Millions of people worldwide have placed bets at online casinos at one time or another. Some people make something resembling a career out of it, playing one game or another that they happen to be very good at and exploiting the opportunities that the games offer them. Others walk away before they lose any reasonable amount of money. People who don’t play at online casinos make it very clear that they don’t trust them. It’s common knowledge that every online casino offers its customers a decent chunk of bonus money to bet with, right at the start of their time with the casino.
It may seem like the answer is obvious, but it is worth asking the question of how online casinos actually make money. People do win at casinos, often taking out a lot more than they put in – so where do online casinos find the money to make those payouts and also post big profits? That’s what we’re going to look at right now.
House Edge
You’ll hear the term “house edge” used a lot when you listen to anyone talking about casino games. It’s why we have the saying “the house always wins”. Of course, that saying should be “in the long term, the house always wins”, because it’s entirely possible to turn up, win £20 on roulette and then get out of there never to play again. The casinos harness probability to ensure that they will always make a profit. For your win, dozens of other players will try to do the same and will lose. Even if they’re not losing much, a lot of people losing a bit of money adds up to a lot of money for the casino.
Poker rake
The house doesn’t have the edge when it comes to poker, because the house usually isn’t playing. It will be you against a few other human players – so where is the profit for the house here? It’s in the fact that you have to buy in if you want to play. This may be done in different ways: when you make a bet; every half-hour; or if you are playing in a tournament you will have to pay a fee upfront. While most of the money paid into a poker game is paid back out in winnings, the casino keeps a cut of it. And remember, they’re not really paying your winnings, those are coming from the players who have lost.
Give a little to get a lot
You are aware that casinos offer bonuses to attract new customers. If you’re lucky, when you have used the bonus and gone through the process of wagering it, you’ll have some money left over. For many players, though, they bust out before they ever get to cash out any winnings. But you will win just enough during that time to show you that winning is possible, and you will try again. If you won’t, hundreds of other people will and this time, when they lose (as a majority of them will), they’ll lose their money straight to the casino.
So you see, it is possible for you to win at an online casino, and they don’t need to be hoodwinking anyone to make it possible. Casinos make their money by offering the chance for you to win, which is all they ever promise.