What People Don’t Tell You About Online Gambling

The world of casino gambling has been commercialized by famous movies such as James Bond and Ocean’s Eleven. The online gambling market worldwide is a $45 billion a year industry but somehow it’s fascinating about the preconceptions some people have about the industry.  Online casinos are regulated in much the same way as physical ones and the games and the odds are often identical or very similar.

While we won’t praise online gambling to the sky, there are some facts and misconceptions that is to be unveiled in this article.

A Welcome Bonus at an Online Casino is not Free Money

If you’re still living in a world in which you think a welcome bonus is just pure cash in your pocket, you need to wake up. If this were the case you could just register to all the new casinos, cash out and repeat. The casinos, of course, want you to show dedication to keep playing at their casino in exchange for their hospitality and not just take the cash and leave, that wouldn’t be very lucrative now, would it? In order to withdraw the winnings you earn from your casino welcome bonus, every casino has a wagering requirement that you have to meet. It’s not rare, however, that a casino offers no-wager bonus spins. This means that everything you get from your free spin winnings is directly transformed into real cash which is yours to withdraw at any time.

A wagering requirement works in the way that, in order to withdraw money from your account, the “bonus winnings” will have to be transferred to “cash winnings”, and in order to do this, you will have to wager/bet x amount of the amount you deposited when you took part in the casino welcome bonus.

Let’s make an example:

If a welcome bonus is 200% up to £1,000 and divided into your first four deposits the maximum bonus which you can get from this is £2,000 and you will have £3,000 to play for.

First Deposit: 100% up to £300 – This gives you £600 to play with if you deposit £300.
Second Deposit: 50% up to £300 – This gives you £450 to play with if you deposit £300.
Third Deposit: 25% up to £200 – This gives you £250 to play with if you deposit £200.
Fourth Deposit: 25% up to £200 – This gives you £250 to play with if you deposit £200.

This, as you might be able to figure out, results in you depositing £1,000 and get £3,000 to play with! And if the wagering requirement is x20 times the amount of the welcome bonus deposit, you will need to wager £1,000×20 which means that you have to bet/make us of £20,000. Of course, this isn’t something that you notoriously have to keep track of, it pretty much works itself out, but it’s important to understand all of those monetary aspects because nothing can ruin you more than not understanding bonus terms and conditions.

Online Gambling is not All About Luck

Have you ever lost when tossing the dice, spinning the wheel or bet on a number, and then assuming that not that you’ve lost a couple of times it’s more likely for you to win? If you throw a dice two times and you hit the sixes on both times, is it more unlikely for you to hit another six? 

This is called the Monte Carlo Fallacy, it’s the mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during some period, it will happen less frequently in the future – or vice versa. This is the most devastating belief one can have when it comes to online gambling – especially as it’s money involved.

This is actually what happened at the Monte Carlo casino in 1913. Gamblers lost millions after millions betting on red because the ball had fell in black so many times in a row – giving the expectation that it is more likely for it to fall on red. It fell in black 26 times in a row before it finally landed in red.

So you can’t expect for the tables to turn after a long losing streak as well as it’s not more likely for you to lose after a long winning streak.

But is it luck to get a straight flush on the river when playing poker? If poker was a 100% luck based, there would be no World Champion Poker tournaments. And why is it pretty much always the same players that constantly reach the final tables?

The many factors that play into playing poker are so many that they cannot be listed here. Of course, luck is part of it. But isn’t luck a part in other sports as well? And the fact that there is a skill factor in poker, it allows the game to have both winners and losers. And the more skilled one is obvious to come out on top.

Of course, a casino wants to keep the number of winners just enough so that it’s both lucrative for them and that it doesn’t give people the idea that it’s useless to take part in online gambling.

But have it ever occurred to you why only the slots weight in 100% to a wagering limit while eg. poker only weights into a maximum amount of 5%? All games that require you to bring knowledge and skill to the table is due to have more winners. It’s even proven by some land-based casino’s placement of the different games that they tend to place the games with the lowest RTP (return to player) closer to the entering and the more skilled-based in the back.

It’s the same for both the online casino’s bonus marketing as well as their bonus wagering systems.

People Actually Win at Online Casino’s

An online casino that wishes to be accessible in the United Kingdom is required to be sanctioned and approved by The UK Gambling Commission, as well with keeping up to their standards and policies. This means for example that an online casino has to meet a qualification for separation with the player’s funds, have complete transparency in game fairness and clear information about all the terms and regulations.

The myth that online casino gaming is just staged to fool poor people of their money is well overdue. If this was true, no casino could ever be approved – and the fact is that a casino only provides the games. It’s the game developers that set all the odds.

Online casinos need to build up a solid reputation and in order to do that they can’t very well be cheating players – otherwise, players would just leave that casino and go elsewhere. It’s not like all online casinos have come together and said: “let’s all fool our players in order for us all to make money“.

In fact, online casinos offer better odds and payouts on their games like slots and roulette than that of what you’d typically get at land-based casinos for comparable games.

Withdrawing Money isn’t Always That Easy

Collecting your winnings is an important part of online gambling and can be the biggest turn-off for anyone wishing to stay at a specific casino. With that being said, players should always be aware of a casino’s policies when it comes to withdrawing money. It wouldn’t strike me as surprising if this is the number one dispute customer support has to handle when dealing with dissatisfactory customers. It is however possible to withdraw money using PayPal at some casinos!

Firstly, there are some objectives that have to be met in order to even be qualified for a withdrawal. You must meet the minimum set amount to be withdrawn, have no wagering requirements to be met, have a valid withdrawal method and be eligible to other policies set up by a casino.

It’s not unusual for a casino to ask for proof of ID and of funding authority (like a copy of the credit card used to deposit the money in which made the winnings).

But a validation process like this often takes time and can rice suspicion in a player who is waiting to get their winnings withdrawn. It’s not hard to understand since a casino is so eager to make depositing as hassle-free as possible but stalls when it comes to pay-outs. Some might argue that this pending time is stalled in order for a player to have time to get tempted to continue online gambling with the winnings and in worst case lose it all.

It’s Not All About Slot Machines

Slot machines have been the main draw of most land-based casinos since before online casinos even existed. Advances in technology have only contributed to the slot expansion, as today’s games allow for much greater game variety, are more exciting in variety, and no longer require players to carry around buckets of pennies.

Slots distinguish themselves from the usual table games and video poker, as they are so player-friendly. They do not require any memorization of complex playing strategies, instead, everyone has the same exact odds as no matter the experience.

Turning to online slots exclusively, brand familiarity plays a huge role in their popularity. Many of the same titles found on the floors of Las Vegas have made the transition to online casinos. Not only that, but they play almost identically to their brick and mortar counterparts. This, combined with up to date themes such as “Game of Thrones” and “Lord of the Rings” slots have made it almost as a franchise enhancer.

Some tend to overlook the online table games and only relate them to live to gamble – but the fact is that the online ones actually offers quite a few advantages over the live ones. Not a few of the more experienced players have found those benefits.

Read: Top UK Online Casino bonuses.

For one, online table games move at a much brisker pace. Whereas typical live Black Jack players are lucky to see 100 hands per hour, they can easily triple that volume online.

Another big benefit is that players can lower their stakes quite a bit online. This can be quite appealing to new gamblers, who may feel uncomfortable playing for big money before gaining a familiarity with the game rules and strategy.

Along the same lines, online players won’t be scrutinised by other players for taking their time or making imperfect plays. Instead, they can take as much time as they want to go over their options, and are free to look up the correct playing decision before acting.

As mentioned briefly above, another reason slot has made such a big impact on the online casino world is because casinos favor slots as they’re the biggest money maker. Not only do they allow for rapid play, but the house edge is higher when compared to other game types.

Also, the Live Casino experience is constantly moving towards a higher quality online gambling experience. 

Online Gambling is Highly Regulated

In order for a casino to stay compliant with any or all legislation that is required, the big focus lies on applying strict security procedures such as age verification, rightful person identification and other actions such as regulated and secure transaction procedures.

As mentioned, an online casino that wishes to be accessible in the United Kingdom is required to be sanctioned and approved by The UK Gambling Commission.

The UK Gambling Commission’s job is to review the online gambling sector, which includes looking at social responsibility within the online gambling industry and protects players from misuse from any online casino. They also analyze and issues statements in areas that are lacking or found to be flawed.

Read: UK online casino Bonuses.

UKGC is also taking a big part in regulating online gambling legislation and supervising gaming law in the UK. They are also responsible for advising the national and local government on gambling-related issues.

UKGC issues licenses to online casinos, which gives them control to issue fines and revoke licenses, and is tasked with investigating and prosecuting illegal gambling within this sector. All serious actors in the online gambling industry is sanctioned with a UKGC license and this is a huge sign of comfort for a player to feel safe gambling.

A requirement for an online casino to receive a high level of transparency and “proof of fairness” is, as mentioned above, to have a return to player (RTP) chart available for anyone that likes to take part of it. It’s also important that the casino issues frequent surveys and reveals who is monitoring the numbers in the RTP-lists.

Another thing that is considered to be a “proof of fairness” is to provide a control system that shows a high standard of a random number generator (RNG). Casinos are required to have all RNG:s tested by independent sources and monitor the outcome of games in terms of the range and distribution of numbers it produces, such as how frequent a game amounts in a win or loss.

When the RNG is compromised with the value of games played, the RTP is built upon monetary values. It’s easier to blame an RTP for losing than it is to blame the RNG since it’s both more convenient and more comprehensive. But it’s important to note what kind of factors that play in when it comes to the RTP. If one player wins big (like £10,000 from a £200 deposit), that RTP will amount in 5000%. This means that a lot of people will have to have a 0% RTP in order for a game to keep a steady RTP on around 95%-97%.

Read more about The UK Gambling Commission

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