Debunking the Most Common Online Casino Myths
The online casino industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the entertainment industry: it offers technological innovation, an opportunity to engage and socialise with other players wherever and whenever suits you, and world-beating graphics and gameplay concepts. Many brands pride themselves on the high quality of games they offer to their users. Despite this, online casino gaming continues to have a negative reputation amongst many people who have never experienced its offering. In an attempt to rebalance this huge problem, here are three of the main myths about online casinos, debunked:
Online Casinos Are More Addictive than Land-based Casinos
Whilst it is true that online casinos are easier to access than land-based casinos, that doesn’t mean that they are any more addictive. In fact, thanks to the huge amount of data online casinos store about your gaming information, it is much easier to track your spending (as well as any wins or losses you achieve) making it much easier to control your spending and stop when you hit your limit, or when it stops being fun, with online gambling.
Some of the functions that online casinos are able to track include the details of every bet you place (including whether you win or lose), the amount of time and money you spend via your online casino account, and the number of times you access your account. Knowledge is power, and by openly providing you with this information, you are being encouraged to gamble responsibly.
Online Casino Games Are Rigged
Not only is rigging any kind of casino game immoral, it is also illegal. No reputable online casino would rig their games (although it might be a convenient explanation if you’re experiencing a losing streak!) What’s more, rigging a game would ultimately be bad for business: players won’t come back and play again if they never win, nor will they visit a casino they feel is trying to con them in any way.
To ensure that their games are fair, and to display this as openly as possible, online casinos partner with reputed software providers who invest heavily in testing their games for fairness, accuracy, and reliability. They also provide access to their business to independent auditors who regularly test their games and software and issue fairness certificates: you can view these certificates at any licensed online casino, giving you the peace of mind that fair play is guaranteed.
You Don’t Have to be Over 18 to Play at an Online Casino
Minors cannot access online casinos any more easily than they can access land-based casinos: and in most situations it is near-impossible, not to mention illegal. You have to reveal your date of birth to the online casino while registering an account, and online casinos do not allow you to proceed till they have conducted an age verification check. You also have to provide your bank details and an ID in order to deposit or withdraw any funds: all of these extra checks provide online casinos an opportunity to clarify your age, meaning that minors cannot simply lie about their age in order to access an online casino website.
You Have to Be Lucky to Win an Online Casino Game
There’s no such thing as luck: but there is such a thing as chance! And the fact is that most online casino games are games of chance: there is a mathematical probability that you will win any online casino game, and the odds with either play out in your favour or they won’t. However, it is important to note that not all online casino games are simple games of chance: some games, for example poker, combine chance with skill. Your ability to play the game will dramatically increase your likelihood of winning.
If you think about it, professional poker players aren’t just the luckiest people in the world! They are able to mitigate the chance element of the gameplay by analysing every hand and repeatedly making mathematically superior decisions: it is this that makes them repeated winners in the long-run.
You’re Due for a Win
If you’ve been playing the same online slot machine all night, spent a little more than you wanted to, and not won a single game, you may be tempted to continue playing because the machine is ‘due for a win’. Not only would this be a mistake, it has the potential to be a costly mistake. Statistically, there is no reason to assume that the next hand will be a winning hand: even if there is a 25% chance of winning each hand (and no online or offline casino game would offer such high odds) then that doesn’t mean that you will win every fourth hand that you play. When you’ve hit your spending limit, or you’ve stopped having fun, it’s time to stop no matter whether or not you feel that you’re due for a win.
Online Gambling is Illegal
There are some parts of the world where online gambling is prohibited, but in the vast majority of countries, online gambling is entirely legal and is even considered to offer a valuable injection of tax revenue into the local economy. For example, because online gambling for UK-based companies is subject to taxation in 2019 the industry generated £2.7 billion for the national coffers. As the industry is currently experiencing an upward trajectory, this figure is only forecast to continue rising, year on year.
For your own peace of mind, you should always ensure that you are choosing to enjoy your online gambling with a website that is officially registered with the Gambling Commission in the country where you reside. Not only will this give you the peace of mind that the casino you’re playing with is legal and above board, it will also give you the assurance that the games you’re playing are fair, that you’ll be paid promptly if and when you win, and that you can enjoy all the fun of the casino without any concerns.
