How Do Land Based Casinos Trick You into Betting More?

One of the reasons we, at Slots Play Casinos, promote primarily online gaming is because online casinos are a lot more upfront with gamers than land based casinos are. For instance, there is a meme in Google about hidden Springbok free spin hacks. Well, in this context, a hack is a way of getting more from the casino, in this case more free spins.

The point of using Springbok Casino, one of our long list of recommended online casinos is simply that the free spins gamers can get are NOT HIDDEN! They are as upfront and visible as possible! Some free spins come in the course of playing slots while some come as part of a deposit bonus offer.
In fact, online casinos have many ways of giving gamers free spins and many other gaming benefits! These benefits would not be worth very much if they were hidden! So, they are not hidden at all!

Land Based Casinos DO Have Hidden Ways to Get Players to Bet More!

On the other hand, land based casinos do “trick” players into playing longer, betting more, and making poor bets on top of it all!
Here are a few such ways. Some are well known while others are quite out of the box!

Land Based Casinos Make You Think that You’re on Vacation

Land based casinos often have themes of their own. In places like Las Vegas, there is so much competition among the many casinos that the top casinos ballyhoo their secondary attractions such as erupting volcanoes or amusement park arcades and rides.
Land based casinos offer package deals that sound so good! Buy a given amount of chips and you’ll get a deal on your flight, your hotel room, maybe a ticket for a free meal at the buffet restaurant, possibly a free ticket to the show (sometimes at 3:00 am) and other comps.
The idea is to make you feel like you’re on vacation. When people go on vacation, they are willing to spend more money on entertainments and attractions than they might be willing to spend at home.
In the casino, this translates into longer gaming session, more bets, bigger bets, and less sound bets.

Free Alcohol

Land base casinos love giving players free alcohol. The best alcohol to give away, from the casino’s point of view, is whisky since the alcoholic content is so much higher than beer, wine, or liqueur. Just one or two shots of whisky has many gamers staying on the casino floor longer, making larger bets, and making foolish bets.
The cost of a free drink is miniscule when compared to the money land based casinos rake in from even slightly tipsy gamers!

Free Food

Another big free item is a meal at the buffet. Some players have the illusion that they will eat and eat and eat at the buffet. Even when a player overeats at the buffet, and even if they eat the most expensive cut of meat, the value of the buffet meal pales in comparison with the extra money they dish out on the casino floor.
An extra 15 minutes on the casino floor is worth more than one buffet meal!

Land Based Casinos Encourage All of the Noise from the Roulette and Craps Tables

At the blackjack table, quiet is the rule but in roulette and craps players are encouraged to whoop it up. The happy yelling and screaming loosens inhibitions which loosens bankrolls which leads many players to make more bets than they might have made otherwise and also encourages players to make contradictory bets.
One of the ironies of casino gaming is that roulette and craps are super popular at land based casinos but are ho-hum gaming additions at online casinos. The noise at land based casinos does affect the fun side of playing these games but it also leads players into making bets they shouldn’t make!

There are Several Ways Land Based Casinos Affect Blackjack Players

1. Some land based blackjack games pay only 6-5 for blackjack instead of 3-2. To a non-mathematician, this sounds like no big deal but, to a statistically minded player it changes the house edge dramatically!
2. Land based casinos offer almost no single deck blackjack games making card counting next to impossible.
3. Many land based blackjack tables have rules about splitting and doubling down that favor the house.
4. Land based casino blackjack tables offer insurance, which all statisticians say is a poor bet, and very few offer surrender which is a bet that in the correct situation is a very valuable move for the player.

Land Based Casinos Often Give 8-5 in Video Poker

The “correct” payment schedule for a full house and a flush is 9-6 but many land based casinos offer only 8-5. Just as 6-5 in blackjack is a big advantage to the house, 8-5 in video poker makes winning in a video poker session much harder. The player has a good chance to win with 9-6 but has little chance to win with 8-5!
This is all based on statistics and casinos know a lot more about statistics than players know!

Is it 4:30 in the Morning Already?

Land based casinos have found a simple yet highly effective way to keep players on the casino floor for hours and hours: they simply have no windows or clocks. With no clocks, players lose track of the time.
People all have cell phones, you might say. And, if people brought their cell phone down to the casino floor, they might be able to keep track of the time. But players at land based casinos don’t want to receive calls and messages so they leave the phone in their hotel rooms!
In addition to simply leaving the phone in the room, many players use their gaming time as the perfect time to charge the phone! So, they don’t have their “timepiece” on them during gaming and therefore lose track of the time.
The second trick land based casinos use to keep players on the casino floor is to have no windows. So, night falls and many gamers think that it is just the middle of the afternoon!

Land Based Casinos Offer Fewer Deposit Bonuses

The main reason is that every bonus comes with a wagering requirement before players can cash out and few players at land based casinos can fulfill the wagering requirement. This is the opposite case at online casinos which offer many bonuses of 100% or more!
If you play at an online casino, and you deposit $100 and get a bonus of $100, you now have $200 to play with! Even if you lose all of the money, you have “slot” only half the money since the other half belonged to the casino!
If you lose $200 at a land based casino, it will in almost all cases be all your own money!

What is the Best Strategy?

Land based casinos don’t publish articles and blogs that teach gamers how best to play the various games offered at the casino. The casinos we recommend have blog spaces and articles that do exactly that among many other informational writings.

Land Based Casinos Offer in-house Mobile Platforms

Online casinos also offer mobile casinos. The difference is that when a gamer plays a few hands on the mobile platform, they play for only a few minutes before getting back to their everyday lives and responsibilities.
Even when gamers get home and curl up to play some casino games on an online casino’s mobile platform, they play for a short period of time because they are home and have a slew of other interests and responsibilities to take care of at home.
In the hotel at the casino, players have no such interesting activities or responsibilities. Players who fall asleep while playing might wake up a few hours later and continue playing on the in-house mobile network.

There is a Place for Land Based Casino Gaming

We do admit that there is a place for land based gaming! We simply think that the pluses of online casino gaming outweigh the minuses, and that the minuses of land based casino gaming are harder for players to control.
In any case, a player who can go to a land based casino on occasion just to have fun is a lot more likely to have fun than a player who goes thinking that he or she is on vacation, is looking forward to free alcohol, and to the many other ways land based casinos get players to bet longer and more.