Slots Play Casinos is a major watchdog of trends, news, and gaming in general primarily for online casinos. So, it is a natural question to ask if online casino games are rigged. If they are, we are doomed to crash! As are all online casinos!
The quick and easy answer is: online casinos, the reputable ones and all of the more than 30 casinos we recommend, are highly regulated. Some of them are regulated by bodies that have been doing this for online casinos since the first one appeared back in 1994.
Some regulatory bodies are agencies of a local or national government.
Any online casino that is not regulated may in fact be rigged. We highly recommend playing only at regulated online casinos.
How Do Online Casinos Work?
There are several aspects to this simple question. We can divide them into categories:
- Games and game results.
- Keeping track of game results.
- Keeping track of bonuses and other promotions.
- Banking.
The question at the top of the article was about online casino games so we will start there. Keep in mind that online casino games and land-based casino games are both the same and widely different.
How Can That Be?
All online casino games, with one exception, are digital games. The outcomes are determined by a random number generator. All games at land-based casinos that people play at a terminal are also digital and the outcomes are determined by a random number generator.
Games such as blackjack, craps, roulette, bingo, and keno are generally live games at land-based casinos. So, online gamers have a legitimate reason to at least ask the question and wait for the answer regarding rigging games through the random number generator.
The only games offered at online casinos that do not use a random number generator are live casino games. These are usually in blackjack or roulette. These games are live at the online casino in the same way that these games are live at land-based casinos.
Online Casinos Need the Random Number Generator to be Entirely Random
How a random number generator works is too complex for this article. For our purposes, we can say that the RNG is a kind of perpetual motion software that “stops” a set number of seconds after a gamer presses deal or spin.
When the RNG stops, a card or a number appears. If the game is slots, then a random configuration of symbols and characters appears. However, the game provider can calibrate the RNG in slots to have a given return-to-player rate.
At land-based casinos, that calibrated return to player rate is about 90%. At online casinos, the return-to-player rate in slots is closer to 97%.
Can the Random Number Generator be Calibrated in Blackjack or Video Poker?
No! These are card games that use a standard deck of cards. The random number generator randomly generates cards on every starting deal and every time another card is dealt.
But land-based casinos do have a trick up their sleeves in blackjack and video poker that amounts to a kind of rigging. In blackjack, many land-based casinos now pay only 6-5 for a blackjack. A lot of gamers are fooled by the 6 but 6-5 is like 3-2.5. Online casinos still pay 3-2 for a blackjack. That half credit adds up and substantially reduces the return-to-player rate at those land-based casinos that pay only 6-5.
In video poker, many land-based casinos pay only 8-5 or 7-5 for a full house and a flush. Online casinos pay 9-6. You can easily see that 9-6 is a lot better than 8-5 or 7-5.
At land-based casinos, the return to player rates in blackjack and video poker are closer to 90% than to the rate at online casinos where it is about 99.5%, always with the proviso that the gamer uses the best strategy on every hand.
Play Roulette Online
Here is yet another way land-based casinos “rig” games. In the USA, land-based casinos offer only American Roulette while most good online casinos also offer European Roulette where the house edge is half the house edge in American Roulette.
Some online casinos also offer French Roulette where, if the gamer makes only the so-called even money bets, the house edge is again halved from what obtains in European Roulette.
Online Casinos Keep Track of Everything in Real Time
Thousands of gamers often play at top online casinos at the same time. In order to keep track of every outcome of every game in real time, an online casino has to have a huge bank of computers. Everything has to be kept separate from the results of all other gamers.
Land-based casinos use a player’s card to keep track of the ups and downs in gaming.
There is a very real disadvantage to the way land-based casinos keep track of gaming results. Land-based casinos cannot offer deposit bonuses because very few players there could complete the wagering requirement in the short time they would be at the casino.
So, a lot of bonus money and deposit money would sit in a drawer “on” the player’s card until he or she returned to that casino and who knows when that might be?
Online casinos can and do offer huge deposit bonuses because gamers can complete the wagering requirement at their own pace.
Casinos Also Track Comp Points
Once again, compo points grow at online casinos as gamers play. Some gamers play almost every day. Almost no one plays every day at a land-based casino. Here again, we have comp points sitting in a drawer waiting for that happy moment when the player returns to that same land-based casino.
The Popularity of Online Casinos is Growing
Online casinos are more convenient, more comfortable, more romantic, and pay better than many land-based casinos. It costs no money to “travel” to an online casino! It costs a lot of money to travel to a land-based casino and, if you fly, you have the extra hassle of modern-day air travel!
We can conclude from everything we have said here that online casinos, if they are reputable and are regulated by reputable authorities, are far from rigged. The random number generator does its job tirelessly.
Online Casino Can Offer More Games Than a Land-based Casino Can Offer
That is simply because online casinos have no floor space restrictions. Those four walls make all the difference at land-based casinos. While a good land-based casino may have one or two blackjack tables, a good online casino will have several blackjack variations.
Online casinos also carry many variations of video poker. And, as we mentioned above, land-based casinos, especially in the United States offer only American Roulette.
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