Marco Ibarra

Marco Ibarra

Chief Content Writer
  • Industry Knowledge
  • Marketing Knowledge
  • Poker Skill
  • Luck in Roulette
  • Coffee Making Skill
  • Sports betting strategy
Favourites:
  • Food:Pizza
  • Hobby:Extreme Ironing
  • Lucky number:13
  • Table game:Roulette
  • Slot:Bingo Jockey
Nobody has ever bet enough on a winning horse.- Marco's favorite quote
Explore Marco’s Latest Posts

Dive into Marco's collection of articles, where he covers everything from casino, bonus and slot reviews to expert tips and industry insights. Stay updated with his latest posts across all categories.

Weekly Casino Update: The Year’s Going By!
18 Feb 2025
4 min read

Weekly Casino Update: The Year’s Going By!

We have a smaller, but nonetheless exciting casino update for you this week. Discover what these 8 new casinos bring to the table!

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Weekly Casino Update: New Casinos are Here - But Which of Them Meet Our Standards?
5 Feb 2025
6 min read

Weekly Casino Update: New Casinos are Here - But Which of Them Meet Our Standards?

This Weekly Casino Update brings us a variety of top-class casinos to the table. Check out which one is the best of the bunch!

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Weekly Casino Update: February is Here, and So Are 15 New Casino Reviews
30 Jan 2025
6 min read

Weekly Casino Update: February is Here, and So Are 15 New Casino Reviews

Our latest Weekly Casino Update will have you on the edge of your seat checking out some of the 8.5+ rated casinos that we've reviewed

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Weekly Casino Update: January’s Coming to a Close!
24 Jan 2025
6 min read

Weekly Casino Update: January’s Coming to a Close!

Read our Weekly Casino Update to discover the safest online gambling sites to play at, based on our latest casino reviews.

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Weekly Casino Update: Our Latest Selection of Casino Reviews
17 Jan 2025
6 min read

Weekly Casino Update: Our Latest Selection of Casino Reviews

Read our Weekly Casino Update to discover where to play and which sites to avoid, as well as where to claim attractive bonuses.

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Weekly Casino Update: An Overview of Our Latest Casino Reviews
10 Jan 2025
7 min read

Weekly Casino Update: An Overview of Our Latest Casino Reviews

Check out our third Weekly Casino Update and discover which sites we deem worth visiting and the casinos you should avoid to blast off

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Weekly Casino Update: New Casinos to Lookout for in January 2025
3 Jan 2025
7 min read

Weekly Casino Update: New Casinos to Lookout for in January 2025

Check out our Weekly Casino Update to see which of the latest casinos that we've visited are worth visitng and which ones you should st

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Weekly Casino Update: What’s New in The Casino Wizard?
26 Dec 2024
6 min read

Weekly Casino Update: What’s New in The Casino Wizard?

Find out which are the most promising casinos that we've reviewed lately (and which sites to avoid!) with our first Weekly Casino Updat

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Celebrate New Year's Eve 2025 with These Festive Slot Games
2 Dec 2024
5 min read

Celebrate New Year's Eve 2025 with These Festive Slot Games

These online slot games will get you in the mood to recieve New Year 2025 in the right state of mind. New slots and old classics are he

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7 Must-Play Online Slots for Christmas 2024
26 Nov 2024
6 min read

7 Must-Play Online Slots for Christmas 2024

This list of Christmas Slots will have you spinning festive reels as yoy jingle the bells all the way to rewards of $100,000 or more.

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mBit Casino is The Casino Wizard's Best Bitcoin Casino of 2025
15 Oct 2024
6 min read

mBit Casino is The Casino Wizard's Best Bitcoin Casino of 2025

mBit Casino has been chosen The Casino Wizard's best Bitcoin casino of 2025. Learn why we've picked it as the stand-out BTC casino

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Top 10 Instant Withdrawal Casinos in 2025: No Verification or KYC Required
16 May 2024
11 min read

Top 10 Instant Withdrawal Casinos in 2025: No Verification or KYC Required

All sites that we list in this article allow players to instantly access their winnings with no need to wait more than a few seconds to

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Who’s Marco?

Marco has been working with Matt and Klaas since the early days of The Casino Wizard, working with the team since late 2018. He’s the Chief Content Writer of the site and the man responsible for a lot of the content that you’ll see written here — be it because he wrote it or because he edited it himself. 

As a sports betting fan, Marco has been well acquainted with the world of online gambling since his university days, when he made money gambling on the top European football leagues and on international competitions.

He's also well acquainted with every section of casino gameplay. He’s played and reviewed hundreds of slots, spent time researching and learning blackjack & poker strategies, gambled in land-based casinos in multiple countries, and claimed rewards in the world’s best online casinos – many of which he has reviewed.

A Quick Overview of Marco's Casino Wizard Career

  • Year joined: 2018
  • Casinos reviewed: 200+
  • Bonuses tested: 300+
  • Games tested: 1,500+
  • Main markets covered: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa
  • Industry events attended: SiGMA Americas, SiGMA Malta

Casino & iGaming Trajectory

Marco started his career as an iGaming writer in 2018. Over the years, he has worked closely with iGaming brands from all over the world, mostly specializing in markets from across the Americas and Europe, but that reach other continents like Asia and Africa.

Although Marco dedicates most of his time to The Casino Wizard, he’s also involved with other brands on a per-project basis. You can see Marco’s full experience here.

The Casino Wizard

  • Chief Content Writer: Aug 2020 - Present
  • Content Writer: Jul 2019 - Aug 2020
  • Freelance Writer: Dec 2018 - Jul 2019

FiebreDeCasino.com

  • LATAM iGaming Content Writer: Since August 2024

iGaming Content Services

  • Freelance Writer & Content Auditor: Since November 2022.

Casino.com & Acee.cl

  • Freelance Writer: Since December 2022

Dinotech Media

  • Freelance Writer & Editor: Jan 2023 - Feb 2024

Wordapp.com

  • iGaming Spanish Team Manager: Mar 2022 - Jun 2023
  • Spanish Content Writer: Jan 2022 - Mar 2022

Education & Studies

Marco graduated from the Andres Bello Catholic University in Venezuela and holds a degree in Mass Communications, with a specialization in marketing and advertisement.

He has been trained and worked online with companies from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Malta, focusing most of his professional career around the world of online gambling.

His interest in online gambling has led him to visit the SiGMA Americas Conference in 2022 in Canada and SiGMA Malta 2023. 

What Does Marco Do for The Casino Wizard?

Marco helps Matt and Klaas with whatever they need, and he also creates content that people want to read based on research that he does when looking for top-quality games and casinos. His The Casino Wizard tasks include:

  • Analyzing and reviewing online casinos and their bonuses, advising The Casino Wizard team about which sites are legitimate and which aren’t.
  • Creating in-depth slot reviews that focus on popular games and slots with high return rates.
  • Developing blackjack and roulette guides and fine-tuning the site’s card-game resources.
  • Assisting the team with sports betting and review content whenever needed.

How Marco Stays Up to Date

Marco has a vast knowledge of the iGaming world, being particularly informed about the developments and latest regulation updates in Europe, North America and South America. His understanding of global regulations makes is content relevant to users: he can tell you whether it’s legal to gamble in a jurisdiction and the consequence of doing so.

To remain up-to-date, he closely follows various iGaming portals, such as:

  • Yogonet.com, an international iGaming news site that focuses on the top Latin American markets.
  • iGamingBusiness.com, a site that analyzes worldwide iGaming developments and shares news about regulations, software developers, casinos, and more.
  • iGaming.news, where news articles are frequently published. This one serves as his go-to site for quick iGaming updates. 

Marco’s Best and Worst Casino Experiences

Marco’s years playing games online have been packed with success stories. Although monetary success is important -especially in the casino world-, his best casino experience came in 2023, when he spent a night out in Malta playing slots, blackjack and roulette with Matt and Klaas in a land-based casino in Malta.

As odds will have it, he's also had his fair share of bad experiences. His love for gambling remains untested, though!

Best gambling experience
Best
  • Betting for his home country, Venezuela, to win a Conmebol WC Qualifier game that paid 17.50 his bet.
  • Going on a blackjack run that saw him start with $100 and leave with $1,250.
  • Winning a 75-man poker tournament with an entry price of $30 per person.
    Worst gambling experience
    Worst
    1. While living in Chile, Marco decided to try his luck at winning the WOWPot by playing Queen of Alexandria
    2. To his surprise, the maximum bet in Chilean pesos was remarkably low when converted to U.S. dollars.
    3. Despite accessing the jackpot round over 25 times, Marco only managed to win the smallest jackpot. He ended up with a net loss of $150,000 CLP!

    Must-Know Facts About Marco

    Your All-Rounded Casino Guy

    After he got his degree in Marketing, Marco combined his passion for gambling and his writing skills to make a living writing about one of the things he loves the most: online casino websites. He has become an all-in-one source for casino information in every regard.

    He’s the guy you can talk to if you want to know whether an online casino is safe to visit and whether a new game is worth your money.

    He hasn’t given up on sports betting, either, but he now complements his love for sports with a burning passion for blackjack.

    Not only does he spend his time playing in mobile blackjack apps, but he’s also become an avid fan of live casino blackjack as the years have passed.

    Always Striving for the Best

    Much in line with Matt and Klaas, Marco has a never-ending desire to improve. This is not only a personal belief that he keeps to himself, but also one that he used to help The Casino Wizard in every way he can.

    His desire to always do what’s best has become a signature in his articles, which aim to provide players with as much information as possible about the latest casinos, trends, and games in the gambling industry.

    Marco is also a regular contributor to Quora, where you can ask him anything related to online gambling and he’ll happily answer.

    Marco’s Recommended Casino Events

    • ICE Events in Barcelona are great for networking and getting to know people in the industry.
    • NEXT.io summits are great for stakeholders and striking deals between the big guns in the industry.
    • SBC and SIGMA events are great both for networking and for enjoying yourself along fellow iGaming employees.
    Last updated  May 5, 2025

    Frequently asked questions

    I think casinos play a key role in the promotion of gambling safely, and we should hold those that don’t accountable. 

    People like to criticize the industry for not caring enough about players, and I understand the point. However, you can see casinos that go the Betsson way and actively promote Responsible Gambling, allowing players to set limits and even offering Reality Check features to help them keep their gambling in check.

    That’s easy: single deck blackjack! Although this one is very difficult to find in land-based casinos, it’s wildly popular online. I love it because it makes it far easier to predict which cards are more likely to come up. Now, playing multi-hand single deck blackjack is what dreams are made of, though. Games like that usually have return rates of over 99.60%!

    Honestly, I’m really excited about how iGaming is going to adopt VR technologies in the future. Regulations have been very slow in this regard and still make it almost impossible to find legit VR casinos, but as a Meta Quest user myself, I’m really looking forward to what the future holds for these technologies. 

    Sharing my knowledge about stuff that I wish I would’ve known when I was just getting started. If someone had told me about what RTP was, how wagering requirements worked, and what to look out for in online casinos, I would’ve probably had way more success than I did during my early iGaming days.

    To me, it was a challenge. I used to work with Matt on other projects, and when he approached me to start writing for The Casino Wizard, I saw it as an opportunity I couldn’t refuse; especially as a fan of casino games and sports betting myself.

    I’ve become much more knowledgeable over the years, though. My passion for the niche has grown more than I thought it could. Now, as well as challenging myself to write better content than other writers (and there are a lot of good pens out there!), I feel inspired by my own love for online gambling. 

    Send Marco a message

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    Best Online Casinos - FAQs

    I think casinos play a key role in the promotion of gambling safely, and we should hold those that don’t accountable. 

    People like to criticize the industry for not caring enough about players, and I understand the point. However, you can see casinos that go the Betsson way and actively promote Responsible Gambling, allowing players to set limits and even offering Reality Check features to help them keep their gambling in check.

    That’s easy: single deck blackjack! Although this one is very difficult to find in land-based casinos, it’s wildly popular online. I love it because it makes it far easier to predict which cards are more likely to come up. Now, playing multi-hand single deck blackjack is what dreams are made of, though. Games like that usually have return rates of over 99.60%!

    Honestly, I’m really excited about how iGaming is going to adopt VR technologies in the future. Regulations have been very slow in this regard and still make it almost impossible to find legit VR casinos, but as a Meta Quest user myself, I’m really looking forward to what the future holds for these technologies. 

    Sharing my knowledge about stuff that I wish I would’ve known when I was just getting started. If someone had told me about what RTP was, how wagering requirements worked, and what to look out for in online casinos, I would’ve probably had way more success than I did during my early iGaming days.

    To me, it was a challenge. I used to work with Matt on other projects, and when he approached me to start writing for The Casino Wizard, I saw it as an opportunity I couldn’t refuse; especially as a fan of casino games and sports betting myself.

    I’ve become much more knowledgeable over the years, though. My passion for the niche has grown more than I thought it could. Now, as well as challenging myself to write better content than other writers (and there are a lot of good pens out there!), I feel inspired by my own love for online gambling. 

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