Is casino slot machines rigged
New casino sites to play real money
What is the long term? There is a bit of ambiguity as to what constitutes the long term, but usually it means there must be thousands if not millions of spins. What does this mean to the average player? Basically, it means that you are not being cheated. Unless you play everyday day, year after year, on one slot machine, you will probably not receive the same rate of payback that the machine is set at. Granted, there will be more losers than winners at slots, but there are winners and you have the same chance to win as anyone else. You are more likely to find higher payback slot machines online than you are in land-based casinos. Online casinos have a huge advantage over land-based casinos because the cost of over-head is so much lower. This enables them to offer higher payback machines because they can achieve a profit much easier. There are some high payback slots in land-based casinos, but in general online casinos offer better paybacks. If you’d like to learn more about payback percentages, you may want to read the article on how online casinos offer better paybacks written by my friend jared bates who runs the website casinobonusandfreechip.Com
Slot machines “rigged” by casinos?
It’s very common for people to state that slot machines are “rigged”. If your definition of “rigged” is that the casino is guaranteed to make money off of slot machines over a long period of time then you’re right. However, slot machines from reputable casinos that use random number generators (RNG) are not “rigged” so that you will lose.
Many times when we are losing at a slot we envision someone at the controls making us loose. We get angry and imagine that the casino has flipped a switch that makes it impossible to win. This is where the misconceptions take place. Slot machines are completely random and if you are having a string of bad luck it has nothing to do with anybody “rigging” the machine.
The slot machine has a computer program that dictates the overall payback percentage of that machine. That means if the machine is set to payback 95% then the casino will receive 5% of every dollar that is played in a particular machine. This is when some people become confused. In no way does that mean you will lose 5% of each dollar you play in a machine. In fact, a slot machine may payback more than it takes in over a day, a week, or even a month. The preset percentages don’t come about until the long term.
What is the long term? There is a bit of ambiguity as to what constitutes the long term, but usually it means there must be thousands if not millions of spins. What does this mean to the average player? Basically, it means that you are not being cheated. Unless you play everyday day, year after year, on one slot machine, you will probably not receive the same rate of payback that the machine is set at. Granted, there will be more losers than winners at slots, but there are winners and you have the same chance to win as anyone else.
Players have two major things that they can control when playing slots. What machines they play and how long they play. Those two powers can’t be taken very lightly because they may be the difference between whether you win or lose.
The first power you have as a slot player is choosing what games you will play and at what casinos. Slot machines can range from a payback of 70%-99.5%. Does that mean if you play the 70% payback you are going to lose? No, but statistically speaking you have a much greater chance of winning on a slot with a payback of 95%+. That means you should only play slots that have a higher payback percentage. Again, this doesn’t guarantee success but it can improve your chances of success dramatically.
You are more likely to find higher payback slot machines online than you are in land-based casinos. Online casinos have a huge advantage over land-based casinos because the cost of over-head is so much lower. This enables them to offer higher payback machines because they can achieve a profit much easier. There are some high payback slots in land-based casinos, but in general online casinos offer better paybacks. If you’d like to learn more about payback percentages, you may want to read the article on how online casinos offer better paybacks written by my friend jared bates who runs the website casinobonusandfreechip.Com
As a slot player, it is your job to research and find out which online casinos offer the best payback machines. All reputable online casinos are independently audited and tested to verify the payback percentages that they advertise. Only play slots that offer high paybacks to insure you are giving yourself the best chance to win.
The second power slot players have is the ability to dictate how long they play and how much they are betting. It is very important for slot players to use a money management system that will enable them to walk away when they win and limit their losses. Do not let emotions dictate your rate of play. Utilize preset limits to let you know when to walk away.
If you play slots at a reputable casino you can be sure that the machines are not “rigged” to make you lose. Yes, they are programmed to take in more than they payout over the long term, but that in no way means you are being cheated. You have exactly the same chance of winning as anyone else, and yes there are people that win playing slot machines. Find high payback slots and utilize a strict money management system and you may just walk away a winner. Most importantly enjoy yourself while you play because if you’re not having a good time then there is no sense in playing.
Are slot machines honest?
One of the most common questions you’ll see about anything in the casino gambling industry relates to “honesty”. You’ll see this question asked about every casino game under the sun. You’ll also see it asked about every casino, especially the online gambling sites.
In this post, I want to address this specific question:
How do you define honest?
When I use google to look for a definition of honesty, I see some of the following definitions listed:
- “free of deceit and untruthfulness”
- “sincere”
- “morally correct or virtuous”
- “fairly earned, through hard work”
I think most people are thinking of the first definition when they ask whether slots games are honest. They want to make sure they’re not being cheated. In this context, the answer is yes, slot machines are honest. I’ll explain why in detail in the rest of this post.
In the second context, where “honest” means “sincere”—I’m less sure. Are the casinos sincere when they want you to think you’re able to win money? I think so, but they know in the long run, anyone who plays slots long enough will lose all their money.
In the third and fourth contexts, I’d have to say that slot machines are NOT honest. Slot machines are closer to morally neutral than they are to sinful, but you might have a different belief system about such things. It’s hard to say that slots don’t appeal to one of the seven deadly sins, though (greed).
I’m not sure anyone could (or would) consider money won on a slot machine “earned” or to have anything to do with “hard work”. It’s a game of luck. If you win, then you got lucky—it has nothing to do with working hard or being smart.
I’ll explain more about that later in this post, too.
How a slot machine works mathematically
Answering the question “are slot machines honest?” begins with learning how the games work mathematically. The math behind the games is easier to understand than most people probably think.
The first concept to understand is basic probability. When someone says “probability”, they’re talking about the mathematical likelihood that something is going to happen. That “something” is called an event.
The probability of an event is always represented as a number between 0 and 1. An event that will always occur no matter what has a probability of 1. An event that will never occur has a probability of 0. An event that will occur half the time has a probability of 0.5.
For simplicity’s sake, and to make understanding the concept easier, I just used whole numbers and decimals in the previous paragraph. But probabilities are almost always expressed as percentages or fractions.
How to express probability as a percentage
You’re watching the evening news, and the meteorologist says there’s a 50% chance of rain tomorrow.
That means it’s just about as likely to rain as it is to not rain.
You flip a coin. You have a 50% chance of it landing on heads. You also have a 50% chance of it landing on tails.
If you add the probabilities of all possible events together, you always get a total of 1 (or 100%).
Probability is the mathematical engine that makes gambling games possible.
How to calculate a probability
Here’s how you calculate a probability:
You take the number of ways an event can happen. You divide that by all the total events possible (including what can happen and what happens if it doesn’t.)
You’re rolling a single six-sided die. You want to know the probability of getting a 6.
There are 6 possible outcomes. Only one of them is a 6.
The probability of getting a 6 is 1/6.
Another way to express that is using odds, which can be useful when calculating whether a bet is expected to be mathematically profitable or not.
Odds expresses the number of ways something can’t happen versus the number of ways it can happen.
In the six-sided die example, the odds of getting a 6 are 5 to 1. You have 5 ways of NOT rolling a 1, and only 1 way of rolling a 1.
If you want to calculate a probability that includes the word “or”, you add the probabilities of the events together.
If you want to calculate a probability that includes the word “and”, you multiply the probabilities by each other.
You want to know the probability of getting a 1 or a 2 on a roll of a six-sided die. The probability of each is 1/6.
You can reduce that to 1/3.
You roll 2 dice. You want to know the probability of getting a 6 on both dice. The probability of each is 1/6.
Applying probability to a simple hypothetical slot machine game
But how does all this apply to the honesty of slot machines?
I’ll use a super simple hypothetical slot machine game to explain how this probability affects the integrity of the game.
This super simple game has 3 symbols on each reel—an orange, a lemon, and a cherry.
The probability of getting a lemon on the first reel is 1/3.
The probability of getting a lemon on the second reel is also 1/3.
In fact, it’s the same on each reel.
But the game only pays off if you get 3 of the same symbol on each reel.
The probability of that is 1/3 X 1/3 X 1/3, or 1/9.
Let’s suppose the payoff for getting 3 lemons is 4 for 1.
And let’s suppose the payoff for getting 3 cherries is 3 for 1.
Finally, we’ll suppose the payoff for getting 3 oranges is even money.
- The probability of winning 4 coins is 1/9.
- The probability of winning 3 coins is also 1/9.
- The probability of winning 1 coin is also 1/9.
- The probability of winning nothing is 6/9, or 2/3.
Now let’s suppose you’re putting $1 in on every spin, and you play 9 spins, getting every possible result once.
You win 4 coins once. You win 3 coins once. You win 1 coin once. That’s a total of 8 coins you’ve won.
But you’ve inserted 9 coins into the game.
Where did the extra coin go?
In the pockets of the casino, that’s where.
By setting up the payoffs so that they’re lower than the odds of winning, the casino sets up a situation where it’s guaranteed a mathematical profit over the long run.
Of course, most modern slot machines aren’t quite this simple. They have more symbols on each reel, for one thing. For another, the probability of getting a particular symbol might be different from the probability of getting another symbol.
For example, you might have a 2/3 probability of getting a pear, and only a 1/24 probability of getting a cherry.
What happens in the long run vs. The short term?
By manipulating the payoffs and the probabilities of the symbols, the casino can guarantee that over a long period and many spins, they’ll profit.
But in the short run, a player might win a big jackpot or lose several times in a row.
That’s the nature of random events. In the short run, anything can happen. In the long run, the numbers get closer to the theoretical probability.
This is obvious when you look at it with an extreme example.
On an infinite number of spins, your average loss per spin will mirror the mathematical expectation.
The closer you get to an infinite number of spins, the closer you’ll get to the mathematical expectation.
Do slot machines cheat?
The casinos don’t need to cheat to make a healthy profit.
The slot machine designers and manufacturers don’t need to cheat to make a healthy profit.
In fact, in well-regulated jurisdictions (like nevada), games are thoroughly audited for fairness. When they’re auditing a game for fairness, one of the things they check is whether a game has a jackpot that’s impossible to win.
That’s the main concern many players have when they ask if slot machines cheat.
Does the game have jackpots that are impossible to win?
The short answer in almost every case is no, they don’t.
But you have no way of knowing what the probability of winning that jackpot is. Slot machine games have opaque odds and probabilities. The results are generated by a computer program called a random number generator (RNG).
The only people who know the exact settings for that RNG are the designers and the casino managers.
In fact, you could be playing two identical slot machines located right next to each on the casino floor and have different odds of winning. Not only is this legal, it’s common.
Does that sound like cheating?
By the strict letter of the law, it’s not.
I’d say yes. Having two games next to each other offering different odds is intentionally misleading. It’s legal, but it’s not sincere in any way.
Online slot machines are no different, except that in some cases, these games HAVE been known to cheat. But not reputable casinos and not reputable software providers.
They set up games which are impossible to win.
The reasons baffle me. You stand to make far more money in the long run if you offer an honest game.
Even an idiot can tell after a while that he’s never going to win a rigged casino game on the internet.
But otherwise smart people will continue to deposit money and wager it at a breakneck pace if they’re winning something every now and then, even if they’re showing a net loss over time.
What about video poker games?
You need to understand immediately that video poker games are NOT the same thing as slot machine games. They look similar on the surface, but the math and the gameplay couldn’t be more different. And the philosophy behind these games is different, too.
A video poker machine uses a random number generator that duplicates the odds found in a 52-card deck of cards. You know the probability of getting a specific symbol. Any specific card has a 1/52 probability of appearing.
A card of a specific suit has a ¼ probability of appearing. A card of a specific rank has a 1/13 probability of appearing.
Payback percentages and the house edge
Knowing this enables mathematicians and computer programs to calculate the actual payback percentage for these games.
What’s a payback percentage?
It’s the percentage of each bet that’s paid back to the player on average in the long run. It’s the opposite of the house edge.
On a slot machine, you have no way of calculating a game’s payback percentage. It’s impossible, because you have no way of knowing the probability of getting a specific symbol.
But on a video poker game, you can calculate all the possibilities. And since you know how much the game pays out for various combinations, you can add the expected value of each to get an overall payback percentage for the game.
And you know what’s even better than this?
The payback percentages for video poker games are significantly higher than the payback percentages on slot machines in almost every case.
Even the worst video poker game usually has a payback percentage of 95% or so. But the better games offer payback percentages in the 98%+ range. Some (rare) games have pay tables which offer a slightly positive game for the player, like 100.2%. But those numbers assume perfect strategy on your part.
But even the best slot machine games usually have a payback percentage in the 95% range. The more common games slip down into the lower 92% or so range.
Expected hourly loss rates in slot machine games vs. Video poker games
What does this mean to your bankroll?
Let’s look at how much money you can mathematically expect to lose playing 2 different games:
We’ll start with an average slot machine game with a 94% payback percentage. You’re playing for $1 per spin, and you’re making 600 spins per hour. You expect to win 94% of each bet back, which means you expect to lose 6% of each bet.
6% of $600 is $36, which is the amount the casino expects you to lose on this game on average over time.
Then we’ll consider a 9/6 jacks or better game which you’re playing with perfect strategy. The payback percentage for this game is 99.54%, which means the house edge is 0.46%.
We’ll assume you’re playing a quarter machine and betting 5 coins per hand. You’re putting a little more money into action on each bet–$1.25. Most video poker players are as fast as slot machine players; they play 600 hands per hour. That’s $750/hour in action.
But with a house edge of 0.54%, your expected loss on that kind of action is only $3.77.
That’s right.
Playing slots costs you 10 times as much as playing video poker.
Video poker offers other advantages over slots, too. One of these is the skill element. You might not want to think about what you’re doing when you’re gambling.
But if you’re anything like me, you want to be able to at least exert a little bit of control over your destiny.
In video poker, you get to do that. The decisions you make playing each hand have a direct effect on your bottom line.
Play your hands well, and you’ll be playing one of the best gambling games in the house.
Should you play slot machines at all?
This is a legitimate question. Should you play slot machines at all?
Here are some pros and cons of playing slots:
- You can win bigger jackpots on slot machine games than any other gambling game except maybe keno. If you’re looking for a life-changing jackpot, like you’d see if you won a lotto drawing, slots are the way to go.
- They require little in the way of attention or effort on the part of the player. This suits some temperaments just fine. Relaxing in front of the spinning reels seems like a good deal for a lot of people.
- They’re available in an endless variety. You can find a slot machine game with any theme you can imagine. Love elvis presley? You’ll find a slot machine for it. Play dungeons & dragons when you were 12? There’s a slot for that, too. The themes and games are almost endless.
- They offer some of the worst odds in the house. The house edge for slot machines vary widely. Some of them might offer good odds, but most of them have a house edge of between 5% and 10%. This isn’t awful. After all, roulette has a house edge of 5.26%. The problem is that slots play so fast that you can easily put more money into an action than you thought you could.
- You can’t figure out what the odds are. I have a philosophical problem with slot machine games. No other casino game is opaque about your odds. You can calculate the house edge for any table game in the casino. You can calculate it for video poker, too. But you’re never given the information you need to figure out the house edge on a slot machine. This is unacceptable to me.
- They’re designed to be addictive. Slot machine manufacturers spend millions doing research into what kinds of stimuli are going to put most people into the “flow” state. Flow is great if you’re interested in personal productivity at work, but if you’re playing a gambling game, it’s awful. No other casino game is as addictive as a slot machine.
Conclusion
Yes, slot machines are honest—in a manner of speaking, anyway. Casinos don’t make claims about slot machines that are blatantly untrue. If a game has a maximum jackpot of $1 million, you do have a chance of winning that much money.
What you don’t know is how likely or unlikely it is to win that amount.
Is this disingenuous on the part of the casinos?
I think it is, at least to some extent.
But all casino games have math behind them that puts the odds in the casino’s favor. That’s just the nature of the games. Slots are no different in that respect.
No matter which casino game you play, if you stick with it long enough, you’ll eventually lose all your money.
The only exceptions are certain games that can be played with advantage techniques, but that’s another subject entirely.
The only way for you to get an edge against a slot machine game is to cheat.
In most jurisdictions, cheating is blatantly illegal. You’re better off learning to play poker at an expert level, or learning how to count cards in blackjack.
Michael stevens has been researching and writing topics involving the gambling industry for well over a decade now and is considered an expert on all things casino and sports betting. Michael has been writing for gamblingsites.Org since early 2016. .
Michael stevens has been researching and writing topics involving the gambling industry fo .
Are online slots rigged?
The first thing a losing customer will say is that the slot machine is rigged, whether it is at a land-based casino or at an online gambling center. We tend to make ourselves victims of injustice more often than never, especially if we don’t understand how some things work and don’t have either the time or the will to investigate.
This happens to be the situation with online slots and some people thinking they are, in fact, rigged. Skepticism is not always bad, it is like a form of a precaution, and fully understandable when it comes to gambling with real money. But let’s see why the theory about rigged online slot machines doesn’t have any substantial arguments to support it.
Mechanics made way for electronics
Slot machines are still experienced as machines, even though computer software was taken over and altered slot technology. Sure, slot machines were simpler in the past, you pull the lever and hear the cogwheels tuning inside, but past is the past. Nowadays, software stands behind both land-based machines and online slots, so they pretty much work the same way.
If you think online slots can be computer programmed to make players loose, well then the same logic can be applied to brick and mortar slots, as you are playing all the same games but channeling them through a different device. However, slot game software can’t be manipulated in that way, due to various reasons – such as constant supervisions and testing.
RNG and regulation
In order to understand how hard it would be to rig online slots, one should know that slot software is operated by an algorithmic computer whose task is to create random combinations through series of random numbers. It is known as random number generator, or simply RNG .
RNG carries out operations following an algorithm of mathematical operations starting from one random number and ending up at a completely different number containing a huge number of digits, them repeating it times on end, making it impossible to predict any future or past actions.
The computer has no input of past spins and every reel combination is random.
You can lose if you’ve lost ten times before, or you could win again if you’ve won big on your last spin – there’s no way to tell.
RNG is in charge of producing randomness, and third party testing companies are there to control fairness of casino games, including online slots.
These companies are independent third parties and their job is to make sure games show random results and meet payout percentage requirements, as in some jurisdiction these are determined by lawful regulations. An example would be technical systems testing ( TST ).
Apart from this, government bodies like the UK gambling commission, jurisdiction of gibraltar, the malta lotteries and gaming authority and others, function like supervisors and impose rules and regulations both software developers and casinos have to meet in order to acquire a respected casino license to operate.
Regulatory agencies provide casinos with proper certification so the players can keep their piece of mind.
Software isn’t bug-free at times
What every customer indulging in services of any type of computer software has to know is the fact that sometimes these things have bugs, and malfunction or crash.
Computers aren’t made by computers, but by humans, and some of these products fail to satisfy users at one point or another.
Such cases are known to happen, for example last month a woman thought she had won almost $43million in a new york casino on a slot machine that had a max payout of $6,500 before the management informed her that the slot was broken and had to be pulled from the casino floor to be fixed.
Similarly, a woman in oregon thought she had won $8 million, but the casino didn’t pay since it was evident the machine was broken, having a max payout of just $20,000.
These things make customers bitter, but they are by no means signs or rigging. All machines have a stamp on them that says: ‘malfunctions void all pays and plays.’
Something to think about
There is a very good advantage attached to online slots that grounded slot machines lack. We’re talking about the theoretical payout rate , the payout percentage, or simply RTP . This is an official piece of information about a specific slot, being published by the developer or the casino.
RTP is a legitimate indication of the odds of winning when playing a slot. It is expressed in percentages, telling you precisely how much a slot is estimated to pay back to players.
This means you don’t have to be clairvoyant to know what to expect from a slot, just stick to reputable, licensed casinos and slots with higher RTP.
As you saw in our casino software section , most of the companies publish their official RTP rates, as this is a standard for most european oriented casinos.
For USA players the situation is a bit more difficult since many software companies do not post official data, such as RTG for example. In those cases where official RTP rates are not published, we recommend to search for a third party testing company monitoring that particular online casino. Otherwise, you can check the review section mentioned above, where we recommend the best RTG casinos with instant payouts . And if you are not particularly into RTG slots, then you can go with rival or betsoft casinos which publish the payouts of most of their games.
Are most electronic slot machines rigged?
Probably one of the most common questions asked by gamblers “are most electronic slot machines rigged” the answer is yes and no. Depends on your definition of the term “rigged.”
If your definition of “rigged” is that the casino is guaranteed to make money off electronic slot machines over a long period, then yes. There’s always a house edge and a percentage payout for all slot machines. But this doesn’t mean the slot machine controls the outcome of a game.
All licensed and regulated casinos use random number generators (RNG), which make all results random and unpredictable. So, in case you are having a string of bad lucks, it has nothing to do with the slot machine.
What is the random number generator?
Random number generator is a complex computer program designed to provide strings of random results which are displayed on the slot machine. There are different types of rngs available today; however, online casino games make use of the pseudo-random number generators.
Unlike other rngs, the pseudo-random number generators don’t require any input (a number of data entries) to produce a result. It only requires an algorithm and a seed number.
From the moment the game starts, the pseudo-random generators begin creating random numbers behind the scenes. This process continues until the player hits the spin button. At this point, the sequence is stopped, and a result is produced.
But since rngs are computerised algorithms, they can be hacked. Though it is pretty much hard to do so, it is possible.
Funny enough, in 2008, ronald harris, who happened to be a computer programmer, rigged a random number generator. He developed a computer program that predicts the numbers the RNG would choose beforehand. As such, he managed to win cash for some time before authorities caught him. He’s currently banned from entering a casino and spent two years behind bars.
How to recognise safe casino sites
There are numerous ways to determine if a casino website is safe for use. The key to finding trusted casinos is by observing the following factors:
License
This is an essential factor to consider before choosing a casino. Irrespective of how enticing the bonus spins, jackpot slots, and free spins are, playing at slots in an online casino without a license is a bad thing to do. The chances are that their slot machines are fully rigged to prevent players from winning. And if you eventually win, what’s the assurance that you’d receive payment? All safe casino sites are rigorously tested and regulated by different bodies.
Here are some popular licensing and regulatory bodies to look out for:
- Malta gaming authority.
- Kahnawake gaming commission.
- UK gambling commission.
- Gibraltar licensing authority.
- ACT gambling and racing commission.
- Curacao internet gambling association
Contact information
All safe casinos these days leave information about their company, a phone number, address, email address, and probably their social network handles. If you can’t find any of these details on their website, then it is not safe to play there. Find another casino! Some popular online gambling companies even create wikipedia pages for their website. However, this is rare and reserved for only a few.
Reviews
Casino reviews are another great way to determine whether a casino is safe or not. There are several trusted review sites online where real experiences of players are shared. Through these reviews, you can easily find the casinos that are worth a shot. A casino highly rated is a clear indication of its safety.
Conclusion
All casinos, whether safe or not, are designed to have a house edge. This is how the casino makes money. But just because they have a house edge, doesn’t mean the game is rigged. If all slot machines are rigged, there won’t be many people playing it today.
Are online slots rigged?
By james carter on february 19th, 2015. Updated on january 2, 2020.
Many of us have been excited about playing slots at some point, only to find the excitement quickly turning into disappointment. Nothing seems to work. Only small wins and not even a single bonus game. You feel cheated.
Was the slot machine rigged?
In all honesty, it could have been. If you played at one of the reputable real-money online casinos, however, it probably wasn't. You just happened to be on the bad side of variance (in the long run, you should lose a lot of money at slot machines anyway).
And we'll never truly know. Since you're supposed to lose at slot machines and online casinos have no obligations to share their payback percentages, they could run their machines at ridiculously low returns and we wouldn't have the slightest clue about it.
Many people will tell you that rigged online slots are rare because online casinos have no reason to cheat; they make so much money from slot machines already simply by offering fair games.
That's far from a convicing argument - as if there were no greedy people in the world. But there's some logic behind the argument as well. Since the casino already has an edge over the player, the only thing they need is to get more players. Cheating slot machine players out of their money is hardly a good way to get new sign-ups.
In a sense it's hard to define "rigged online slots" since technically an online casino doesn't cheat if it has ridiculously low payout percentages set to its slot machines.
But we should treat them the same as if they were cheating.
How to find safe online casinos
The solution I've come-up with is to play at reputable sites that have reputable private auditors testing their rngs and payout percentages. Even better if the private auditor has been allowed to publish how much the online casino has paid out monthly.
Still, one could argue that you never know if online casinos bribe private auditors to creating good reports. True. We'll never know for sure.
But if you believe that there are online casinos without rigged slots, why not trust the ones that are willing to let auditors publish their results for everyone to see? The ones that seemingly have nothing to be ashamed of?
If I were to run an honest online casino with no rigged slot machines, why wouldn't I publish payout reports? Why would I let anyone think that I could have rigged online slots at my casino?
Are online casinos rigged?
A common question amongst both new and experienced players is whether or not online casinos are 'rigged' or fixed in some way. This is also a question that gets asked about once every other day on yahoo answers. So we thought it was high time to answer it.
Before we start, we should point out that by their very nature all casinos games have a payout that is lower than the theoretical 'full odds' of the game (resulting in the 'house edge'). This fact is no secret and one that is not hidden by the casinos - it is also how casinos, both online and brick and mortar, stay in business. This topic has already been covered in the previous article, which you can read here.
With this in mind, when we talk about a casino being 'rigged' we mean one which operates outside of the laws of probability - ie: the outcomes of a game, rather than the payouts, are not as we would expect. For example, if you were to roll a dice 100 times and each time the dice rolled a '6', there is a strong chance that the dice is fixed in some way.
So what about online casinos? Most people that complain about the legitimacy of an online casino do so after a string of losses - either a large number of spins on a slot machine without a significant win, or a run of loses at the blackjack or roulette table. But do these loses related to some kind of manipulation of the game?
For roulette, many players scream 'fraud' when faced with a run of 10 reds in a row whilst they're betting on black - but does this point to a fixed game, a statistical anomaly or a relatively common occurrence? The odds of losing 10 bets on black in a row, which includes both spins that are 'red' as well as spinning the green zero, can be calculated as follows:
The probability of losing one spin is 19/37 - there are 37 numbers on a single zero roulette wheel and 19 of them would result in you losing your 'black' bet (18 reds + 1 green zero).
The probability of losing two spins in a row can be calculated by taking the odds of losing one spin and multiplying it against itself:
19/37 x 19/37 = 1 in 3.79 (or P = 0.26)
Similarly the probability of losing 10 spins in a row can be calculated by taking the odds of losing one spin and multiplying it by itself 9 times, which is written as:
19/37 ^ 10 = 1 in 784 (or P = 0.0013)
To put this in perspective, this means that if you were to spin the roulette wheel ten times in a row and then repeated this set of 10 spins another 783 times (for a total of 784), you would expect one of those spin sets to be all losses.
A one in 784 occurance isn't really that rare at all, in fact you have much better odds of facing a run of 10 consecutive losses at the roulette wheel than you do of correctly picking 4 numbers on the lottery (1 in 1,032).
Please note: the odds quoted above are for a full set of 10 spins before any of the spins have occurred. If you have already spun to nine losses, the probability of losing the next spin is 19/37. Chance has no memory and the numbers that have come up previously have absolutely no influence on the next number. If you need this principle explained, read this article.
If players were faced with such a run at a brick and mortar casino, they would likely accept it as 'bad luck'. But because an online casino is essentially a graphical representation of a computer generated random number, people tend to be a bit quicker to jump to the conclusion that a game is fixed.
In reality, the games at a reputable online casino are exactly the same as the ones you would find at a brick and mortar casino. In fact many online casinos actually offer a higher payout percentages (RTP) than their land based brothers - a perk that can be offered thanks to the reduced overheads of not needing to have a physical presence.
A final point to consider is that casinos (both online and offline) do not need to be rigged to ensure themselves a long term profit - this is acheived by the house edge. What a casino does need is volume - the more bets a casino takes, the more profit they will make. A casino where everybody loses simply isn't fun - and if the gaming experienced offered by a casino isn't fun, most players wont return. In this respect, a fair game is much better for business.
Obviously we are not saying that all online casinos are 100% honest - there are people in the world that have questionable morals and there is a chance that some of these people probably do run rigged online casinos. But if you stick to reputable licensed online casinos you can ensure that you're getting a fair game.
The following simple advice should help you find a safe, trustworthy online casino:
- Stick to large well known brands that are regulated in the UK such as bet365.
- Play at casinos powered by trusted online casino software, such as microgaming or netent.
- Look for proof of third party audits of a casinos payouts and random number generators.
- Use guides, such as the one found on this site, to get recommendations of reputable online casinos.
Finally, remember that casino gambling is a form of entertainment that comes with a cost. In the long run, the house really does always win - so play for the thrill and enjoyment, but never bet with any money that you can't afford to lose.
Are online slots A scam & rigged?
Are online slots are a scam? Are they rigged by the casinos to prevent real players from winning?
These are important and common questions and we’re hear the lay them to bed once and for all. Let’s kick things off by talking about if online casinos actually have the power to rig slot machines.
Can slot machines be rigged?
The best way to answer this question is to look at exactly how slot machines work. There are two crucial mechanics you need to be aware of: the random number generator (RNG) and the return to player percentage (RTP).
Random number generators
What is important to recognise here is that the software ensures that all combinations displayed to players are random. That therefore means that there is no scope for a casino to control the result of a player’s specific spin.
Are they truly random?
When players learn of rngs and hear that legitimate machines are indeed all entirely random, many players are more than a little sceptical as they are sure that casinos must do something to guarantee that they profit from slots.
The fact is, that the casinos certainly do have those kinds of guarantees but that it has nothing to do with ‘rigging’ the machine or cheating players.
RTP percentages: the casinos edge
That ‘house edge’ is built into every slot by way of the payout or return to player (RTP) percentage of the machine.
That RTP percentage is programmed into each slots game by the software companies who make them and represents the amount paid out to players as compared with the total amount wagered on the game over an extended period of time.
How do RTP percentages work?
If an RTP percentage is 95% for example, then a machine will on average pay out 95% of what it takes in over its life time and the ‘house edge’ will be 5% – as that is what the casino or provider will take for themselves.
That combination of RNG and payout percentage therefore, is what ensures that casinos make a long term profit from slots games without the need to ‘rig’ the machines or to attempt to scam players.
The machines can – and do – payout to different players at different times after all, whilst still maintaining the overall ‘house edge’ over an extended period of time.
Safe online casinos with fair slots
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 97% |
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