17 hours ago One of the biggest fears for players who gamble at land-based or online casinos is to play against rigged slot machines. Granted people are also concerned about the prospect of being cheated at roulette, blackjack and baccarat, the prospect of rigged slots is looming larger. New players are skeptical of casino sites, questioning whether online slots are rigged. You can rest assured that casino slots are fair and safe. They use a computer random number generator (RNG) to get the outcome of the spin. The random number generator is a computer algorithm that spits out the result of a spin, a card dealt or a ball drawn. You will see thousands of results, and most of them will say the same thing: Yes, online casinos are rigged. Stay away, casinos are rigged definitely! The third belief is about payments. Again, for some reason, gamblers wonder do online casinos really pay out. 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. That’s how gambling works.
This is one of those questions many blackjack players have. Ceasars palace tickets. It ties into the age-long problem of whether or not online casinos are rigged. We can give you a quick answer — online blackjack is usually not rigged, but it can be.
As this is not a question that we can merely answer and be done with it, we still have to elaborate on what this means exactly. Stick with us if you want to learn why online blackjack usually isn’t rigged, as well as how it can be. Let’s take a look.
Are Online Casinos Rigged?
Before explaining online blackjack and whether you need to worry about them being rigged, we need to talk about the places where one can play online blackjack — online casinos.
In all honesty, online casinos can always be rigged very easily. However, that doesn’t mean that they are. What’s more, the overwhelming majority of them aren’t. And the most important thing to understand here is that there are things that ensure online casinos and the games they offer aren’t rigged.
First of all, quality casino games developers don’t want to be associated with rigged games and casinos. Therefore, they don’t even make games that are rigged, including blackjack. Every good developer creates casino games with random number generators embedded in them to ensure that what happens in the games is entirely random.
Naturally, all casino games are made to slightly favour the casino so that the site can make a profit. However, this casino edge is always very small, and no matter how large it is, it doesn’t mean that you can’t win big in any single game.
Aside from the precautions taken by the software developers themselves, every online casino is subject to the laws of the country it operates in. If they are international, they are still subject to rules that ensure fair play and safety of players.
What’s more, each casino that’s certifiably fair holds the proper licenses. The best licenses in the online gambling world are the ones given by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) and the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC). So, if a casino has one of these licenses, you can be certain that it is fair and no more rigged than life itself!
It’s important to mention that many online casinos allow independent auditors to occasionally check their level of fairness and honesty.
Why and How Can Online Blackjack Be Rigged?
Players are very suspicious of online gambling games, and they have every right to be. It’s easy to think that the game is rigged because an online casino can easily rig a blackjack game. The casino controls the software, and it can thus control how the game unfolds. What’s more, with the way blackjack works, the casino can easily turn the odds in their favour without anyone noticing.
For these reasons, it’s understandable that you would worry about the game of online blackjack you’re playing being rigged. What’s worse, it’s not that these things haven’t happened before. For example, there is the infamous Potripper scandal in which the website’s owner had the ability to see players’ cards.
Cases like these are rare, but not unheard of. When it comes to blackjack, there are many ways a casino might rig the game. The most common method a bad casino could use is removing the aces or face cards completely. You would think that this is easy to notice, but the fact is that most blackjack games use less than 50% of available cards per game, so it’s likely that no one would notice.
Other methods of rigging an online blackjack game exist, but the reality is that most casinos won’t use them. This is mostly because of the reasons we already explained and the rules that prevent them from rigging games. However, most online casinos don’t even want to rig their games. It simply isn’t worth it. If someone realizes that a game of blackjack is rigged, the ensuing bad reputation could easily ruin the casino.
In all honesty, only a very dumb casino owner would want to rig blackjack, as the potential rewards are very low, while the risks are tremendously high.
How Can I Know If My Online Blackjack Game Is Rigged?
Finding out whether your game of online blackjack is rigged always comes back to the trustworthiness of the platform where you’re playing the game. As long as the platform itself is fair and legitimate, the chances of the blackjack game being rigged are minuscule.
One of the most important things to check is if the casino holds a license from one of the organizations we discussed (MGA and UKGC) or from another well-recognized agency. Also, make sure that the game of blackjack comes from a legitimate and popular software developer like Microgaming, Playtech, Evolution Gaming, NetEnt, etc.
When it comes to the game itself, you can also play live dealer blackjack games. Live games are easier to follow, and any potential problems are less likely to occur and easier to spot. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t play regular blackjack games online. All of the best blackjack games are made with algorithms that shuffle cards entirely randomly. And of course, as long as the casino is good, the possibility for the game being rigged is virtually non-existent.
If you start losing a lot, it’s good to take a hard look at the way you’re playing. Unfortunately, the most likely reason for your constant losses has something to do with you, not the game itself.
Most players tend to blame the game for their losses, instead of inspecting their playing methods and strategies. In most cases, when players accuse the casino of their blackjack game being rigged, they are doing so because it doesn’t occur to them that they did something wrong. So, it’s important to consider this aspect as well when you’re looking into the fairness of the game.
The Bottom Line
All in all, online blackjack is almost never rigged, even though it can be. Most casinos where you’ll be playing the game are legitimate and fair, so their blackjack games are most likely fair as well.
In addition to that, even though a game of blackjack can be rigged in several ways, there is no point or need for a casino to do it. The rewards are low, and the risks are high, so you can be certain that an online casino would never have a need to rig a blackjack game.
In conclusion, you can relax and start playing online blackjack in your favourite, legitimate online casino without a single worry about it being rigged.
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FAQ
As long as the game of live online blackjack you’re playing is hosted by a legitimate, trusted casino, it certainly isn’t rigged. If you lose, the only reason is the lack of skill or luck.
If you compare it to all other online casino games, playing blackjack is extremely worthwhile. That’s because the game is mostly about skills and knowledge, and you have the highest chance of winning out of all casino games. The better you are at playing blackjack, the higher your probability of winning.
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Today, I’m going to answer another reader question which I received recently by email. It comes from Sarah in Scotland who wants to know “Are slot machines rigged?” I’ve copied the email directly below with her permission.
Dear GamblingSites.org team,
I’m Sarah McKeown, and I’ve been a long-time reader of your blog. I’ve found lots of interesting content over the years. I even won a healthy jackpot after playing one of your recommended jackpot slots.
However, I’ve been keeping a record of my bets versus my wins, and I’ve noticed that no matter how many big wins I have, I always end up losing it all again over the long term. Can you tell me if slot machines are rigged? Can casinos fix slot machines to make sure players lose?
Any insights you can share with me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Sarah McKeown
Sarah, I’m going to answer your questions directly. Yes, slot machines are rigged. However, they’re not rigged in the way you think they are
In this post, I’ll explain how slot machines work, why you lose in the long-term, and I’ll give you some useful tips for beating slot machines more often. Let’s begin!
Are Casino Slot Machines Rigged?
I guarantee you that if you walk through any Vegas casino, or any casino in the world for that matter, and ask every slots player if they won, the vast majority of them will tell you no.
It’s difficult to understand how this could be the case unless slot machines are rigged. And if they are, how in the heck is that legal? Are casinos actively keeping slot machines rigged so that you can’t win? If so, what about all those stories of players who won huge jackpots?
This can all seem rather confusing, but it’s not. The simple answer is that the vast majority of players lose, and a few lucky players win. Each machine is programmed to pay out less than what’s put into it, ensuring that the casino makes a continuous profit over the long run. This could be anything from a 2% advantage on the best slot machines, to a 10% or greater advantage on some of the big-money jackpot slots.
So, in a nutshell, casino slots are rigged to make sure the casino makes a profit, but that does not mean you can’t win on any given gaming session.
Gaming commissions would never allow casinos to run games you can’t win, nor would it be good for business. Players would soon figure out that the games were unwinnable and would stop playing.
Let’s take a closer look at how slot machines work. This will help you understand that while the house always wins, you can win, too.
How Slot Machines Are Rigged
Understanding how slot machines are rigged requires you to understand how they work. Each slot has its game odds, but they all use a similar method of paying out jackpots. Here are some important things to know about slot machines.
Understand Slot Machine RTP
RTP is an acronym for “return to player.” If you read slot machine reviews, you’ll usually find each game has a specific RTP published by the developer. For example, on NetEnt.com, you can find the RTP of Starburst and other games.
RTP is a percentage.
For Example:Based on Starburst from above, the RTP is 96.09%. What does this mean in terms of money, jackpots, and wins and losses? It means that, for every £100 bet on these games, players win back £96.09.
It’s important to remember that this does not mean you’ll make back £96.09 for every £100 you bet on Starburst. It means that the casino returns £96.09 to all players spinning the reels at every casino which offers Starburst. This includes all of the small wins and losses each player wins on every spin. In the long run, the casino will make £3.91 on every £100 bet on that game, regardless of what happens in the short term.
Hopefully, this concept of RTP helps you understand how slot machines are rigged in favor of the game developers and casinos but are not rigged in absolute terms. You can win when playing slots, but you can’t win in the long run.
Understand Random Number Generators
Even though the house has a built-in advantage on slot machines, it’s clear that some players do win massive jackpots. Just take a look at this story about a British soldier winning a record-breaking jackpot from a £0.25 spin.
Lots of players wonder when the best time to play slot machines is, which slots are “loose,” and all sorts of other questions. They hope that figuring out the answers will help them win slots more often, but the truth is that this is all a waste of time. Stinkin rich game.
Slot machines decide when to pay out in accordance with a Random Number Generator (RNG). Believe it or not, it’s possible for a slot machine to pay out a jackpot on two spins in a row, although it is unlikely. A Random Number Generator is a piece of software which spits out billions of numbers per second, and if it happens to spit out a number associated with a jackpot, you’ll see the high-value symbols line up across a payline and you win.
There’s no way to manipulate RNGs. You can’t cheat online slot machines no matter how hard you try. Some smart players note that RNGs can’t be truly random since humans create them, but for all reasonable and practical purposes, you can’t manipulate them.
Perhaps, someone will someday spot a pattern in the apparent randomness by using a quantum computer to crunch numbers. But until then, just assume they’re random.
While the slots developer can control the RTP via programming, it can’t control the RNG. There are third-party games testing organizations such as eCogra which test RNGs and verify that they are fair. This doesn’t mean all slots developers play fair, but big names like Microgaming and NetEnt do.
How to Win at Slots — Tips and Tricks
Now that you understand how slot machines work, and how they are rigged without being unfair, it’s time to turn the tables on the casinos. I’ve learned a lot about slot machines throughout my career as a player, and I’m going to share my best tips on how to win slots more often.
Pick Slot Machines With a High RTP
One of the first and most obvious tips is to select high RTP slot machines. These games pay back the most to players in the long run, so you’re better off playing them even if the jackpots are smaller.
Very often, the jackpots are smaller. Since the casinos have less risk to deal with when a smaller jackpot is involved, they can afford a higher payback percentage to players. It makes sense, doesn’t it?
So, which slot machines have the highest RTP? Here are five to get you started.
- Blood Suckers by NetEnt – 98%
- Rags to Riches by Cryptologic – 98%
- Good Girl, Bad Girl by Betsoft – 97.8%
- Kings of Chicago by NetEnt – 97.8%
- Wolfpack Pays by NextGen – 97.8%
Us friendly online casinos. Those slots have a variety of excellent bonus features, decent jackpots, and higher than average RTPs. If you want to get the most bang for your buck as a long-term player, it’s wise to play them.
Pick the Right Volatility for Your Bankroll
There’s a top-notch article on slot machine variance and volatility here. If you want a more detailed breakdown of what they are, check that out.
![Blackjack Blackjack](https://www.onlinecasinoreviewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/superjackpotpartyscreen-1.jpg)
Slot machine volatility is important to understand because it will tell you which slots are suitable for your bankroll. Volatility indicates both how often a slot should pay and the average size of the payouts.
- Low volatility slots pay smaller amounts more often.
- Medium volatility slots pay decent amounts fairly often.
- High volatility slots pay less frequently, but wins are more explosive.
If I had a smaller bankroll, say £20, I’d start by playing a low volatility slot such as Starburst. I find that it’s a good slot to build your bankroll with. Once I double up, I usually switch to a higher volatility slot with bigger payouts which occur less frequently.
Managing your bankroll effectively is about the only slot machine strategy which works. Therefore, knowing the volatility of a game is useful information.
Use Free Spins With Low Wagering Requirements
Most online casinos offer free spins bonuses for new players. Lots of them also offer free spins to loyal players who spin slots daily or weekly.
I’ve learned the hard way that not all free spins bonuses give me an advantage. Sometimes, the wagering requirements are so high that the bonus is a liability. This is especially true if it comes with predatory terms such as that I can’t withdraw my deposit until I meet the wagering requirements. Yes, such bonuses exist, I’ve seen it all over the years I’ve been playing!
There are other free spins bonuses you will want to take. They’ll give you a chance to beat the house with its own money and have these characteristics.
Are Casino Machines Rigged
- They won’t require excessive minimum deposits.
- The wagering requirements will be low, around 20x or less.
- You’ll be able to keep all of what you win when you wager the bonus.
Free spins with low wagering requirements are available at lots of top UK casinos. There are even casinos with no wagering requirements, and they’re especially popular in the UK market.
Final Words
Indian Casinos Are Rigged
Thanks for writing to me with this question, Sarah. It’s given me a chance to cover lots of ground with regards to slot machines, and I hope that it answers your question. Are slot machines rigged? Yes, the house has a mathematical advantage which you can’t alter, but that doesn’t mean you can’t win.
Beating slot machines is a case of picking the right games, managing your bankroll effectively, and getting lucky. Don’t forget the last part! Luck is essential. There’s no effective way to beat the slots every time. Happy spinning, and don’t forget to pick up a casino bonus before you begin!