Gamblers are often superstitious and have made up many myths about casinos and casino games. They believe that they are lucky when they win and that the casino “cheats” when they lose. They are sure that if they play enough, they will eventually win and that every game has a “trick.” Even experienced gamblers believe these myths. This is often due to a lack of knowledge about how casinos work and the mathematical foundations of the games they offer.
Here, we will examine some of the most common iGaming myths and see how true they are. Remember that you can sign up at Ice casino online to have an enjoyable and satisfying online gambling experience by not believing the myths, but simply trusting your luck!
Myth 1 – The Casino Always Wins
| TRUTH | Yes, but only if the player does not return back. |
Every casino game, regardless of its type and name, has an RTP and house edge. In this context:
- RTP determines how much money a player can win back on a game.
- The house edge determines how much profit the casino can make from player bets.
For example, European roulette has an RTP of 97.30% and a house edge of 2.70%. If you bet 100 EUR on this game and play long enough (around 1,000 spins), you will get 97.30 EUR back. The house earns a profit of 2.70 EUR from your investment. This is the mathematical basis of the game, and it is impossible to manipulate the RTP-house edge values, no matter what strategy you use. Therefore, at first glance, you might think that the casino always wins.
But casinos are not immune to luck either. If a player is lucky enough, a straight bet of 10 EUR on roulette can win and pay out 350 EUR. At this point, the player has beaten the house edge, i.e. the casino. As soon as they win more money than they wagered, they override the rule that “the house always wins.” And if they stop playing at that moment, they can leave the casino with a profit.
Unfortunately, this rarely happens. Almost every player who wins more than they deposited continues to play, thinking that their luck has changed. And as long as they keep playing, they eventually succumb to the house edge: the casino wins in the long run. So, the myth that the house always wins is invalidated if lucky players stop playing after making a profit, but as we all know, this is extremely rare.
Myth 2 – Some Casino Games Are Rigged
| TRUTH | No, they are not because there is no reason for this. |
Slots, roulette, blackjack, poker, baccarat – whatever the name, the player who loses in a game has always thought it was because the game was “rigged”. This is a fairly common myth. It is believed that because online casino games are digital programs, it is very easy to cheat. Even in non-digital live dealer games, it is believed that the game has been manipulated in some way. However, unless you are playing at an unlicensed online casino that uses pirated software, this is unlikely to happen. There are two reasons for this:
- The casinos have no control over the games they offer. These games are hosted and run on servers owned by the developers. This means that the gambling platform cannot interfere with the game code even if it wanted to. Live games are also streamed from studios that are not under the control of the casino. And these developers & studios have licenses and fairness certificates from different agencies.
- There is no reason for the casino to rig the games. As mentioned above, the mathematical foundations of the games are designed in such a way that they will always make a profit in the long run. So, the casino already knows that it will make a profit – it doesn’t need to rig the games for that.
In short, as long as you play at licensed, legal and trusted online casinos, this myth has no validity.
Myth 3 – Slots Will Pay If You Play Them Long Enough
| TRUTH | No, they don’t. When they pay out depends entirely on luck. |
Most players believe that there is a “secret command” in the code of slot machines that is activated after a certain number of spins (i.e. after the player has deposited enough money), which results in a payout. Therefore, they pick a game and play for hours – something you can also see in land-based casinos.
Slot machines, like all other online gambling games, use an RNG (random number generator) to determine the outcome. Each symbol in the game has a numeric equivalent, and on each spin, the RNG generates random numbers that determine which symbols are displayed. The results are completely random: you can win the jackpot on the very first spin, or you can spin 100 times and win nothing. Only luck, not persistence, determines who wins when and how much.
Myth 4 – There Are Winning and Losing Streaks
| TRUTH | No, there is no such thing as a winning or losing streak. It is all luck. |
Almost every player believes that a “streak” has started after winning or losing several times in a row. The result is the same: if the player believes that a winning streak has started, he will keep playing to take advantage of it, often increasing his bet. If he believes that a losing streak has started, he does the same: he keeps playing with higher stakes to recover his loss.
This is called the gambler’s fallacy. In casino games, every outcome is random and, more importantly, all probabilities are reset to zero in every round or spin. So, for example, in roulette with a single zero, there is a 48.65% chance that the outcome will be red. If the result is red ten times in a row, there is still a 48.65% chance that it will be red again on the eleventh spin – this never changes. Every game ends in such a way that there are no decisive factors other than luck. For the same reason, there is no such thing as a winning or losing streak. If you win, you got lucky, but that doesn’t mean you will win in the next round. Likewise, if you lost, you were unlucky, but that can change in the next round.
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