Speed is the name of the game at Monte Casino -- right down to the Formula One race car on their home page. This casino is fast, streamlined and attractive, and delivers all the basic info you need to get gambling with no hassles. Well, maybe one hassle. I'll get to that in a minute.

Like all good casinos, Monte lets you try their games before you wager real dough. In fact, if a casino won't let you play for fun before you deposit cash I suggest you pass. I learned that lesson at Planet Luck.

Monte's games -- powered by no-download leader GamblingSoftware.com -- are much more realistic than those at Galaxiworld, the no-download casino I reviewed last week. The only gripe I have with Monte's games is that there are only five of them: blackjack, craps, roulette, poker and one lonely slot machine.

Blackjack is the most popular casino game on the Web and it's also my favorite. Monte offers one of the few online games where the cards aren't shuffled after every hand. They use a four deck shoe and shuffle after 80% of the cards have been dealt. To thwart card-counters, Monte limits the betting range from $1 to $25 at Table One and from $5 to $100 at Table 2.

CORRECTION (9 Dec 99) - Turns out that Monte Casino actually shuffles after 20% of the cards are dealt so forget about card counting. The original information given on their site was inaccurate.

As for roulette, I was a surprised to see Monte -- a European-themed casino -- using the American double-zero wheel.

And now the one hassle. Monte Casino doesn't accept bets from Canada so I was unable to place real-money wagers. Bets from the US are okay.