A:
[Arnold Snyder, who wrote a book called How To Beat Internet Casinos and Poker Rooms, answers this question for us.]
First off, federal laws prohibit U.S. banks from processing any monetary transactions between U.S. residents and online casinos. That means you can't deposit or withdraw funds through a U.S. bank. If you live in Canada, Europe or most of Asia, or you do your banking transactions outside the U.S. and your computer IP address doesn't identify you as from the U.S. when you sign in to an online casino, online gambling is still possible.
I'm unaware of any Internet blackjack games, however, that are beatable using traditional methods like card counting. If you know of such games, be careful. Any online casino that uses "proprietary software" -- meaning their own house brand -- cannot be trusted. The most trusted software brands are Microgaming, Playtech and Cryptologic. (No online casinos that use these software brands will accept U.S. players.)
Before the federal law was passed in 2006 that prohibits U.S. banks from doing transactions with online casinos, many pros gambled in the online casinos, but they didn't use traditional methods like card counting. They just played basic strategy to come close to breaking even on the games, but they profited from the bonuses and loss rebates. Some were 86'd when it was discovered they were bonus hustling, but many players got away with it for a long time. The problem for the player who gets the boot from an online casino is that he or she no legal recourse to recover deposited funds or winnings.
I believe players outside the U.S. are still beating the online games using bonus-hustling strategies, but as I live in the U.S., I no longer keep up to date on this. You can find a lot more information on this (more than a dozen articles), including methods of bonus hustling, on my blackjack website here:
http://www.blackjackforumonline.com/BestInternetCasinos.htm
Some of the information may be obsolete, especially in regards to the "best" online casinos, as I'm no longer able to play in these casinos myself.
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