When you frequent the casino floor, there’s some common myths and misconceptions you might hear.
This game is rigged! This dealer is cheating! This slot is ‘loose’ and about to pay! You’ll be kicked out if you win too many times! I’ve got a system that can beat the house edge!
For some reason, casinos tend to attract the odd fantasist or conspiracy-theorist at all hours of the day. Players are advised to exercise caution when listening to these individuals expose their latest hot take.
Most casino myths can be debunked comprehensively, and yet there are some theories that are based in reality more than you might think.
So let’s put some of the more common casino myths and legends under the microscope. Do they stand up to scrutiny?
Casino Games are Rigged
It’s rare to hear a player on a winning streak bemoan a ‘rigged’ game….
No, it’s those that are experiencing consecutive losses that are convinced the game they are playing is rigged – often forgetting any previous successes they may have had at the same table!
You may hear some questioning the techniques of a dealer or suggesting that the cards are ‘hot’ or marked – enabling the dealer to count cards or edge sort in a bid to gain an edge.
The truth, of course, is that all dealers are so well trained in their specific games that they know the percentage play in all scenarios. If you learn the principles of perfect blackjack yourself, for example, you will be able to recognise why the dealer decides to play each hand in that specific way.
As for slots, there’s no such thing as a rigged machine. Every spin of the reels is random, which means that you have the same chance of winning or losing with your next turn as you did with your last.
The truth is that slot games are weighted against the player. Online slots have a Return to Player (RTP) rate ranging from 85% to 97%, as a rule, so if you played them an infinite number of times this is how much of your stake you can expect to get back in the long run.
So, a slot with a 95% RTP hands the casino a 5% edge, but remember that this ratio is not a hard and fast rule for every gaming session. Some players will do better than 95% and others will do worse – that’s the nature of gambling.
Casinos, both physical and online, have no way of rigging a slot machine manually. These are built and developed by third parties, whose random number generators are tested billions of times and audited by independent regulators. There is absolutely no incentive for anybody to release a rigged slot game.
So if you do experience a losing run at the blackjack table, roulette wheel or slot machine, remember you are simply on the wrong side of the variance of these unpredictable games – nobody is deploying nefarious tactics in a bid to scupper you.
Slots Can Be ‘Hot’ or Due a Win
Occasionally you’ll hear the whispers on the gaming floor: a particular slot game is ‘hot’ or ‘loose’ and set to pay out to the next player that comes along.
By contrast, there’s this notion that some slots are ‘cold’ or ‘tight’ – i.e. they aren’t going to be spewing out wins any time soon. Some even have their own rule that they won’t play a slot after it has just paid out, erroneously thinking that their own probability of a successful spin is lower as a result.
As we’ve touched upon earlier, both of these myths are, well, exactly that. Slot games are wholly random and unpredictable, and any patterns of wins or losses are completely by chance and variance.
Think about tossing a coin. It’s highly unlikely that you will spin ten tails in a row, but is it impossible? Of course not, because there’s a statistical probability – however small – of that happening.
So next time the hype machine is in full flow about hot slots that simply won’t stop paying out, you know your fellow players have been infected with a hubris that is not reflective of the reality.
If I Bet More, I Stand a Better Chance of Winning
This is a myth that has some grey areas, as certain online slots – particularly those with jackpots or special bonus rounds – do require a certain stake size to be used for a player to have a chance of triggering the feature. Some slots have varying RTP ratios that increase with higher stakes too.
However, as a general rule of thumb, your win rate is not linked to the size of your stake.
It doesn’t matter whether you stake the minimum, the maximum or somewhere in between, the likelihood of a winning combination being spun remains wholly random and unpredictable.
Roulette Croupiers Can Cheat the Wheel
It’s absolutely impossible for any human mind to accurately predict where the ball in a roulette wheel will finish up simply by eye alone.
Some have used all manner of technologies to track the velocity of the wheel and place bets (and win) accordingly, but every spin of the wheel is relatively consistent – the croupier will spin it with a similar level of force each time, and the ball will dance around at random as it deflects into the ‘frets’ around each numbered pocket.
They are simply unable to cheat you by spinning the wheel in a way that bypasses your bet-upon numbers or colour.
Casinos Don’t Like Winners
One of the most intriguing discussion points in gambling is the ability of sports betting sites to ‘limit’ punters, i.e. only allow to them wager small stakes. They are covered, dubiously or not, by their terms and conditions in such cases.
But sports betting is considered to be a game of skill, in a legal sense, whereas casino gaming is considered a game of luck. It therefore operates under different rules.
So, if you embark on a winning streak, you’re not going to get kicked out of a casino. These consecutive wins happen often on the gaming floor, particularly in games with the lowest house edge like blackjack.
And, of course, it’s not impossible for you to enjoy multiple winning spins on the slots or roulette wheel – statistically improbable, yes, but not impossible.
The only grounds that a casino has for banning you from their tables (unruly behaviour aside) is if they accuse you of card counting.
Card counting isn’t illegal in a criminal sense, so you won’t face sanctions in that regard, although casinos do have the power to eject you from the building if they suspect you are engaging in such practices. If Hollywood royalty like Ben Affleck can’t get away with it, you’ve unfortunately got no chance either.
My Online Casino Won’t Pay Out
It’s true that some online casinos make it slightly complicated for you to withdraw your winnings – they may ask you for additional verification, for example.
This can be frustrating, but they cannot stop you from cashing out monies made from their games.
The only possible bone of contention comes when a game has ‘malfunctioned’. This is rare, obviously, but it does happen, with the fallout being that players who think they’ve won – sometimes huge sums, too – are later left disappointed if the casino can prove that the slot being played had a glitch in its code.
Some rather high-profile court cases have unfolded in recent years in which this very scenario played out. One woman thought she had won more than £30 million playing a slot at Resorts World Casino in New York, was told the game had malfunctioned and then tried to sue the casino for her loss when she was instead offered a steak dinner.
But casino chiefs were able to prove that the game had broken down, while their legal team used the disclaimer ‘malfunctions void all pays and plays’ that all slot machines come with.
To conclude, no online casino can withhold your winnings from you unless you have won after a slot or other game has provably malfunctioned.
I Can Beat the House
It’s always very dangerous to associate a winning streak with some kind of innate skill.
With some casino games, you can lessen the house edge. As mentioned, those that deploy ‘perfect’ blackjack strategy – that is, playing the percentages with every hand – can reduce the casino’s advantage from 5% to as little as 0.5%.
In this case, lengthy winning runs can be attributed to some skill, although the luck of getting good cards – or the dealer receiving several hands of poor cards – is still necessarily implicit in your success.
Otherwise, games like slots and roulette have absolutely zero skill requirement – therefore, no ‘system’ devised by a player can increase their chances of winning.
As a side note, there are staking systems that can be very useful in managing your money better – it’s worth learning more about these if you struggle for discipline when playing your favourite casino games.