Gambling

Gambling is... well, always a gamble, even if it's called gaming.

That being said, if you are lucky, it can be used to help you climb out of the mBTC range if you're just using free sites to scrounge.

• SatoshiDice - This may be the most popular game of chance in the bitcoin scene.  You send the amount you want to bet to an address with the listed odds and payout.  If you win, you get the amount times the percentage listed back in notime.  If you lose, you get the amount back times 0.005, i.e. much less than you bet.  Minimum bets are 0.01 BTC.  This is really the only casino I'm going to recommend at the moment.

• PeerBet - Growing in popularity, this gambling site claims to have no house edge.  The idea is you pick a bet with a certain number of bet slots and buy in, and play against other players.  Free credits possibly available from some free bitcoin sites.  I have played here, and actually won a few times.

• bitZino - More familiar to those who may have visited online casinos before, except "provably fair."  They link you to the underlying mathematical process for their games, this has probably made a few other online casinos grasp their chests in terror.  While the casino may be "provably fair," the games which they offer for play are provably unfair.  Blackjack, jacks or better poker, roulette, slots, and craps are all games which intrinsically favor the house.  You will lose in the long run, unless you're only trying to have some fun.

• The Orb and Bitcoin Crown The Bit King and the like are advertised on a lot of the faucets and free coin sites I list.  These are to be avoided.  They are pyramid schemes on a small scale; you "buy" the orb or crown or peanut or whatever, wait until someone else buys it and you get some part of the profit, or, it 'resets' and you lose everything.  Whoever runs this always gets the fattest cut at the end, leaving the last sucker holding the short end of the stick.

• BitBet - A newer casino still in beta at the moment, I haven't played yet but I did sign up for their newsletter for "free bitcoins."  It appears to be similar to satoshidice, you input your betting info and send your bet to an address and then the server calculates the round. It has slots, roulette, heads or tails, dice, and a multi-player 'minijack' blackjack like game.

• BC-Casino - One of the first bitcoin casinos, this is run out of Ukraine by a fairly large company, they have a great deal of games and apparently even a live roulette dealer.  Some people have had some troubles with it, but not more than expected.  That said, the fairness of their games is not insured by any sort of advertised mathematic principles.

This list will be updated if I get any recommendations and the chance to try any more out.

Here is a virtual treasure trove (or den of thieves) of online bitcoin gambling sites and reviews and stuff from the bitcointalk forums; Gambling.

This stuff really can be addictive, the near-instant play and the separation from value in bitcoin makes it a double whammy, I've lost countless millionths of cents.

If any of this gets to be an issue for you, like you start considering spending your rent or food money or feel the need to play, check this site out: 

The National Council on Problem Gambling or just call them up: 1(800)522-4700.