How To Reduce the House Edge in Your Casino Gambling Strategy
Online casinos, also called virtual casinos or virtual online casinos, are actual online versions of conventional casinos. These virtual casinos allow gamblers to play and gamble on casino video games over the Internet. It is an incredibly prolific form of internet gambling. In the last decade, nearly two billion people have participated in online casino gambling, making it one of the largest multi-player online games. There are many different types of online casinos including progressive slots, poker and blackjack, along with slots games like keno and roulette.
Online casinos differ from their traditional land-based version because they do not require an actual casino hotel or a casino gaming table. The entire operation is managed online. Therefore, all security issues that come with having to maintain a physical casino are absent. All transactions, including credit card transactions and ensuring adequate security for your computer are handled by your own online casino software program, eliminating the need for a casino employee or a casino security guard.
However, the lack of physical casino floor locations does create a few disadvantages, at least when it comes to high rollers. First of all, because the majority of the casino’s activities happen online, it becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible, for gamblers in the top tables to find people to talk to so that they can increase their winnings. Secondly, because there is no physical interface between players and the machines, slots machines are more prone to “floor spotting” – where the jackpot suddenly appears on the casino floor at the exact moment that the “low” machines hit the numbers. This is not only random, but since the spotting machine will usually be located in a high traffic part of the casino, it can be disastrous.
Slots are very susceptible to “spotting,” so they should always be kept clear and not placed anywhere where they are readily accessible by random guests. Fortunately, this can usually be done by using slot machine diversion devices such as video poker or slot machine jumpers. These devices cover up the slots and prevent anyone from seeing which numbers the machine has spotted, thereby thwarting random-guessing efforts. Unfortunately, these devices do little to discourage slot machine gamblers, who in all likelihood will simply keep using the machines anyway.
Lastly, there is the house edge – the difference between the expected amount of money that the casino will win and the amount that it actually ends up with after expenses. For most casino games, the house edge is positive, meaning that the casino can win more than it ends up with. In other words, the casino may end up earning more profit from a single run of a game than it did from one spin of a wheel. The larger the casino’s stake, the larger the house edge.
The house edge can be minimized by placing bets on casino games that have short lifecycles (i.e., games that generate small returns per hit but a large amount of recurring losses). Roulette, for example, has a very short lifetime, with only about a week of continuous winning play. On the other hand, baccarat, the casino game of luck, is famous for its long lifetime and its sizable jackpot sizes. A gambler that can win on baccarat once and then never lose on it again will likely be able to stick with the casino because its earnings are guaranteed by chance. To minimize the casino’s edge, however, a player needs to place his or her bets on casino games that have long lifecycles and/or large jackpots with sizeable odds of profitability. By minimizing the casino’s edge – the casino’s house edge – a gambler may be able to increase his or her chances of profitability while at the same time decreasing the casino’s edge.