In my perpetual quest to try every system available for online gambling, I found myself at Aloha Casino and Sportsbook. They use Unified Gaming Software for the casino side of the operation and while my associates have visited UGS sites, I've never been. Now's the time!

Aloha is a no-download site. Their games are Java based, so make sure your browser has the Java VM Virtual Machine enabled (in Explorer it's under Tools/Internet Options/Advanced and scroll down to Java VM).

As with all no-download sites, Aloha is nice and easy to get started with. Once you've signed up and logged in you're ready to go. You'll find they've got the usual favorites: Blackjack, Video Poker, Slots, Keno, Pai Gow, Roulette, Craps, and Baccarat. What's not so typical is the variety of choices within a particular game. For instance, in Single Deck Blackjack there's $1-$10, $10-$50, $25-$100 and Play For Fun versions. This is clearly one of Aloha's strengths and generally applies to all their games. It's nice, for instance, to see the higher stakes Baccarat and Six Deck Blackjack at $100-$250 a hand, if you can live with the tight spreads.

Your Video Poker choices are particularly abundant at Aloha with no less than seven versions, each with $0.25, $1 and Fun variations. But watch your game's odds because I noticed a few less-than-optimal pay tables. For example Joker Poker (Kings or Better) is a 6/4 variation (payout of approx 0.976) instead of the slightly more favorable 7/5 full-pay version with its 0.981 return.

In the June 2000 issue of Casino Player Magazine, the always-reliable Wizard of Odds reported that UGS's Deuces Wild was the best paying video poker game of the major online software vendors with a return rate over 100%. But that's not what I found at Aloha: the pay table is a leaner 9/4/4/3/2/1 for Straight Flush through 3-of-a-Kind against the usual 9/5/3/2/2/1, for a payout of around 0.980. Looks like things have changed.

Finally, the popular Jacks-or-Better is an 8/5 game for a 97.3% payout which is middle of the road for Jacks-or-Better games, but not particularly attractive.

At the Roulette table you'll be up against the 0 and 00, so you're forfeiting about 2% to the casino there over the preferred single 0 European style games. At Craps you can buy 2x Odds on the $10-$100 game, but only 1x Odds on the $1-$25 game.

And now Baccarat: Aloha's Baccarat is a bit of an odd duck. The graphics are very basic and look pretty dated. Also, the mechanism used for placing bets takes a bit of getting used to. You have to click on the word "Player" to get the betting indicator to move there, then adjust your betting amount. Odd, but functional.

Finally Slots come in $0.25, $0.50 and $1 variations, with over ten varieties to choose from, including the big-money Dazzler Progressive Jackpot Machine. A recent hit on the Dazzler at Winward Casino paid off more than 160 grand.

The support options at Aloha look pretty good. There's the toll-free and email options, but they're willing to call you on their dime if you provide a home phone number. There's also a helpful Troubleshooting Guide to answer many of the basic questions you might have.

Aloha's software supports AOL, Explorer and Netscape, but WebTV players are out of luck for casino betting. At this point I'd have to point out that the UGS software does look a little long in the tooth. It's not bad or flaky, but it is pretty underwhelming. To compensate they're offering a sign-up bonus of 10% on deposits over $100 and 15% on deposits over $500.

Aloha puts the bonus chips in a "Match Play" account for you. Anything you win with the Match Play chips gets dumped into your cash account at the casino, but you can't actually withdraw anything from the Match play account. It seems odd at first, but in the end I think it makes sense and it does help avoid a lot of the confusion that other casinos are having over when players can and can't withdraw their bonus money.

So that's the Aloha tour: easy to start up, lots of playing options, a wide variety of betting levels, dated but stable software and good support options. Aloha!