Gambling as an activity in essence entails taking calculated risks. Any casino player, whether playing professionally or just for leisure, does not want to deal with additional risks that might risk his winnings or detract from his playing experience. Some gamblers might insist, after experiencing a losing streak, that all online casinos across the board are rigged. This perception can, in-turn, influence the thinking of other players too. So the main question that needs to be answered is: Are online casinos fair, legit and honest? The short answer is: Yes!. But let's try to address this in more detail below.
Online Game-play Frequency and Reputation
When you play online, you are playing at your own pace. Unlike a bricks-and-mortar casino, there is no physical involvement like with the moving and clearing of chips or dealing cards or spinning balls. There is also no waiting for other players to make their minds up or getting side-tracked by the drinks' trolley. The cards take quicker to get shuffled and to get dealt, the Roulette wheels typically have a shorter spin cycle. The result is that an online casino player can get through many more games and transactions than a player in a land-based casino sitting at a table.
Of course, the downside to this added pace and increased game volume is that negative events will occur more frequently, not in terms of probability but in the elapsed time it takes. Let's take a practical example in the popular table game of Roulette: The PROBABILITY for a player to hit black in six consecutive wheel spins is about 1 in 64. Now, if we take a land-based casino, there is about two minutes between wheel spins, so this event will happen every 120 minutes on average. An online roulette game can make 180 wheel spins per hour. So six consecutive black results can occur every 20 minutes.
- Game frequency
- Solo playing
- Past reputation
In the early days of online casinos, there was no regulation or casino watch-dogs to patrol the landscape. This early “wild frontier” industry unfortunately also attracted the cheats. This stigma never really left the industry as a whole. These days, online gambling is one of the most regulated online industries. Rogue casinos are named, shamed and blacklisted on public forums by industry watch-dogs and players. Industry ombudsmen maintain the image of fairness and honesty and to assist in player disputes. Some casinos also publish the Return to Player statistics so that there is transparency in the payouts of their casino games.
So, in conclusion, do online casinos cheat?
The bottom line is that long-standing, reputable online casinos will not cheat. They are not rigged, and they will treat their valued players fairly and in honesty. This is because, as a business, they cannot afford to get any negative publicity that might compromise their standing with gambling regulatory bodies or the online gambling industry as a whole. Online casinos that are serious about good customer service, will take the correct and appropriate measures and steps to ensure that their online customers experience fair play. These online casinos will also ensure that they are licensed, regulated and honest.
However, the age-old saying of Let the Buyer Beware still stands today. Before starting an online gambling journey, be sure to thoroughly investigate and research the available options. Spend some time online to compare and contrast approved online casinos. Once you have a few options short-listed, read through casino reviews and get unbiased information about the casino's games, the bonuses available, the supported languages and the deposit and withdrawal processes. Most importantly, see how the casinos treats his players via the player support services available. See what suppose channels are available and what the casino support staff's response time and knowledge is.