How to Spot a Rigged Casino Game

Most brick-and-mortar and online casinos, see Spin City Casino NZ login, have fairly simple business models.

Games are developed to statistically favor the casinos themselves, giving them what’s known as the house edge. Maybe that’s where the phrase “the house always wins” originated from. Basically, the house edge ensures that the casino will ultimately make more money from players’ overall activity.

When it comes to rigged online casino games, the house edge can be more easily manipulated, making players’ chances of winning almost nil in some cases. However, it’s not true that all casino games are rigged, especially if they’re offered by a licensed, reputable online casino.

In online casinos, rigging is the act of manipulating a casino game to achieve a desired outcome. Some unscrupulous casinos do this in a variety of ways, but the most common practice is tampering with the RNG (Random Number Generator), an algorithm that decides the order of a deck of cards or how a roulette wheel spins.

How to Tell if a Casino Game is Rigged

Online casinos can resort to several underhand tactics to rig their games and cheat you out of your money. However, the most common tactic is to rig a game’s software, in particular two of the most fundament aspects of casino games: Random Number Generator (RNG) and Return-to-Player (RTP).

Theoretically speaking, casino games have code that helps them produce unpredictable results. However, unscrupulous casinos will change the way a casino game is coded to stop players from getting their desired results, intentionally stripping them of a realistic shot at winning.

Here are the two most common ways a casino game might be rigged: Tampering with RNG and RTP.

Interfering with the RNG and RTP

All online casino games use an RNG (Random Number Generator). A licensed and reputable casino software developer will add an RNG to each game to ensure it always produces completely random and legitimate results. Therefore, the luck factor can decide how likely it is to win a game.

A disreputable online casino can have its developers get rid of the RNG to rule out any chance of you winning. Here, you’ll get one outcome only–you’ll lose your money to the game.

Untrustworthy online casinos also change the game code in such a manner that the return-to-player (RTP) percentage is lowered. RTP is a figure that shows how much money players recoup as they place bets. If a game has a 97% RTP, that means you’re likely to get back $97 for every $100 you bet.

Since RTP is the average figure, different players may get different results depending on their luck level. Online casino games have odds that give the house the upper hand but not so big that you’ll always be scammed—of course, if the game you’re playing is fair.

Some online casino software developers can reduce the RTP to lower your odds of winning. A decrease of even 1% can be the difference between a player winning and losing their money. Rigged casino games usually have an appallingly low RTP that they’re no longer worth placing bets on since it’s practically impossible to win. 

Why Casinos Don’t Need to Rig Their Games

Most online casino games aren’t necessarily rigged since they aren’t designed to scam people out of their money. However, casinos aren’t afraid to admit that games are somewhat skewed to give the house the edge.

Every game gives the casino a statistical advantage called the house edge, which ensures that the house will win come what may. In fact, other games, such as Keno, have a very high house edge of 25%. This means the house collects a whopping $25 for every $100 wager.

This percentage is the average, mind you. It means you won’t necessarily win or lose based on this percentage each time. But, in general, that’s how the mathematics plays out after a long list of players place bets.

Let’s look at the blackjack house edge as another example. Even if you use the most reliable strategy and perfectly play all your cards, the house edge remains 0.5%. This might seem like an insignificant amount, but the online casino will make 0.5 cents each time a $100 bet is placed. In the long term, that’s quite a lot!

Considering the fact that casinos always have the house edge, they don’t have to rig games to take your money. The house edge ensures they’ll make money in the long run.

The Bottom Line

Even though casinos will always turn a profit courtesy of the house edge, there are always some greedy casino operators who want to make money fast and, therefore, resort to game rigging and scams.

When looking for an online casino to play your favorite game, like Texas Hold’em poker or Vegas Strip blackjack, make sure to check if it’s licensed and reputable. Also, check its RNG and RTP information, as well as data encryption information, to stay safe.