People new to the world of online casinos often ask this question, especially if they are unlucky and lose their first deposit at the casino. Of course, no one likes to lose, so it’s only natural when some players start asking if the online casinos cheat, right after a loss. Other people are just curious in general whether the online casinos are rigged with the games’ goal to take people’s money as soon as possible. In this article we will shed light on some of the myths surrounding the internet casinos and discuss why the online casinos do not cheat.
So, you are playing blackjack at your preferred online casino and the dealer is showing 6 against your two aces. Naturally you split, but fail to get blackjack on either hand, yet the dealer somehow goes all the way up to 21. The next deal – the dealer gets blackjack right away, so you begin to wonder, do the online casinos cheat, is this game rigged?!? The truth is “no”, it’s simply a bad luck. If you have played at a real-life casino’s blackjack table long enough, I am sure you have seen things WAY more weird than that. “Is this online casino ripping me off?” is unfortunately some people go to, when they have a string of bad luck deals at the casino. Here are some of the reasons why the casinos don’t cheat.
The casinos have house advantage with table games
The truth is that the online casinos don’t need to cheat or rig any of the games – they are already rigged by their nature. Everyone, gambler or not, has heard of the term “house advantage”, and this is why the casinos simply don’t need to cheat in order to make money. Every casino game, from blackjack to slots, have house advantage, which means that overall the casino will always win, no matter what. For table games, such as blackjack or roulette, the rules of the game itself give a significant advantage to the casino in the long run; mathematically the casinos will win over time when the customers play those games.
The video slots and the payout
The video slots are slightly different, they use something called a payout percentage. You can read about payout percentage in more detail by following the link, but in a nutshell, each video slot machine will have a predetermined payout over certain time. For example, a video slot with a payout of 97% over 1 year will give back 97% of what people bet, the casino keeping 3%. This may not seem like a lot, but in actuality, it’s what makes the casinos profitable. So what’s preventing the online casino from rigging this payout, effectively cheating customers, one may ask? This brings us to the next point:
The online casinos don’t make the games
Just like a land-based casino doesn’t build its own slot machines, the online casinos don’t develop their own games. There are literally only a handful of casino game developers (such as RTG, Microgaming, WSG) and the casinos use their software to offer various games to the customer. The online casino either uses a subscription model or profit-sharing model, but regardless of the exact payment deal, the games don’t belong to the casino, nor are they controlled by it. The developer, for example, creates a video slot and sets its percentages, then the various casinos using this software offer the game to their patrons. is makes it impossible for the online casino company to mess with the backend of the games, thus they cannot rig them at will.
The online casinos do get audited
The internet gambling business is largely based on trust, but that doesn’t mean that the casinos don’t get audited. There are two types of audits: those conducted by the licensing jurisdiction of the online casino (much in a way landbased casino may be audited by the local gaming commission), and a voluntary audit by a third-party independent company, such as the famous and well-respected PricewaterhouseCoopers. The online casinos are very proud of those audits, especially the latter kind, and will proudly display the results of those audits, making them available to any current and potential customers to peruse.
Too much risk, not enough reward
In reality, for a reputable online casino, even if they could, there is just too much risk in cheating, with very little reward. A casino that has been in business for over a decade (such as those casinos listed on our home page) and has built a reputation for fair dealings with its customers, it would be an insanity to try and cheat. The online gambling community is rather large and very active – that casino would be found out and stigmatized in no time, leading to a complete loss of business. It also helps that competition among the online casinos is very healthy, unlike offline, where outside of Vegas, there may not be many choices. But online – a competing casino is just a click away, and a reputable casino wouldn’t risk everything for what amounts to a minuscule reward.
Word of caution
All this said, it doesn’t mean that one can play at any online casino. A lot of casinos still find a way to “cheat” tier customers, albeit not in the accepted meaning of the term. They may not be rigging the games, but they certainly are ripping-off their customers. Some rogue casinos will simply refuse to pay winners, finding all kinds of excuses not to: from made-up terms and conditions, to the virtual equivalent of “the check is in the mail”. And since most of the casinos are based offshore, there is very little repercussion against a casino that refuses to pay, other than warning others to avoid it. This is the main reason websites like ours exist – to keep an eye on the industry and show which online casinos are honest and which are the cheaters. So don’t just jump on the first online casino that comes up on Google, but heed the advice of review websites like ours, before you commit to a casino.