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Modern online casino games tend to have impressive visuals, engaging gameplay, and exciting features designed to enhance the gaming experience. Having said that, their biggest draw without a doubt will always be the gambling side of things. Naturally, the games you play at online casino sites are designed to take your money, with only a small percentage of players winning enough to stay in profit. The odds are against you, but is there anything you can do to increase your chances of winning?
All online casino games have what’s known as an RTP, which stands for ‘return to player’. It’s displayed as a percentage, e.g. 96%, and it refers to a game’s long-term average payout. The higher it is, the more money the game should pay you back; the lower it is, the less money you’ll earn from playing the game. When you visit a casino online, you should find the RTP of a game in its paytable or the casino’s description/summary of it.
It’s important to point out that a game’s RTP is calculated by simulating huge numbers (millions or even billions) of turns. This means that it can take a long time before your average payout per turn equals the game’s RTP.
Let’s say you’re playing an online slot with an RTP of 95%. If you have 50 spins, your average payout per spin could be a lot lower than 95% if you’ve been unlucky. Likewise, it could be much higher, e.g. 200%, if you’ve been lucky enough to score some big wins. If you keep playing this slot, your wins and losses will average out and your typical payout per spin should get closer and closer to 95%.
To boost your chances of winning, play games that have a high RTP. The more high-RTP games you play, the less money you should lose over long-term play. There’s no guarantee you’ll make a profit, but you should do better than if you stuck to games with low payout rates.
If you’re going to play online slots, you should be aware of volatility as this can affect your payouts. What volatility refers to is how often a slot pays out and roughly how big its payouts are. There are three main levels:
When you play any online slot game, no matter what its volatility is, you could end up scoring a big win or not making any money at all. Like RTP, volatility is something that’s more clearly observed when you play a slot for a long time. If you have a small number of spins, you might not be able to tell what the volatility is.
To boost your chances of winning, it’s a good idea to stick with medium volatility slots. These should give some decent wins fairly, while also paying out large sums of money once in a while. Low volatility slots can be reliable for smaller wins, but you’re less likely to win big when playing them. As for slots that are highly volatile, you can win very significant cash prizes for them, but you may have to sink a lot of money into the game before winning big.
For luck-based games such as slots and roulette, you just need to place your bet and hope for the best. If the game involves some skill and decision-making, your knowledge can affect your chances of winning. The two most common online casino games that require some input from the player are blackjack and poker. Both of these involve luck, just like other games, but if you want a solid chance of winning, you need to have a thorough, in-depth understanding of how the game works.
Before playing blackjack and poker, read the rules in full and look up strategies that can improve your chances of winning. For example, there’s the basic strategy for blackjack that tells you what move is the best to make, statistically speaking, based on your cards and the dealer’s face-up card. The best way to put a strategy into practice is by playing for free. With demo versions of online casino games, you can play as much as you like without having to spend a cent. When you’re feeling confident, start playing the game for real money and hopefully, you’ll do well.
Pretty much every online casino has promotions offering special rewards such as bonus money, free spins, or cashback. Even though these come with terms and conditions that can be quite limiting, especially when it comes to wagering requirements, they can still be worthwhile.
Bonuses typically give you extra opportunities to play games, but without paying. If you’re really lucky, you could end up winning a large sum of money by using a bonus. However, it’s worth pointing out that some casinos restrict how much money you can win while spending bonuses. This is why it’s important to read the terms and conditions in full before claiming any online casino bonuses.
