Gambling

Gambling has been a widespread human activity since ancient times. No complex infrastructure is needed. Any group of individuals with the time, the means and the desire to gamble can arrange to do so. Dice have been used for gambling for thousands of years and Backgammon and related table games date back at least 1500 years to the Byzantine Empire. Although gambling has now become a sizeable industry, many gambling games are still often organised and run privately. Common examples nowadays are Poker, which since the 19th century has been widely played in North America and subsequently around the world, and Mah Jong, which has been popular in East Asian cultures for over 100 years.

There are and have probably always been professional gamblers who make a living, honestly or dishonestly from gambling. There is also a long history of legal prohibition of gambling. Sometimes this has been on moral or religious grounds, or to preserve public order where gambling has been associated with violent disputes, or to prevent people wasting time and energy gambling rather than engaging in more productive activities.

Legitimate gambling businesses such as casinos and bookmakers provide a service to gamblers of ensuring fair and orderly play, and in return take a profit. Most jurisdictions in the world now have legalised businesses offering gambling on games of chance as a form of entertainment. The types of gambling that have been legalised vary from place to place. On this page we provide descriptions of the more common types of gambling business and of some popular casino games. Our Gambling Links page provides a directory of further resources.

Gambling can be dangerously addictive. Some players cannot resist the associated thrill, and those who lose may be tempted to risk money they cannot afford in a futile attempt to recover their losses. You can find further information and advice on our Responsible Gambling page.

The evolution of the internet and the development of reliable online payment methods has brought most types of gambling into the online arena. Thanks to personal computers, tablets and more recently internet capable mobile phones, most people who wish to gamble have instant access to gambling services. This ease of access comes at the expense of social interaction, with online gambling mostly being a solitary activity. While some multi-participant games like poker or live dealer games have a chat facility to allow communication with other players, for the most part when playing online the player will never be aware of the other players using the same game.

One significant difference between the online and offline gambling businesses is the legality of the enterprise. Licensing has been slow to evolve, and for several years online gambling has existed in a legal grey area in many jurisdictions. More governments are now taking an interest in the regulation of online gambling, partly because of the high potential tax revenues that can be made by licensing this industry. This page provides comments on the legality of online gambling in various jurisdictions.

Blackjack – This is a card game in which the objective is to get a total closer to 21 than the dealer’s hand without going over. The namesake hand is a starting hand of a Ten value card and an Ace, which beats all hands other than another Blackjack. Most payouts in the game are 1 to 1 however a Blackjack is paid at 3 to 2 and Insurance is paid at 2 to 1. Bets in Blackjack can take several minutes to resolve and vary depending on how quickly the players at the table choose to play their hands. Generally an average of one round per minute would be a fairly fast paced game, but if you can play at a table by yourself you can increase this pace significantly.

Roulette – Roulette is played with a spinning wheel with 37 or 38 numbered pockets and a ball. The wheel is set spinning in one direction while the ball is spun in the opposite direction. Prior to the spin the player places wagers on a table layout depicting the individual pockets and different pocket combinations. If the ball lands in a pocket that the player has a bet on the player wins. Payouts in this game vary far more than most other table casino games with the most frequently occurring possibilities (Even or Odd number, Red or Black, 1-18 or 19-36) paying out at 1 to 1 and rarest events (betting on a single number) paying out at 35 or 36 to 1. Bets on Roulette can take several minutes to resolve between the spinning of the wheel and paying out a potentially large volume of bets at different stakes.

Craps – Craps is a dice game, a streamlined version of the medieval game Hazard. The players place bets on the possible results and then one player, designated the ‘Shooter’, will roll the dice. Players at the table can bet both with and against the Shooter and depending on the bets placed the outcome can be determined in a single roll or over multiple consecutive rolls. Given the community atmosphere that Craps creates it is far more popular offline than it is online.

Baccarat– Baccarat is a casino card game that is especially popular in Asian cultures. The player can bet on either the Player or Banker hand or indeed place a bet that the hands will tie. The deal and play of the hands follow pre-defined set rules, so once bets have been placed there are no player decisions regarding how the cards are played.

Poker – Poker is generally a player versus player game that is played commercially in poker rooms most often situated within casino complexes. There are many versions of this game with different rule sets but within the poker room the players will play a round against one or more opponents. The house will often provide a dealer for the game and wagers are placed into the centre of the table (this is often called the ‘pot’). At the end of a round when the winner has been decided a percentage of the total pot is taken to pay for the room and dealer. This percentage is usually called the ‘rake’.

Video Poker – Video Poker is a console based card game. Unlike most other poker games it is not played against another poker hand. Instead the outcome of the wager is determined based on whether the final hand matches a combination listed on the game’s paytable. After placing a bet the player will generally be dealt 5 cards. The player is then given the option to discard up to 5 cards and have them replaced. After any replacement cards have been delivered the final hand is then compared to the paytable. Payouts for Video Poker games vary significantly with more common hands paid out at 1 to 1 the rarest hands (such as a Royal Flush) often paid out at thousands to 1. Video Poker games are generally very quick to resolve and an experienced player can play between 10 and 20 hands per minute.

Slots – Slots games are the most common games found in casinos today. Originally the name derived from having to insert a coin into a slot on the machine before each spin, but methods of fund taking have advanced since this point and the machines can generally be pre-loaded with a chosen amount of credit. Usually slots games will have either 3 or 5 reels of symbols. When the player starts the round the reels will spin. When they come to a stop, if matching symbols line up from the left hand side on a payline (a marked  line passing through one symbol on each reel) this will trigger a win. The payouts vary dramatically from game to game and some machines have jackpots that run into multiple millions.

To make rational choices about whether and where to gamble, a player needs to know something about the chances of success and the corresponding rewards. The probabilities of the various possible outcomes and the ratio of rewards to risks can both be described in terms of odds.

To take a simple hypothetical example, suppose a casino were to offer you the chance to play a game in which you draw one card from a shuffled standard 52-card deck of playing-cards. If you draw the Ace of hearts you win, if you draw any other card the casino wins. The casino is more likely to win than you are so to compensate for this they offer you odds of 50 to 1 on a bet of $1, meaning if the casino wins win you pay them $1 but if you win they pay you $50.

If you play this game you may win or you may lose, but in the long run the odds favour the casino slightly. If you play 52 games then on average you will lose 51 times and win once, so you will be $1 poorer. The average amount you stand to lose per unit bet is known as the house edge. In this game the casino has an edge of 1/52 or approximately 1.92%. It is largely through the house edge that the casino makes a profit and stays in business. The same information can be expressed as the return on a bet, sometimes known as RTP, which is the expected percentage of money bet that is Returned To the Player. The above hypothetical game has a return of 51/52 or approximately 98.08%.

Calculating the house edge or return is one basic way to compare different games in terms of how much advantage the casino has in each. It does not however provide the whole story. Other key factors are the variance of the outcome and the potential for a player to increase the bet during a game. These will affect the total amount of money (bankroll) a player is likely to need in relation to initial bet size order to survive a run of bad luck.

In formal gambling settings the way that payouts are described varies from country to country and by game type. On this page we describe some of the more common terminology used to describe payouts.

Most or all online casinos offer bonuses of various kinds to attract new players and encourage them to keep playing. As one might expect, these bonuses are carefully designed to appear as attractive as possible while ensuring that they do not result in an overall loss for the casino.

There are three main types of bonus: match deposit, no deposit, free spins, and these may be combined in various ways. In all cases there are associated terms and conditions, and players who want to get the best value from a bonus would do well to study these carefully before signing up for a bonus.

Match deposit bonus. This is an extra sum of money that the casino will add to a player's account when they make a deposit. Usually it is expressed as a percentage of the deposit and the maximum amount to which the bonus applies. For example 150% bonus up to $200 means that for a deposit up to $200 the casino will add 150% of that amount to the player's account as a bonus: a deposit of $50 will attract a bonus of $75 for a total of $125, or a deposit of $100 will be increased to $250 including the bonus.

No deposit bonus. The player can open an account without depositing any money, and the casino places some money in their account that they can use to play. Often the player will be required to deposit a small amount of their own money later, before being allowed to cash out any winnings. These bonuses have the advantage that they allow a player with no bankroll to try the casino. Most of the time the bonus will be lost - they are usually subject to a time limit, a playthrough requirement and a minimum and maximum cashout, and the usually the bonus will be lost because the minimum amount to cash out is not achieved. Occasionally the player will win a small amount, but for regular casino players these bonuses usually offer poorer value than match bonuses, and may bar the player from signing up for other bonuses with the same casino in future.

Free spins. The player can sign up and play in the casino a number of times without depositing any money. Any winnings will be credited to the player's account and will be treated in a similar way to a no deposit bonus.

Terms and Conditions

Casino bonuses are subject to various conditions which ensure that the player cannot simply sign up and cash out taking the bonus as profit. The purpose of a bonus from the casino's point of view is not to give away money but to encourage people to play at the casino by providing an attractive discount. Some of the common conditions are as follows.

Restricted availability. Some bonuses are offered only to new customers of the casino. Some casinos also offer bonuses to existing customers to retain them: these are usually known as reload bonuses.

Playthough requirement. A player who signs up for a bonus cannot cash out their winnings immediately, but must recycle any money that they win and continue playing multiple times. Normally the requirement is expressed as a factor, for example 50×. That would mean that a player who begins with (say) $500 in their account after signing up for a bonus must stake at least fifty times that amount, i.e. $25000, on games in the casino before being allowed to cash out any winnings. If the game played has a house edge of 5% (typical for casino slots), the player's expected loss on a stake of $25000 is $1250. Of course the player may be lucky in which case they can then cash out their winnings, but most of the time their account, which began at $500, will be reduced to zero before the playthrough requirement is completed.

Some playthrough requirements apply to the total in the account as in the examples above, some apply only to the bonus portion and some only to the player's deposit.

Sticky and Phantom Bonuses. A sticky bonus is similar to a cashable match bonus except that the bonus itself can never be cashed out. So with our example of 150% bonus applied to an initial deposit of $200, the $300 added by the casino can be used as stakes but can never be withdrawn. If after meeting the playthrough requirement the player has $350 in their account they can withdraw $50 and continue playing with the casino's $300. If they have $250 in their account they cannot withdraw anything. A phantom bonus is similar to a sticky bonus except that as soon as money is withdrawn from the account the bonus disappears. In our example where you deposit $200, get a bonus of $300 and end with $350, when you withdraw your $50 your $300 bonus disappears and your account is empty. Sticky and phantom bonuses can still be good value, given that your aim is to get as much play as possible out of your deposit. The cashout restrictions allow the casino to offer a higher percentage bonus, so that your deposit lasts longer before it is used up.

Minimum and maximum cashout. These restrictions often apply to no deposit bonuses. After meeting the playthrough requirement the player must have at least some minimum amount in their account in order to cash out. If a player ends with more than the maximum they can only cash out the maximum and any additional money they have won disappears from their account.

Time Limit. Often a bonus is only valid for a certain number of days, after which it disappears from the account. In this case the player needs to take account of the amount of time they will have to spend playing in order to meet the playthrough requirement within the time allowed.

Structured Betting. Despite precautions taken by the casino, some dedicated players may be able to devise schemes by which they can exploit casino bonuses to make a profit. Such schemes often involve unusually large or small bets and switching from game to game. People employing such 'structured betting' strategies are sometimes known as 'advantage players' or 'professional players'. Casinos normally disallow such behaviour by including a condition along the following lines: 'Bonus programs are intended for recreational players only. Professional players or players considered, in our sole discretion, to be abusing the bonus system by any means may have bonuses revoked and be subject to further sanctions.'

Further details can be found on the Wizard of Odds site which features useful sections on Casino Bonuses and Understanding Bonus Terms.