Are Online Casino Games Fair?

This is one of the first questions a “newbie” is likely to ask…after all, the history of gambling doesn’t exactly instill confidence when it comes to playing fair. The good news is, that in today’s world of stricter controls and in an industry dominated by a handful of top quality software vendors, most games use sophisticated Random Number Generators (”RNG’s”) which, at the high profile end of things at least, have been certified through licensing organisations. But it’s not all sweetness and light :)

Fair Games & The House Edge

As I’m sure you are aware, every game in a “Land” casino (or a “B&M” - Bricks And Mortar - casino) has a “house edge”, which is a tilt of the odds in the casino’s favour. It’s no different in the world of online casinos, but because overheads are generally lower, you are more likely to find better odds for the punter in many online casino games compared to their B&M counterparts. For example, a slot in a B&M casino in Vegas may have it’s payout set to 85%, where you are more likely to find in an online casino that it is between 90% and 95%. Of course this varies, and is only served up as an example based on the published payouts by online casinos I have researched.

Traditionally, games of chance have tended to offer larger “jackpots” than table games like Blackjack, Roulette and Craps. As a result, the House Edge on games of chance in any casino will not be as favourable as playing traditional games. But you do stand to win higher payouts, so it’s a question of “You pays your money, you takes your choice”.

Most Online Casinos of good repute will be using software provided by a dedicated software vendor, of which there are several high profile companies with sterling reputations. In these days of big business, the top companies are straight-up when it comes to dealing a fair game, and subsequently their software is probably used by about 90% of all online casinos. The names to look for are: Microgaming (arguably the top software provider), Cryptologic (or their casino brand Wagerlogic), Playtech, Realtime Gaming (”RTG“), Chartwell, Wagerworks and Boss Media. If you are playing a casino using any of the above software to provide the games, you are working with a good quality and fair RNG. Any stories you read of the odds being “fixed” or the RNG being “rigged” are more likely a result of a punter having an “off day”, or perhapsnot happy with the customer service.

But it is very important to remember that with so many casino games vying for your money, a lot tend to be “high variance” - that is they require a larger bankroll and more of your time to hit the big wins, especially with Slots and Wild Card variants of Video Poker - so consequently you will often encounter long losing streaks. One would hope this is followed by one or two sizable payouts which make it worthwhile, but if you mis-manage your budget, you may not get that far before you are wiped clean! So prepare for streakiness when playing these games. Hell, in fact you can streakiness on all games! I guess that’s Lady Luck for you!

But Not All Casino games Are Fair!

While I quote a number of the larger software providers above, there have been instances in the past where an online casino has NOT dealt a fair game. However one would like to think that this is a technical glitch rather than a question of integrity. Hmmm. there was one high-profile instance of this recently at a casino called English Harbour, where a punter had a gut feeling that when you chose to Gamble a win in a Double-Or-Nothing scenario, the software was not using a 50/50 math sum to determine the outcome. After a few other punters via the forums became involved, his initial suspicions were proved correct, with more like a 33% chance of winning. The casino (eventually) admitted there had been a mistake, putting it down to the wrong piece of code being loaded. Everyone has their own opinion…until this point it is fair to say that the casino operator, and the software provider (”OddsOn“) did have a good record, but still…it ain’t good. Even if it was an honest mistake, it doesn’t say much for their security procedures!

So there you have it. The moral is to make sure you are playing a good online casino, by which I mean one that uses one of the main sofwtare platforms to serve the games up. On the plus side, these are not hard to find, but try to check before you play to cover your ass! And of course, just because the games are fair doesn’t mean the service of the casino will be good!!

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