Are Online Casinos Rigged?

Are online casinos rigged?

The casino gaming industry is worth billions globally. When we make a decision to play any games from a casino, we can resort to the idea that the casino is not legitimate and wonder “are online casinos rigged?” – especially in terms of gameplay algorithms for the casino.

It's safe to say, however, that surrounding the thought that online casinos are rigged, many casinos are in fact safe to play on. Our job today, with this article, is to debunk all the myths that may make you paranoid about selecting a certain casino and online casino games for you to play on.

This article should help you validate any online casinos you want to play on in the future and identify any dodgy casinos in case you're interacting and playing on one. Read more for all the latest!

It's a Probability and Numbers Game

When you select your online gambling games to play on, often you'll feel safer using a system we know and can predict. That's why a player's first thought when playing a casino game – whether online or in a land-based casino – and not seeing any predictable wins is to immediately go towards the idea that the online casino rigged it's games and has some suspicious activity about it. However, this is not the case in the way of viewing how reputable a casino is in terms of its games and numbers generated.

Each spin within a casino game is generated via a random number generator (the RNG). This RNG is one of the prerequisites for getting a license from the UKGC and means that every number and result when playing is and always will be random, which should quell your worries about thinking games are rigged. This can be hard to believe when you're playing a certain game and the same numbers constantly show up (we know).

According to the laws of probability, each spin that occurs that may be a repetition of itself is improbable, but not impossible, making it a possibility to keep appearing when you're playing on one of these games yourself.

When selecting online casinos, if you see that there are badges which verify its credibility and reputation, you can always rest assured that your online casino that you have been playing on is safe. The badges which verify its credibility include the online gambling auditing national organisations from iTech and eCOGRA. These pick up the slightest faults in a casino system and make a huge deal out of it, for the benefit of the players. Online casinos will never pass the audits if there is even a slight chance of a rigged system, meaning this should be entirely reassuring when it comes to making your casino choices.

The Odds will Always be Stacked Against You

Whichever online casinos you do ultimately decide to play on, bear in mind that it will in fact always work against you naturally and mathematically – this is what's known as the house edge. Online casinos are always meant to payout less than what they take in – they're a business and this house edge ensures they make enough to cover costs, make a profit etc. Think about it, if they gave out winnings to every player, you would hardly win a winning amount to remember, would you? The point is that the casino will never choose its winners, that is the completely random act of the random number generator itself.

Random Number Generators

As mentioned above previously, these number generators are very much vital for the gameplay of online casino software. The randomness of these casino games will always ensure that each and every one of the games presented within the online casino is completely random and very much not following a repetitive trend.

All legitimate casino sites online need to pass many tests to allow them to be operative. The tests are in fact aligned with the licensing that the casino must take alongside the regulatory organisation. The licensing itself operated by the UK Gambling Commission (for the UK region), ensures that casinos within the UK must have random frequent audits tested against their whole site and gaming systems that they present.

For that reason, knowing a casino is operated by a licensing body should be very reassuring for a player in terms of their gameplay safety, fairness and security.

Every single roll of a dice within a game, a spin of a reel, bets taken etc. must pass the checks in place to be deemed viable to play on. In addition to this, legitimate casinos will always display their results on public record throughout their site, to encourage and put players at ease, that the services provided are very much trusted. Over a casino's career, thousands of tests will be undergone to verify its user competency towards existing and new players.

Are online slots rigged?

Online slots are again subject to the random numbers that are generated through the RNG – so no, they aren't rigged. All spins of the reel are subject to chance. You can check if a game is regulated online as fair by the auditing bodies, which will have a full list of online slots and whether they're considered fair (randomly generated results) or not.

How do you Spot a Casino With Rigged Games?

Rigged online casino games aren't as common as what is often thought amongst the casino world. Casinos will actively connect with organisations of the gambling community, such as different payment methods etc – if you happen to see a very prominent well-known body missing, then you pretty much see there is something dodgy going on here.

The gambling community will always spot the fakes and place their name and details within an online blacklist, telling others if a casino or game is rigged. So, if you are ever in doubt, do your research and anything that you should know in terms of safety and trust will immediately pop up in the first searches.

The effects of selecting a rigged casino site to play at will include unhonoured bonuses awarded to you, rigged individual games that are designed for you to lose and limited withdrawal methods that take noticeably longer to withdraw your money – in the worst case, weeks or even months. Often, even if you do manage to meet the wagering requirement, the casino will not acknowledge it and not allow you to request a withdrawal of any winnings. These are the absolute worst-case scenarios though, so do not worry!

Act on it

When you play at online casinos, you will find that the experience may not have been to the best expectation that you had in mind, and that is okay. The great thing about online casinos is that you can actually do something about your grievances and take it to higher authorities to be addressed.

The UK Gambling Commission has a section where players can address their issues and worries, with a response within due cause and a possible investigation. This is great news for players and to have; as by law, casinos must have the UKGC licensing to operate their casino. If the casino in fact does not, that can be dealt with very seriously!

The methods players have for contacting the UKGC is via email, landline or post. Obviously, the landline will have the best response time, however, you will need to ensure to call around the UKGC operational times.

If you're one of these players who's contacting the UKGC, Make sure you mention every detail you suspect to reflect badly on the casino, as the issue will be looked into immediately and the UKGC will check for relevant back information which every UK casino should have under record by the UKGC. Response times vary, yet usually, players can expect an investigation will be dealt with and closed within a 28 day period.

Take Control of Fairplay

Being vigilant of casinos in terms of fair play and trustworthiness is completely normal. As a player, you will need to evaluate all the signs and weigh them up as a possible breach of trust. Noting the time, dates and what actually happened is a great way to keep on top of things when you play casino games. Also, it is great to reflect on and pass on for further action if needs be.

Many comparison sites today will suggest to players the best sites play on. All the sites will be tested and trialled for all the required fair play and security procedures, to ensure that you are recommended nothing but the best for your gameplay.

We highly recommended that you take our advice and allocate a site for yourself from our safe and trusted casino lists from the guides that we collate. There you will find the best options for your goals, that will never jeopardize your player safety, which is very much a priority in today's casino gambling community.

Author

Hi, I'm James

"More than 5 years experience in the online gambling sector and 4 of them working with casinos. I'll share my thoughts relating to what you should be looking for in a casino and whether a site is worth your time and money."

Reviewer since June, 2020