Online casino gambling questions

There are many different Internet websites where you can play for real money. You can play all the traditional casino games like; Blackjack 21, video poker, slots, poker and all the other casino games you know from the real brick and mortar casinos. The online gamblers can deposit money into there interent casino account by credit card, sending a check, or wiring money or using one of the other online payment solutions.. Most online casinos require you to download special casino software to play the casino games - normaly you don't run the games through your web browser. Though there many different online casinos, most use casino software made by one of these companies: (Microgaming, Boss Media, Cryptologic, Playtech, Real Time Gaming and Net Entertainment). Most casino software won't run on Mac computers - unless you choose the "no download" version of the casino software.

When you choose to gamble at casinos online you have many advantages in comparison to traditional brick and mortar casinos such as:

Online casinos are open 24/7 - 365 days a year.
You get the online casino software for free.
There is no "dress-code" - it is entirely up to you what to wear while you play. You can play in your undies if you like.
Online casinos have much higher pay out percentages than most other gambling can offer you.
Most online casinos frequently have great competitions and promotional offers to there existing players. Most of the online casinos recommended here at Free-blackjack.com will give new players a signup bonus to welcome them.
You can play for fun and practice your gambling skills before you decide to wager for real money - online casino gambling for fun can also be done at Guide2Casino.com. Just click at the button 'Play for fun'.
Get your winnings mailed to your home address or have the money wired directly to your bank account.

In many countries gambling on the INternet is legal. If you are living in an area where gambling in brick and mortar casinos is illegal it is perhaps also illegal for you to gamble at an online casino. When a ney player signup at an online casino, the casino will carefully go through the information you provide and will find out if the city, state or county you are living in prohibits gambling.

However this is currently a bit of a gray area and it first of all depends on where you live and your country of residency. In some states in America, it's illegal to participate in Internet gambling. This is due to legislators trying to impose terms of the so called "wire act" to the Internet, a law that was to make betting on horses (or other animals) illegal over the phone. But trying to impose this law on the Internet does not quite work; There are simply too many loopholes and pitfalls. Also, to enforce a law banning certain activity on the Internet would be extremly difficult to enforce. There would be a certain invasion of privacy if government officials tried to monitor what websites people visited. To date, there are no federal laws that will prosecute online bettors. There are laws that prohibit online casinos to accept bets (that's why they are liscened in countries where it is legal). But there are some states that do have laws passed: California, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin all have some form of a law that prohibits online gambling.

Online casinos locate their web servers in offshore countries where gambling online is legal, so even if you're in the U.S., your online bet technicaly takes place outside the U.S. But still, there are few laws specifically about gambling on the internet so the legality is a gray area.

No - not a chance. Currently, there are no "crack downs" on people betting online. As mentioned above, there are several states in the US that have certain laws for online bettors, but most laws prohibit the accepting of bets; not the placing of bets. Most laws that are passed - or are attemped to pass - are aimed at the opnine casinos, not the casual player.

If a casino accepts bets from a US citizen, they might be either breaking US law or perhaps their own licensing agreements. Many casinos don't accept bets from US citizens or from other jurisdictions that are attempting to prohibit online gaming just to remain on the safe side and to avoid any possible prosecution. It's in the casinos' own best interest not to accept these bets. However many online Casinos DO accept bets from US and Canada.

To date, there are no federal laws that will prosecute online bettors. There are laws that prohibit online casinos to accept bets (that's why they are liscened in countries where it is legal). But there are some states that do have laws passed: California, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin all have some form of a law that prohibits online gambling. The best bet - no pun intended - is to check with your local legislators to find out if it's okay. Or better yet, call up your local police department to see if they even care.

Again this pertains only to those who live in the states. Obviously each country has its own laws; in the UK its perfectly legal, in fact encouraged, in Germany it's much like the states; please check with your local jurisdictions to find out what's up

Yes. You have to be at least 18 or older to play for real money. If you are not 18 you can always play for fun at most online casinos. Some places even want you to be at least 21 before they will allow you to place bets.

What happens if your teenager uses your credit card to gamble online without your permission?

Contact the casino immediately and explain the situation. Unfortunately many people have used this ploy to renege on their losses (I don't think anyone has complained to a casino that their teenaged son or daughter won money without their consent!) and most of the casinos will find it difficult to believe, but they might be willing to cooperate and return any lost funds. If the casino won't budge, report it to your bank as transactions made by a stolen card, then have your teenager thrown in Juvenile Hall for a few months. Don't plan on playing at this casino again, or many others like it. Most casinos share a "blacklist" of credit card accounts that have posed problems. Remember this is a business and instances of customer fraud are much higher than any fraud perpetrated by the casinos.

Note that Gambling debts by a minor are not collectable in any state in the U.S. However, if the credit card holder renegs on a debt, that card and residential address will be blacklisted throughout the industry.

There are hundreds of online casinos on the internet and there are opening more and more each day. Inform yourself of the online casino you are about to play in. We gathered all kinds of information from many different online casinos and selected only the best. Try our “ Best Online Casinos ” and you will find a wide range of different casinos it is safe to play in.

When looking for an online casino to play, I recommend that you do the following:

Check to see if the casino is licensed in a sovereign government? If no, find another casino. If yes, proceed to #2.
Is there a toll free customer service number that is answered 24 hours a day? If no, find another casino. If yes, proceed to #3.
Do they allow you to play for free? This is very important; it gives you the chance to check out their software before you spend any money. If they do not, find another online casino. If they do, proceed to the next section.
What is the smallest denomination of their poker and slot machines? You're looking for a wide variety of denominations, such as nickels, quarters, dollars and five-dollar machines.
How many different versions of video poker do they have? You're looking for at least three. That tells you that the operator has spent a lot of money on the software. Beware of those casinos that tell you they only have one version of video poker.
Does the casino have a place where they keep track of your purchases and cashouts?
How is the customer service at this onlin casino? Simple, just send them an email with a question and see how long it takes them to reply (robot responses don't count).

Level of service at the online casino
Selection of casino games
The graphics of the online casino software
Is the signup bonus good ?
Does the online casino charge a fee to send you your winnings ?
Does the online casino often have special events/happenings/competitions ?
How often does the online casino send new offers to existing players ?
Is it possible to win the "BIG" prize (progressive jackpots) at this online casino ?
Does the online casino offer a Refer A Friend bonus ?

And most importantly – How did they treat us when we tried them out ? The chances are realistic that if you get involved with a casino that has been unfair to us, it will also be unfair to you. The Casinos recommended here at Free-blackjack.com have treated us with fairness and respect – they will probobly treat you the same way.

Here at Free-blackjack.com, we put our money where are mouth is! We have personally played at every single casino we have recommended. We have also played hundreds of other online casino gambling sites that we chose not to recommend here at Free-Blackjack.com

Generally speaking - yes they are honest. Most of the casinos online don't have to rigge their casino games because like any real online casino the house edge and the players mistakes make them more then enough profit. Most online casinos constantly test their casino games on fairness and to find out if there is something strange going on with the casino games. Still, there are some dishonest casinos out there - so make sure security comes first. Just like with land based casinos - and all other companies - no online casino wants to have it's business ruined by getting a reputation for cheating its customers. If it were common for online casinos to cheat their customers, then no one would play online, and the casinos wouldn't make any money. There's actually more money to be made by dealing an honest casino game, because it allows you to build a customer base which will patronize the casino for years. The handful of online casinos stupid enough to try to cheat their customers saw their profits quickly dry up as word spread through the Internet and they stopped getting new customers.

Another thing that inspires confidence is that most casinos use off-the-shelf casino software from one of big online casino software companies - like Microgaming, Playtech, Cryptologic, Boss Media, Net Entertainment, Real Time Gaming - , which makes it harder for them to fix the casino games. As long as the onlein casino software provider is reputable, it's a good bet that the casino game is fair.

But of course there's a flipside: For starters, unlike casino games, you can't see the actual deck of cards being dealt or watch the actual ball spinning in the roulette wheel. Accepting the results of a given hand therefore becomes an act of faith. Of course, even in a land based casino, playing slot machines is an act of faith, because you're not privy to what's happening inside the computer.

Another consideration is that most online casino companies are offshore, so it wouldn't be hard for them to blow you off if you had a dispute. And if the company goes bankrupt or skips town, what will happen to any money you've deposited?

While these are valid considerations, they're easily overcome by simply playing at a well-known, widely-respected online casino whose log files are audited. Online casinos are flourishing only because most people don't have bad experienes with them. If most people got cheated, they'd disappear because nobody would play online. Realizing that many potential customers are wary of gambling online, several online casinos have contracted with independent accounting or actuary firms such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers to perform monthly reviews of their log files to verify their fairness. A list of casinos whose files are professionally reviewed is available at free-blackjack.com. While the fact that a casino's log files is reviewed is not a guarantee of fairness, it's still a pretty good indicator. Free-blackjack.com recommend that you favor only online casinos whose results are reviewed.

Not necessarily. Most casinos offer regular online gambling for games like Black Jack, Poker and Roulette. The only reason why casinos let you download their software is for better graphics, sound and animation. In case you don't care if the graphics and animations are better or not, it is recommended you don't download anything for gambling.

We will try to make it as easy as possible for you to get started on a casino game. This instruction will thoroughly take you through the course of downloading the casino program to your computer until you are ready to start the game.

First of all you need to go to the casino's home page: find where it says, "download." Press "download" and then decide where to save the program file (or start file) on your own computer. It would be smart to save it a place where you will be able to find it again. We suggest you to set up a file named "casino." In this you set up a second file that you name "SETUP." This will provide you with an overview of your recently downloaded casinos.

Now you save the file just found in the file chosen for this purpose: give it its original name e.g. "GeishaLounge_w" (GeishaLounge).

Downloading should not take more than 10-15 minutes at a 56k modem. This however, will of course depend on your Internet connection as well as the size of the file in question.

If required please remember to key in your correct email address. Some casinos are in the habit of sending out a "key," you will need this "key" in order to access the installation program!

Having downloaded the file you need to run the program (e.g. "GeishaLounge_w") from the file that you saved it in.

Double click on the icon; this will hopefully get the installation program started.

Different methods of installation will be used according to the casino that you want to install.

If the file that you have downloaded is a start file only, the program will now (when you have double clicked the file) download what is left of the casino software.

You must tell the installation program where you want to install the casino. If you have sat up a file for your casinos put this new file here and then press NEXT. Following this you need to follow the instructions of the installation program; this should not be too difficult.

Most often you will find the casino pressing START>PROGRAMMS> in the menu.
To get started you need to sign up at the casino. To do this press "NEW PLAYER" or "NEW USER" as you enter the casino program. Make sure to press PLAY FOR REAL or PLAY TO WAGNER if you want to gamble for real. Otherwise press PLAY FOR FUN etc.

Subsequently you need to find yourself a username as well as a password (some casinos automatically provide you with a username).

You should now be ready to log on and insert some money (if this is required in order to receive the bonus).

Now choose the CASHIER or BANK function. You need to register your credit card, so press REGISTER CREDIT CARD.

Write down the 3-numbered code that you find at the back of your credit card in the "Security Code" field. The three numbers that you need to note down are the ones that you find at the end of the long combination of numbers.

If you need further assistance the casino's home page will most likely be able to guide you through your problems. Otherwise you could also mail the casino itself and ask for help.

Normaly Mac users have it easier than PC users -- but online casino gambling is a notable exception. That's because most download casino software doesn't run on Macs. However many of the casinos offer Flash or Java versions - so called "no-download casinos" to target the Mac users.)

Buy a software program called VirtualPC which lets you run Windows software on your Mac.

Find a casino that offers "no-download" casino games, meaning games that are played directly in your browser window with Java, Flash, or Shockwave. Free-Blackjack.com has a list of no-download casino software providers, and the casinos which use their software. This isn't a great option because Flash, Java and Html casino versions are generely not at as great as the download versions of the casinos. But it works and its fast to get started gambling.

You have to make a deposit to the casino. Most online casinos accept credit cards, checks, money order, wire transfer or Neteller, to get you started. Credit cards used to be the most popular way to make this deposit because you can start playing right away and don't have to wait until the casino gets your check in the mail.

These days many people will not be able to successfully use their credit cards to purchase chips because of stringent laws passed in some jurisdictions. My personal favorite to use is Neteller based on speed and ease of use. Your winnings will, based on the casino, be returned to your credit card, your Neteller account, or sent to you by check.

I recommend that you use Neteller, Firepay or Prepayed ATM to make online casino deposits - if you are living in USA. Recent legislation in the United States has seen an immediat clampdown on the ability of individuals touse their Mastercard or Visa Cards in conjunction with on-line gambling. Because several Card issuing Banks in the United States – but not all - are rejecting these cards, Free-Blackjack.com recommends you use Neteller, Prepayed ATM or FirePay to purchase casino credits.

Most casinos will send you a check for your winnings within a week. In case you made the deposit with a check or money order the casino will send you a check for the winnings and your original deposit, if you want to. If you made your deposit by credit card the casino will only credit your card up to the amount you originally deposited and the rest of the winnings will also be sent to you by mail.

Most casinos require you to open an account with a credit card; normally with Neteller or Firepay. If you win more than your deposit, many casinos will mail you a check for the difference. Some will even FedEx the check. It's important to understand the casinos' paying procedures before making your first bet. This will normally be found in their Terms and Conditions section. Read it! If you do not have a credit card, there are other options too. But really, no credit card? C'mon now! :)

Many casinos use a third party to manage your funds. Cryptologic is one of them – they use a company called Ecash Direct. Cryptologic allows you to open an account and deposit funds via personal check, money wire, Neteller or credit card. This is a very secure way to go. If you don't want to take any losses beyond $200, then you don't deposit more than that much. If you are worried about online casinos withdrawing funds from your Visa, this is the answer.

Some casinos will wire you immediately, some will send a check in the mail, some will credit your Neteller account or credit card, some casino disappear overnight. Each casino operates differently and has different options.

Compulsive gambling: You can actually get addicted to playing online casino. This illness is called addictive gambling or compulsive gambling. Some people suffer from an uncontrollable desire to gamble; they simply cannot stop playing. It is often difficult for people to realize that they have lost control gambling. If you have problems in connection with this be sure to get help, otherwise you might ruin your life - you will not be the only one suffering, so will your family and friends. Various clinics that help people suffering from addictive behavouirs can be found all over the country. At these clinics, professionals try to guide gambling maniacs back to a normal life teaching them how to control their desire for gambling.

Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling?
Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy?
Did gambling affect your reputation?
Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?
Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?
Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?
After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?
After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more?
Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone?
Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling?
Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?
Were you reluctant to use "gambling money" for normal expenditures?
Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family?
Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned?
Have you ever gambled to escape worry or trouble?
Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling?
Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble?
Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling?
Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling?
Most compulsive gamblers will answer yes to at least seven of these questions.

1.) Thou Shalt Know The Local Law
You should always know if it is legal in your state to gamble, even online. Don't think just because you are gambling online, the law doesn't count. If you are living in a state, country or province where gambling is illegal, it is also illegal for you to play at online casinos. Always make sure you are not living in such an area before wagering any money. In case you don't know, contact the local authorities.

2.) Thou Shalt Know Thy Online Casino
By viewing the website of an online casino you can already tell if it is a serious one. A good online casino will always have extensive info pages which tell you exactly where the casino is licensed, who is behind the casino, their exact local rules and guidelines, what their cash policies are and how to contact them. Don't get fooled by glamorous looking casinos that don't even provide accurate e-mail addresses or customer support.

3.) Thou Shalt Play For Free
All the good online casinos offer a play for free option. You should always try this option first, because this way you can check out the casinos games and their odds. If the casino you are playing in does not have that option you should go to a different casino. There is no need to give your money to the first casino you lay eyes on. There is a lot of casinos out there and you should try at least a couple of them before you start risking your money.

4.) Thou Shalt Demand Customer Support
As mentioned above, good online casinos also offer a good customer support. The least you can expect is a provided e-mail address and most even offer s 24 hours, 365 days a year telephone support. Other casinos offer messageboards or chatrooms for their customers. Try out their customer support before you run into unexpected troubles. Because if you don't and run into troubles there might not be a way to contact them in any way if it is a bad casino.

5.) Thou Shalt Know Thy Payoff Options
Most online casinos will recharge the amount of your original deposit back to your creditcard, but not your winnings. This is normal. They will send you a check for your winnings within 2 weeks. Some casinos even offer a wire transfer for a small fee. Read more about online casinos payout options here.

6.) Thou Shalt Check Out The Bonuses
Every good casino offer certain bonuses for their players. Those bonuses are made to attract new players and keep regular players in their casino. This is standard in any casino. They range from frequent player programs to referral bonuses and even sign on bonuses where you get up to $100 free on your first deposit. With this small gifts casinos thank their customers and you have the certainty that you don't just have fun gambling but even get little rewards for it.

7.) Thou Shalt Know That Games Are Not Created Equal
Never forget every online casino is basically just software. This mean the payouts, house commissions, number of cards in a play and just about everything can be set how the software programmer designs it. That does not mean the games are set to loose and cheat you out of your money. The laws with this are really strict and casinos get tested all the time. It just means some online casinos have better odds than others.

8.) Thou Shalt Protect Thy Data
Security is always very important if you sign up for anything, anywhere on the internet. When it comes to the actual sign on process in an online casino there are a couple of things you should always pay attention to.The following are things you have to look out for to ensure the casino you are playing on is save and secure.
± First of all the casino should open a secure and data-encrypted link to protect your info.
± Your browser will tell you to check the little lock symbol at the bottom of the browser and tells you this is a secure site you are about to view.
± The usual http:// on the beginning of the URL will be replaced by https://.
It can never be mentioned to often, you always have to look out for at least one of the above. Giving your personal address and creditcard number to somebody you trust is one thing but in case your information is not secured you never know who else can see it.

9.) Thou Shalt Play To Win
Since you are playing at home you should always take your time to make your decision. Compared to an actual casino the advantage in an online casino is more on your side. You can always use any information you have gathered to achieve optimal play. Whether this is a nice little strategy for Video Poker, a handy Black Jack Chart or any other info you have. Take your time. The machine will wait for you to make your move regardless how long it takes.

10.) Thou Shalt Enjoy Thyself
If you choose to gamble in an online casino you will be missing out on all the charms a physical casino offers. The smoke, the free drinks, the hangers-on and all that. Granted, you are playing in the comfort of your home but you might as well do whatever it takes to get the most out of the online gambling experience. Pour yourself a drink, fire up a good cigar, whatever. There is nobody better to pamper the player than you.

Let me say loud and clear that card counting is hard and is not as rewarding as television and the movies make it out to be. If it were an easy way to make money everyone would be doing it.

If you do not know the basic blackjack strategy, trying to count cards is highly ill-advised. Experienced card counters still play by the basic strategy the great majority of the time. There can be no short cut around learning the basic strategy, those who attempt card counting without a firm foundation in the basic strategy are making a big mistake.

To be a successful counter you have to be able to count down a deck fast and memorize large tables of numbers as well as make it look like you're just a casual player. Furthermore, with today's rules, a realistic advantage the counter will have is only 0.5% to 1.5%. You will not win money slowly and gradually but your bankroll will go up and down like a roller coaster in the short run. Only in the long run over hundreds of hours of playing can you count on winning.

The underlying principle behind card counting is that a deck rich is tens and aces is good for the player, a deck rich in small cards is good for the dealer. The reason for this is complicated but to give just two examples: (1) Blackjacks are more common in ten and ace rich decks, which benefit the player more than the dealer. (2) The probability of busting a stiff hand is greater. The dealer is forced to hit a stiff hand and the player is not.

To gauge the richness of the deck in good cards the player will keep track of the cards the are already played. Strategies vary but all assign a point value to each card. For example the Ken Uston's Plus/Minus strategy assigns a value of +1 to 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and -1 to tens and aces. Everything else is 0, or neutral. At the beginning of a deck or shoe the count is 0. Then the counter constantly adds and subtracts from the count according to the cards played. This running total is called the "running count." A positive count means that a disproportional number of small cards have already been played which means the deck is rich in large cards. To determine the "true count" divide the running count by the number of decks left to be played, or in some strategies the number of half decks. This will tell you the relative richness of the deck in good cards.

The true count is used in two ways, to determine how much to bet and how to play your hand. Unless it is obvious every situation has a line in which you should play one way if the count is above the line and another if below. For example a 12 against a 6 may dictate that you stand if the true count is +1 or greater and hit if the true count is less than +1. The counter will also bet more when the deck is rich in good cards.

A problem arises when it comes to treating aces. The player should bet more when the deck is rich in aces since they add to the probability of getting a blackjack. However, when it comes to playing your hand the number of aces left is not nearly as important as the number of tens, so it is desirable, but not necessary, to distinguish between tens and aces. Some card counting strategies keep a side count of aces. In the Hi-Opt I and Revere Plus/Minus aces are counted separately and only considered when making the wager. This is a more accurate and powerful way to play than assigning a negative value to aces and not keeping a side count, as some strategies do. Yet many people feel that for the beginner it is too confusing to keep two counts. A player is more likely to make mistakes keeping two counts and that costs money. The efficiency of a strategy that does not keep a side count of aces is only modestly less but you likely will gain more from fewer mistakes made. Different experts fall in various places in the spectrum in terms of what to recommend for the beginner. The Zen Count takes the middle ground and gives aces a value of -1 and tens -2. Personally I have tried both and would recommend against a count that requires a side count of aces to a person ready to take up card counting. The Uston Advanced Plus/Minus is a good strategy that does not involve an ace side count and can be found in the book Million Dollar Blackjack. How well you know a counting strategy is much more important that which strategy you know.

Legally speaking the player may play blackjack any way he wants without cheating or using a computer, and the casinos may do anything from making conditions unfavorable to barring in an effort to stop anyone who they deem has an advantage over the game. Much of the challenge of card counting is avoiding suspicion that you are anything but a normal non-counting player. The most obvious indication that somebody is counting is that they make a substantial increase in bet size after a lot of small cards leave the table. Although the greater the factor by which you can increase your bet the greater your odds of winning, more than doubling your last bet is a fast way to arouse "heat" from the dealer and pit boss. Usually when casinos do realize you are counting they will either shuffle the cards whenever you increase your bet, essentially removing any advantage, or ask you to leave.

Most online casinos shuffle after every hand, especially in single deck. However just the cards on the table can be enough to deviate a bit from the basic strategy sometimes. Personaly I just use the basic blackjack strategi. - remember to print out a free copy of our basic strategy blackjack chart.

Remember That Nothing Beats A Game Of Chance
You know the "systems" you've heard about the ones that are supposed to be a sure-fire way to beat Roulette or Craps, the Lottery, or even Keno? They may as well be written on toilet paper 'cause that's what they're good for. Nothing short of a rigged game is going to guarantee that you'll walk away a winner from the casino. And those fancy betting systems? Try them out on a "Free" game for a while and you'll see how far they get you. Fibonacci, Martingale, Grand Martingale, whatever. They all spell "lose faster" not "win more".

Have you ever come across someone marketing a guaranteed winning system for roulette, or perhaps a way to beat the house at Blackjack?

Sure you have. Well guess what? Some of them actually WORK! That is, if you have a totally bottomless pit of money at your disposal.

Let's face it - systems do NOT work. You can't beat mathematical odds which are established by the rules of the game.

If you could, how would the casinos stay in business? Why doesn't EVERYONE have access to the guaranteed, tried-and-tested, foolproof method of bankrupting a casino? Because there arent any.

Fortunately, I never paid for any systems. If you must spend money, buy a book called "Beat the Dealer" by Edward Thorp, the father of card counting for blackjack.

Blackjack is perhaps the only game where one could ever get an edge on the house. Assuming you had all of the most liberal rules in your favor, you could gain an edge of 0.5 percent - frankly, that's hardly an advantage unless you're willing to play a few million hands or so, or perhaps you can afford to risk $1000 a hand over a long period of play.

Of course, you can count cards in a casino - online it doesn't work, of course - but counting cards is not that easy, considering you also have to know how to manage bet sizes, as well as the ability to fool the pitboss into thinking you are drunk and just plain lucky. Because if you are caught counting cards, you will be thrown out with instructions to never return again - and there's a great likelihood that the information will be shared with other casinos.

Basically, all these systems are about bet management. Some of them are suicidal, such as the Martingale system, which requires you to double your bet each time you lose, until you win.

Others recommend increasing your bet when you win - this is a system which can potentially turn into a lot of money if you hit a nice streak, but there is absolutely no guarantee that you will do so. Besides which the odds are no more in your favor with a large bet than they are with a small bet - in fact, they are almost NEVER in your favor.

Systems are a casino's best friend. They might even encourage you to implement some sort of betting system.

I've had a couple of people asking about random number generators. Although I don't have much experience with them I probably know enough about them to answer a few questions.

Computers can't generate truly random numbers. In order for a computer to arrive at a number you must tell it exactly how to arrive at that number. In doing so you can give the computer other numbers, operators (addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc), and formulas. For example you could tell the computer to start with the number 2, perform a torourous set of operations on it, and it would give you the result (lets say 25). No matter how complicated the instructions you gave the computer every time you tell it to start with 2 it will always give you 25 back. Obviously in order for online casinos to simulate blackjack (or whatever game) they must have some way of making different combinations of cards come up each time you play.

The only way to get a different result from the computer (still following the 2 & 25 example) is to tell it to start it with a different number. This is preceisely what (pseudo) random number generators do. Instead of telling the computer to start with 2 the RNG might tell the computer to check your computer's clock and use whatever number the second hand is at. This would lead to 60 different possible outcomes (there are 60 different numbers the second hand might be at). This is certainly better than nothing, but not something you'd be able to base an online casino off of. Players would quickly learn that hitting deal at just the right time would always net them a winning hand.
Another method might be to use a number like Pi (3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971...). Pi is an example of an "irrational" number. This means if you were to write out say the first 1,000,000 digits of Pi you would not find any repeating pattern in the digits. In fact no matter how many digits of Pi you wrote out the series would never begin to repeat itself. Using an efficient algorithm a computer can crank out the first billion digits of Pi in very little time. Going through the first billion digits of Pi would be a great way to generate random numbers. Unfortunately this plan would fail for an online casino if one of the players ever found out about it. It might take the player a while to figure out the formula for how the digits taken from Pi were used to determine the cards on his screen, but as soon as he did he'd be able to predict future cards and have a huge advantage over the house! Another way it might fail would be if the digits of Pi just happened run in such a way that they gave the player more winning hands than usual.

The actual method used to calculate pseudo random numbers is sort of a combination of these two methods. First a "seed" is generated by checking the computer's clock, or some other number the computer has access to that is constantly changing. This seed is then used to pick a point in the number sequence to jump in at. For example if the seed was 624,053 the RNG might jump to the 624,053th digit of Pi and begin using numbers from this point on. Even if one of the players knew his BJ hands were somehow related to the digits of Pi it would be more difficult to find how they were related if he had no idea where in the sequence he was.

I don't believe so. In fact it's not very convenient for a computer to have to keep track of a billion different numbers just to generate pseudo random numbers. Instead what usually happens is that a complicated formula is used to calculate a "random" number from the initial seed. This "random" number is then plugged right back into the same formula (as if it were the seed) to generate another "random" number. This second "random" number is also put through the same formula to generate a third "random" number. This process is repeated every time another "random" number is desired. How well this process works depends on the function used. If a poor function is used you might see a sequence like:
0.99743, 0.65031, 0.10550, ....(skip 1,000 numbers)..., 0.96523, 0.65031
What wrong with this sequence is that one of the numbers has repeated. Since the next random number is determined by the last number generated the next number in the sequence above would have to be 0.10550. Then after another 1,002 numbers the cycle would repeat itself again. Repeating cycles are a bad thing because an alert player might be able to use it to predict the outcome of his bets, or even worse the 1,000 blackjack cards corresponding to these numbers might lead to a larger percentage of hands in which the player wins than usual. There are a lot of other things that can go wrong with these pseudo random number generating functions, but they all lead to the same problems:

For the game of blackjack I can't imagine too many casinos caring if they discovered that their RNG formula was slightly biased against the player.
On the other hand let's consider the game of roulette. If the RNG function was slightly biased such that the number 9 tended to come up more often than any other number this could cost the casino if a player ever discovered it. In fact any bias would favor the player in roulette if he knew about it. Because of this a RNG function must be thoroughly tested before being used in casino software. Now let's consider a more subtle case. There are really only so many biases an online casino can test for and if they really wanted to eliminate them all they'd probably never find a usable RNG function. A subtle bias might be something like 0 showing up more often than expected on all spins following a 9. Perhaps there are many different subtle biases like this that would let any player make a killing if they were aware of them. It's interesting that although a biased wheel could be a real problem for a land casino these subtle biases only effect online casinos. Of course an online casino could easily overcome such problems by making their software "non-random" (i.e. "invincible mode") at times against the player.

If online casinos use a fair RNG why won't they release the formula they're using to prove it?

Going back to the roulette example, it would be almost impossible for a player to find subtle biases in the game. It's not unthinkable for the pattern 9, 0 to emerge a few times in a roulette session consisting of a large number of spins. In fact if you were to record a few thousand spins you'd find several number pairs that showed up more frequently than others. Whether this is because of a true subtle bias, or simply chance is difficult to say. The only practical way a player could find subtle biases would be to experiment with the casino's RNG formula. It wouldn't be hard to write a computer program to simulate 1,000,000,000,000 roulette spins at a given casino if you knew their RNG formula and then to analyze the data in seach of such subtle biases. This is one of the reasons online casinos might not want to reveal their RNG formulas.

If an online casino is using a fair RNG why would they need to change the formula?

One obvious reason would be that the RNG wasn't really fair to begin with or that they wanted to "rig" their casino. Another possibility relates to the subject of subtle biases. Even thought most online casinos will test their RNG functions against a battery of "randomness tests" passing these tests doesn't insure the function is completely without bias. If a year after releasing their software they discover a subtle bias they might have missed before or they notice a player is winning in a way that seems suspicious it might make sense to slightly modify the RNG formula to destroy the biases. Yet another possibility would be that the casino was in a rush to get their software to market. Because of this they settled for a less than perfect RNG function that failed some randomness tests. It was the best they had at the time and now that they've had some more time to develop a superior function they would like to use the new function.

There's a debate in philosophy over whether such a thing as "free will" (usually thought of as unpredictability) exists or whether our world is a deterministic one. I'm not going to touch this debate, but instead consider "true random numbers" simply to be numbers that cannot be predicted by another person using any mathematical formula.
The answer to this question is yes. Encryption programs commonly obtain truly random numbers by asking the user to type a sentence using the keyboard. By measuing the time between each keystroke essentially random numbers can be obtained. Unfortunatly this solution isn't really feasible for online casinos unless they want to employ people to randomly press keys all day long.
Another novel approach involves radioactive decay. A geiger counter is an instrument that creates an electrical current every time a charged particle passes through its sensor. Since the time between each radioactive decay (which shoots off a charged particle) in a given material is unpredictable the bursts of current through a geiger counter is also unpredictable. Based on the type of material it is possible to say on average how much time will pass between each decay, but it's impossible to predict exactly how long it will be between two particular decays. Hooking a geiger counter up to a computer would be an ideal method for determining random numbers.

In closing I'd like to add a few things:
I'm not claiming that online casinos try to use fair RNG formulas, aren't "rigged", or anything of the sort. I'm just saying that if they did try to use true pseudo random number generators the topics I've addressed would apply."

Should you double your bet after every loss at even money games? Would you not win your original bet for every single win, regardless of how many losses preceded the win? Can this method lose?

Yes this method can and will lose. This method, known as the Martingale, only works if you have an infinite supply of money and there is no maximum bet. In real life you will eventually either run up against the limit of your bankroll or the maximum bet size. Like most gambling systems this one trades a lot of small wins for a few huge losses. In the long run you will lose.

The Martingale system is also mentioned in Encyclopedia Brittanica under the topic "roulette":

"The oldest and most common betting system is the Martingale or "doubling-up" system, in which bets are doubled progressively. This probably dates back to the invention of the Roulette wheel, but every day of the week some gambler somewhere reinvents it, or some variation of it, and believes he has something new. Over the years hundreds of 'sure-fire' winning systems have been dreamed up, but regardless of what system is used, in the long run it cannot overcome the house's advantage of the 0, or 0 and 00. This house advantage is the only system that consistently wins in the long run."

What I have to say on online casino gambling money management can be summed up in one word, moderation. Don't bet anything that would put you in an uncomfortable situation to lose. Gamble only with money you would normally devote to entertainment. Don't play tired or drunk. Do other activities besides gambling.

You have to stop being greedy. Think first what you want to achieve before you put your money at risk. Do you want to have fun and just play online for a couple of hours or are you serious about winning a certain amount of money, or a combination of both reasons? Whether you play for fun or for serious money make sure you set achievable goals. Let's say you are willing to risk a $100 bankroll. If you hope to turn those $100 into $100.000, then you are dead wrong. But there is a rather realistic chance to double your money or even turn $100 into $300, $400 or even more. If doubling is your goal you should quit right after you have achieved it.

If you just want to have online gambling fun for a couple of hours regardless how much you win or lose you should look out for low limit table games or play the 25 cent machines like video poker. They are fun and if you really do lose it won't be much and you will still occupy yourself for a long time.

Don't forget to set your goals before you start onling casino gambling and make sure to stick to it, and most important is that you don't let the greed take over. This way you are in an excellent position to start gambling, online or in a regular casino, and have a great chance to reach your goal. You will also be certain that you don't lose more money than you wanted to risk from the beginning. This is Money Managment.

Make sure you stick to these very simple rules and be disciplined. You will see if you do so you will have a much more satisfying, and not so costly online gambling experience. Common sense and being in control are probably the most powerful weapons in the "War" against a online casino.

Much more important is that you know everything there is to know about the games you are playing. You wouldn't buy stocks from a company you didn't know what exactly they manufacture. Well, it is the same with gambling. Don't risk your money on something you are not absolutely sure how it works. Visit our Gambling Rules and strategies pages before gambling.

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