The gaming hall is a mysterious place. The lights are dim, the carpet is red, and people lose their money faster than you can say “blackjack”. The secrecy of casinos goes beyond the walls. Even when reviewing online casinos, it is difficult to find information about what tactics and strategies the gaming hall uses. While demand for this type of entertainment continues to grow in Las Vegas and other major cities, smaller towns have also begun to build new venues with gaming centres as the main attraction. Therefore, today there are more options than ever before if you want to try your luck at the roulette table or blackjack.
However, there are still many secrets that are hidden from the public at these places of entertainment. We’re not just talking about how they manage to call something a “casino” without offering craps or roulette tables. If you are considering visiting one of these establishments in the near future, read on to learn insider knowledge not found in the marketing materials.
The casino consistently emerges victorious.
It’s an undeniable reality that gambling establishments operate with the primary goal of financial gain, and this revelation may not astonish many since they fundamentally function as businesses striving to turn a profit, much like any other enterprise. Comparable to any business, they bear operational costs and must generate income to compensate their staff and maintain a conducive environment.
Anyone who has been to a gaming hall knows that casinos are designed to make you lose track of time (and money). That means no windows and no clocks. Two o’clock in the morning is then exactly the same as two o’clock in the afternoon.
And don’t be fooled by the “free” food and drink offers you might get. They serve the same purpose. Of course it’s great if you’ve just been given a 20 euro buffet, but 2 hours later you’ve lost 200 euros at the blackjack table, for the casino this is just an extremely good return on investment. Then there is the matter of the house edge and the payout ratio.
The payout ratio and house advantage
You have probably wondered what is the difference between house edge and payout ratio. Especially often this question is puzzled by casino players who are not very familiar with the terminology of gambling. We will briefly explain it to you.
RTP or Return-to-Player is the percentage of the total amount of bets in the slot, which online or offline slot returns to the player in the form of winnings.
The RTP parameter, which is also sometimes referred to as the payout to player, shows the percentage of winning bets to total bets.
For example, the RTP of a slot machine is 97%. If a player makes a large number of bets with the same €1 wager, he should ideally win €0.97 in each game. The remaining 0.03 euros will go to the casino.
But usually the theoretical RTP differs from the actual one. The chances of winning while playing slots depend on many factors, for example, the hit frequency (“hit frequency” – we’re talking about the probability of winning on any given spin), bonus frequency, maximum win probability, variance and volatility. Therefore, indicated in the characteristics of the slot RTP is a theoretical indicator of how much a slot machine or casino will return to the player in the long term. In addition to RTP, there is also the concept of House Edge. They are often confused, so you need to understand the difference between them.
How RTP differs from house edge
As we already know, RTP is the percentage of the total amount of bets in the game that the casino returns to the player in the form of winnings. House Edge (translated as house advantage) is essentially the percentage of the total amount of bets that the online casino retains or loses to the player. It turns out that if a slot’s RTP is 96%, the house edge will be 4%. The term House Edge is part of the popular saying “the casino always wins” (“the house always wins”, where in the short term players may win against the online casino, but in the long term the amount they bet exceeds the amount they win.
Let’s look at an example. A player always wins 96% of his winnings in each game round. He places his first bet of €100 in an online slot with an RTP of 96% and wins €96. Then he bets this 96 euros in a new round and gets back his 96%, namely 92,16 euros. The idea is that the player spends his initial budget little by little and the casino steadily gets its 4% from each bet.
Who determines RTP
Now that we know what RTP means, let’s take a look at who sets the value of this parameter. During the game development process, the game developer adds a random number generator (RNG) to the software, which ensures that each game round is not predetermined by anyone and is in fact independent. This PRNG is checked for randomness by a reputable audit lab such as BMM, iTech Labs, or eCOGRA (to name a few). The developer can then use the audited DST for games. Both the auditing lab and the developer, using a licensed DST, can activate auditing programs that trigger hundreds of thousands of spins in a short period of time. The HSC algorithm used determines the RTP of the game.
Who can influence the RTP
One of the most frequent questions from players and operators is whether the developer can adjust the RTP to the needs of a particular operator or this parameter remains unchanged?
To clarify. Once a game developer assigns an RTP to a game, no one else can change this parameter. That is, neither the player nor the operator can interfere with the payouts in the games.
It is very rare that a game developer creates a game with flexible RTP settings. Although this is more the case with offline slots and slot machines. And while the casino operator can set a variable RTP for offline slots, the online game developer remains the only one responsible for the RTP of the games.
You will lose money
The most important fact to remember when you visit a casino is that you will lose money. This is not to say that a visit to the gambling house is a waste of time, but you should not go with the thought that you will end up making a profit. This may seem obvious, but the truth is that many people visit casinos with the expectation that they will win. If you do end up losing, don’t fret. Remember: the house always wins. That is just one of the facts of casino life.
If you go into the whole thing with the expectation of it being a relaxed evening with some friends, much like going to the cinema, everything will change and you will definitely have fun in the gambling house. Of course, you don’t have to go to a well-known real casino to do this, as an online gambling hall can offer the same pleasure and even more comfort, because not all casinos offer such a generous welcome bonus as in slots from https://www.richardcasino3.com/games/slots/.
People will try to trick you
Gaming halls are crowded, noisy and busy places. No wonder it is easiest for scammers to operate there. However, many people do not know how to recognise a scam. The most common scam you encounter in a casino is the “bad token” scam. Someone approaches you and claims that one of your tokens is a “bad token”. They offer to get you a new token, but in reality they are simply exchanging it for a token they have already marked as spent. Bad token scams are pretty easy to spot if you’re paying attention, but there are a bunch of other scams out there.
It is more difficult to win on slot machines than on table games
There are many articles that claim to refute this fact, but the fact is that it is simply not true. The house edge in craps is 1%, while the edge in blackjack is less than 1%. In slot machines, on the other hand, the house edge can be as high as 20%. There are many factors that contribute to these different numbers, but the most important factor is that slot machines are completely random. Playing slots requires no skill whatsoever. You simply put your money in and hope to win.
Craps and blackjack, on the other hand, are games of skill played against a dealer. In the game of poker, you can even learn strategies, which of course is no guarantee of success, but it definitely increases your chances. There are many strategies you can use to maximise your winnings at these tables, but in slot machines it is definitely all about luck.
Everything is manipulated and most strategies are wrong
This is a common assumption that is often discussed among visitors and also online. There are several myths that have been circulating since the introduction of the casino, such as the idea that all slot machines are rigged or that the dealers are actually working with the house. However, few of these myths are actually valid. There are certainly a few games where the casino has a slightly unfair advantage. For example, it is possible that some craps tables are “off”, meaning that the dice are weighted so that the casino always wins. However, these cases are extremely rare. As soon as they are uncovered, it actually already means the end for such a gaming hall.
The uninteresting truth is actually that much of the casino is simply based on luck and pure chance, especially in slot machines. Online gaming halls also base all their software on chance, although the security of the websites is definitely of a very high standard.
Conclusion
These are some of the most common secrets you should not know in casinos. Although these may seem daunting at first glance, we must stress that visiting a casino is not a waste of time or money. It is a pleasant experience where you can relax, have fun and try your luck. However, to have the best possible experience, it is important to be informed. If you know the secrets of casinos, you can avoid costly mistakes.
