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Do online Casinos Cheat?

The biggest hesitation for new online casino gamblers is the merit of the online casino site. Of course the entire concept of gambling is risky in itself; however most peopleโ€™s fears are in increasing their risk by playing at a less than reputable website which cheats them out of their winnings, this is why we have ranked the casinos based on the honesty and security according to our own strict criteria.

It is generally understood that there are a number of online casino sites that fail to operate fairly, on the other hand you can find many reputable online casinos that do!

Still youโ€™ll run across a number of skeptics that will state all online gambling sites are one sided and itโ€™s impossible to truly win based on random luck. Unfortunately this is a common misconception that is based on a number of factors.

 

Land Based Casino Versus Online Casinos

Generally when gambling at online casinos you are able to indulge in more game play over the course of an hour than at standard casinos.

This means you are playing the majority of the games alone and you donโ€™t have to wait for other table players to make a wager or receive payment. Also youโ€™re not handling chips, cards and balls so there is no need to clean up in between game sessions. This means that cards are dealt out faster, the roulette wheel doesnโ€™t spin as long and you have no dice to throw.

In contrast to a land based casino unusual situations will occur on a more regular basis with an online casino.

Basically what you can expect is a shorter period of time for the odds to roll around. Take the odds of getting 6 blacks on roulette, the odds of this occurring are 1 in every 64 spins. This may very well take a land based casino an hour to make 64 spins; in contrast an online casino will only take twenty minutes to reach this mark.

House Edge v Gamblers Edge

Put another way, if the house edge is prevailing over the gamblers edge you will seemingly lose money a lot quicker, to someone unfamiliar to this concept it would be easy for them to consider the virtual casino to be unfair, however, you may lose money faster when the house edge is prevalent but similarly you will win money a lot faster when the player edge is prevalent.

Due to the way the human brain works we tend to remember the bad runs more than the good ones, ask any poker player what weaker hand knocked them out of a tournament and they will remember but ask them what weaker hands they knocked other people out of the tournament on and they will be hard pushed to tell you.

Blackjack: Land based v Online

Playing online games is a totally different physical interaction than in land based casinos, as a result of this your mental perception of the game will be different.

Take for example playing blackjack at a land base casino and four other players are present at the table. Even thought you donโ€™t win for a number of rounds, chances are someone at the table has.

It is quite easy to lose ten hands in a row but because you see other players winning you perceive the gambling to be fair and trustworthy.

The opposite affect is clear when playing on a virtual casino where you are not able to see other virtual players winning nor do you see the casinos loses. Thereby making the online casino appear one sided.

Online Casinos are Fully Regulated

Online casinos have not always had the best reputation. In the early days of online gambling there were plenty of unscrupulous operators who would cheat the player in one way or another.

Some of this reputation still exists today but the reality is that the online gaming industry is a fully regulated business that has government bodies and consumer watchdogs to keep them honest and to provide assistance to anyone who has issues that need resolving.

Itโ€™s a very rare thing to hear of someone who has been cheated out of their winnings these days and often the stories you do hear are somewhat exaggerated by the person it has happened to.

Read the “Terms and Conditions”

A classic example of this is a player complaining they were not able to cash out all their money and that the casino has stolen that money from them, what the person fails to tell you is that the money in their account was part of a promotion given to them by the casino and it had terms and conditions attached to it.

Most issues these days are, more often than not, due to misunderstandings and this highlights the need to always read the terms and conditions of any online casino and any offer that is made to you.

Another classic situation is you go to cash out and it takes you ages to receive your money because of red tape and the casino requires you to sign bits of paper and provide identification etc etc.

Once again if you read the terms and conditions you will see these requirements are listed however you could have provided these details from the outset therefore eliminating the delay on your first withdraw.

Modern Era of Online Gambling – Legislation

 

In the modern era of online gambling, global regulatory bodies are in place to guarantee the industry operates fair and honest casinos. As in the UK and US these bodies have introduced ever stricter regulation including Gambling acts that only allow regulated casinos to advertise.

All decent online casinos will operate under licence and will display this on their website, making it easy for you to recognize that the casinos you are visiting is above board.

If you have any doubt you can always check their details with the organisation they claim to be governed by.

The online gaming industry is a big business and itโ€™s surprising how many of the operating companies are traded on the stock markets. As you can image it is very important for these companies to make sure that the industry is perceived to be fair and honest and they work very hard to ensure this happens.

Do your homework!

Browsing the sites forums and the player blogs can quickly reveal a site that has bad practices. Getting as much specific information about a site is without doubt the best way to ensure it is trustworthy.

Checking out their ratings and viewing comments at online casino review sites like HonestCasinos.com can be very useful too and donโ€™t forget to check that the casino has a licence and from what jurisdiction it comes from.

Also confirm they are part of any Trade Associations they claim to be associated with.

Do Online Casinos Cheat?

In the end the answer to the pressing question of whether or not online casinos cheat is No.

They don’t cheat but they use all of their marketing expertise to make sure they get new players to sign up and  Play with a bonus they won’t be able to withdraw, for instance. A cheating Online Casino wouldn’t have long life in the time of Social Media where information spread lightning fast.

Just practice a little due diligence on the casino through research. With the number of gambling portals available such as our site, comparing them may be tedious, but it is highly recommended, if not just to make sure you are playing at a trustworthy site but also to make sure you get the best service and the best deal.

source

By Simon

One of the first editors of Honest Casinos, I have been reviewing casinos since 2003.