent graphics, certainly makes us the most elegant multi-player on the Internet.

I'm impressed by the wide variety of blackjack rules you offer at Global Player. I had never played Spanish 21 until I visited your site. Which of the blackjack games at Global Player offers the best odds to the player?

This depends on whether you are a card counter or a leisure player: For basic strategy players, our single-deck games such as Las Vegas Downtown and Reno offer a house edge of 0.12%, on these games the cards are shuffled after each round. For card counters, our other games like Atlantic City, Las Vegas Strip or Baden-Baden with a starting house edge of about 0.4% have proved to be very exciting as in general this percentage can be improved by good card counting and good strategy.

Which blackjack rules variation is most popular?

Originally we saw most players heading for the Las Vegas Strip tables, but this is gradually leveling out, as a lot of our European and Middle Eastern gamblers are now showing a preference for our Baden-Baden tables. We also see a lot of interest from the Far East and Australia for Spanish 21. However, the majority of our customers are from the USA and Canada and therefore the American versions take the lead in popularity.

There's been some discussion on our message boards lately about the randomness of online casino games. Are your games truly random? For example, in blackjack, are cards completely randomly dealt or does the card I receive depend in some way on cards other players are dealt?

The cards are dealt exactly as in a casino: the game starts with a given number of decks and each new card is selected from this shoe. Obviously, once a card has been dealt, other players at the table cannot get the same card, so this is the only way a card you receive depends on other cards already dealt. Our games use a highly sophisticated system of generating random numbers: first we get a random number from a high-quality hardware random number generator (RNG), then we combine it with several other random numbers obtained by different mathematical algorithms and the resulting number is used to choose a new card from the blackjack shoe. Total randomness is to our advantage, as, if a bias is ever spotted, we would be the ones at a disadvantage.

At the time of this interview I see your progressive slots jackpot hovering around 40 grand. Has anyone hit the big one yet?

Not yet, but we have had several large payouts and the more action on these machines the faster the Jackpot will increase. When it does fire, we will be the first to brag about it, with an article in our Latest News section on our website.

How much longer will your "$30 Gratis" promotion last?

We originally publicized the bonus for the first 3333 users, but that did not last very long as we did not expect the attendance we have had in the last three months and therefore we have decided to continue with the bonus for the time being.

What do you think the future holds for online gambling?

I can foresee several problems in the relatively near future that would jeopardize the success of online gambling. Firstly, the lack of adequate regulation will allow the unscrupulous owners to continue to operate, with unsuspecting clientele who are predominantly unaware of how widespread and indiscriminate the casino tactics can be. What is really needed is universal control, not just regional bodies that impose their own standards and issue their own condemnation of the 'bad boys'. We are already a member of the Internet Gaming Council who are very active in monitoring gaming sites and regularly check that its own members are operating to the required high standards. Secondly, online gaming is receiving a lot of criticism from the press and the established land-based casino operations. What amuses me is that their short-sighted views are promoting a very stigmatized impression of all online gambling sites. What the land-based casinos do not seem to realize is that online gambling has actually provided them with a very large virtual training school for people who would not ordinarily visit their casinos, because they are either afraid or they do not understand the rules of the games.

However, the future is very bright for the 'good' online casinos as the present market is only a fraction of the true potential. Compared to land-based casinos, who seem to be reaching their saturation point, the true market for online gambling is virtually limitless and is only restricted by accessibility to the Internet.

Is there anything else you'd like to tell us about Global Player?

We have just launched a new version of our program which includes several new very exciting features. We have 7 different slot machines with high Jackpots. On Blackjack, we have now introduced single deck and double deck games. This is going to generate a lot of interest from the card players. However, I think the "coup de gras" is a 0% Roulette called "Wild American Roulette". It is going to be very interesting to read what the gaming 'pundits' are going to say about this game!

To satisfy customer demand, our next addition to our Global Player casino is going to be Video Poker. This is now being developed and hopefully we will be making an announcement very soon.

Our main ambition is to maintain our reputation of honesty and fairness to all and to project the excitement of visiting a classy casino. This, I believe, is the key to the future.