Introduction
Although online gambling has significantly risen in popularity in recent years, not many people know the inner workings of this billion-dollar industry. Regardless of whether you’ve just started gambling online or just reading this for its trivia, we are going to share some hidden things about online gambling that we think you should know!
Online Casino Bonuses
When you join an online casino, they appear to shower you with exclusive gifts that seem to be one of the bigger slots bonuses out there. This is done so that you’re inclined to sign up with their casino and play more. Although it may appear great at first, it might not be as amazing as you thought it would be.
In reality, online casinos require you to wager 20 to 50 times your deposit amount as a prerequisite before you can cash out your money. This is to prevent sly users from cunningly profiting at the casino’s expense. In certain instances, after calculating the “hefty” bonuses you were showered with, your deposit, the huge wager requirement, and the house edge, your credit in the casino can end up with a negative value despite winning! Hence, it is important to research the online casinos you choose to use, along with their house edges and wager requirements.
The Random Number Generator (RNG)
The RNG is a machine used to generate numbers or symbols that are not predictable. What this means is most industries, especially casinos, use RNG that uses a seed number to produce outcomes in their games. These are computer algorithms that select a number from a predetermined range of numbers.
RNG In Slots
In slots, a value is assigned to every symbol on a reel. So if there are ten symbols on one reel, and it’s a conventional five-reel machine, the RNG would have values of 1-10 for each reel. When you spin, the outcome would be five different symbols based on the values assigned by the RNG. And if the 5 ‘random’ symbols make the winning combo, you’ll receive your payout. With RNGs, both the casino and the player can’t manipulate the winning chances, making playing much more fair and fun.
RNG In Poker
In poker, the RNG filters through millions of numbers per second, and when the time to deal out a new hand comes, the RNG stops. The current card deck distribution is then used to deal out the hand. With so many combinations in play, there is absolutely no way for humans or computers to predict the outcome of the hand. From there, the algorithm filters through all the potential possibilities, making any attempt at anticipating the final product completely impossible.
Online Gambling Information Websites
Fake Promotions And Reviews
Online casinos commonly pay certain websites heft sums to promote their casino or to review it well regardless of how reliable the casino is. Similarly, they also use this to flood their page with tons of good user reviews.
However, do note that most of them are probably advertised reviews rather than real user reviews. If you look closely, you can differentiate them! The trick is to look at the phrasing of the reviews. If one review is worded very professionally and flamboyantly, you can tell it is advertised. If it sounds more sincere and layman, it is less likely to be advertised. Regardless, an unspoken rule is to take everything you see on the internet with a pinch of salt.
Fake Packages
Another common scam is fake gambling skill packages that guarantee you winnings and are vague about their contents. They tend to use flamboyant words and make it seem like they cracked the code to beat the game. That is completely nonsensical. The truth is you can get better at casino games but they often don’t need you to pay so much for skill packages. A better or safer alternative would be to read books about gambling games with researched and legitimate backings, after all, it is easier to proof check the reliability of books rather than some shady online gambling package.
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Live Dealer Blackjacks
Live Dealer games are online casino games that do not have the RNG, instead, they start a live video of a dealer dealing casino games with actual cards, dice, and casino game items.
In Blackjack, there is a technique called “card counting” which is used by advanced players to increase their chances of winning blackjack games. To card count, you start by assigning a value of “+1” or “-1” to each card dealt. Before the deal, the running count is always “0”. Every time a card is laid down on the table, you’re going to add or subtract one from the running count — the overall score after adding the values of each card dealt. If you see a “2”, “3”, “4”, “5”, or “6”, add one to the total. If you see a “10”, Jack, Queen, King, or Ace, subtract one from the total. If you see a “7”, “8”, or “9”, the total remains the same. This counting technique is known as “Hi-Lo”.
However, this doesn’t work if the deck gets shuffled on every hand, which is a common practice in live dealer blackjacks, who use automatic shuffling machines.
Online Gambling Rigging
As much as it is fun and interesting to speculate, it is extremely rare for online casinos to rig their games. Online casinos earn money by awarding winnings at lesser odds than the winnings.
This can be seen in roulette, a game where you bet that a unique number will show up among 38 numbers. The odds of winning is 37 to 1 while the casino pays off the bet at 35 to 1. With math naturally in their favor, there is no need to rig games. It’d be more troublesome to do so. In the casino industry, reputation is everything, and a casino will suffer way more loss if they were caught or even suspected of cheating.
Online Cheating
While it is uncommon to see casinos rig their games, it doesn’t ensure a completely fair game for you as there will always be players who try to cheat and this can be seen in online poker. One common way is data mining where players can get their hands on opponent’s data and statistics to judge their tendencies and maximize their chances of winning the game.
Another common cheating method is through collusion. This is when players share their cards to help them make better choices when it comes to odds. For the most part, this cheating is normally not very beneficial to the cheaters, to begin with except in a few situations where the information may actually help. With more than two players in on it, however, it may become a problem with 4 players are all sharing information. This is difficult to catch because, in this scenario, cheaters will fold their hands when they realize another one of theirs has a stronger hand. Since you can’t see mucked cards online, it’s impossible to know if people are folding strong hands.
However, the poker site may or may not be able to detect this type of play. Let’s say a flop showed ace, kings, two, where Cheater A holds a pair of kings while Cheater B holds ace and king. If cheater B were to fold to a bet from Cheater A there should be some warning bells raised from the server end.
Conclusion
All in all, online gambling can be exciting but it is also risky. In its essence, it deals with money, a lot of money and when it comes to money, it can drive people to do questionable things. It is always better to safeguard yourself so you can minimize your risks whilst having fun!