The Best Of 2008 - Online Gambling Insider Awards - 12-21-08

There are way too many reasons to mention why we chose this casino as our best of 2008, not least the fact that it is managed by one of the most experienced operators in the business, the English Harbour Group. VIP Slots ran some huge slots tournaments all year long, as well as one of the best comps programs for slots players. The Vegas Technology software offers great games of all types, and the casino welcomes players from most countries, including the USA.

Onlinevegas.com exploded onto the scone midday through the year and the first notable thing was the massive $500 bonus for new players. The casino continues to deliver great value and capped off the  year with a huge $100,000 free slots tournament,.

Paradise 8 is powered by the Rival Gaming software platform and has delivered an excellent gaming experience this year. The group that operates this casino continues to impress and they are looking after players in North America really well with big bonuses and regular new games releases.

Ladbrokes Casino is powered by Microgaming and operated but the world's largest online gambling company. You pretty much can't go wrong if you add their great promotions for players in the UK. A standout casino in 2008.

BetUS.com beat out a tough field of US facing sportsbooks this year but we ultimately chose it for its great new software, low juice, and an unmatched variety of betting markets. Their coverage of the NFL has been excellent.

It's stylish, packed with action, and a bit naughty. Playersonly is the hottest online sportsbook, casino and poker room and focuses on the North American market. They have huge bonuses and offer great deposit methods for US players. A shoe in for this award this year after all the great feedback we received.

The Jackpot Factory Group took the honors this year for their massive $500,000 free slots tournament which was run at all four of their online casinos.

This is the third year in a row that we have chosen All Slots as our slots site of the year, and all the reasons are the same as before. The best slots games courtesy of Microgaming (over 350 and counting), huge bonuses, millions of dollars in progressive jackpots and the biggest online slots tournaments in history.

As they say, wine gets better with age and in the case of English Harbour casino, this cannot be more true. This veteran of the online casinos world updated its welcome deal for new players to four consecutive $200 bonuses. In addition they have excellent weekly and monthly reload bonuses.

Microgaming has delivered more games, more regularly than any other software provider. The graphical quality of the games delivered this year differentiates them from their competitors. They have innovated with news slots, ultra-realistic table games and new progressive jackpots.

Club USA has done a great job this year of solidifying its position as a premium online casino and its customer service has improved radically this year.

Poker Stars is our favorite poker room for three years now. This was a tough year for online poker with so many question marks raised after the Absolute and Ultimate Bet controversies. Meanwhile Poker Stars is still the biggest and players and continue to build trust.