Playing casino games online is now as commonplace as playing Fortnite on a smartphone or Grand Theft Auto on a PlayStation. Millions of people around the world regularly play casino games, from all sorts of demographics. The modern iGaming industry is focused as much on engaging gaming experiences as it is on the opportunity to win real cash prizes.
If you’re looking to do more than take part in playing money games in an online casino, you will need to be a lot more strategic about how you play. Unlike games like poker, casino games aren’t typically skill-based, so there is always a degree of chance involved. However, employing the right strategies will set you in a good position and potentially increase your chances of winning.
If you want to become a master in online casino gaming, here are some key tips and tricks that you need to employ today.
Bankroll Management
First and foremost, playing casino games online does involve spending your hard-earned cash, so it makes sense that you’d want to be discerning about how much you spend, right? Well, some casino rookies make the mistake of spending too much too soon and wonder why they never get anywhere when it comes to nailing those big wins.
Learning to manage your bankroll in the most optimum way is the first step to playing well at an online casino.
Of course, for new gamers or those playing low-stakes games, you may not have much of a bankroll yet to manage. However, implementing good bankroll management from the offset will prepare you well for managing your budget when those bigger wins start to come in.
One effective way of kickstarting your bankroll is to take advantage of free spins or cash bonus offers. Typically, most reputable online platforms will offer free spins bonuses to new customers in a bid to encourage them to sign up for membership, which will allow you to play online slots games without having to deposit or place cash wagers.
The fundamentals of bankroll management involve setting clear lower and upper limits for the amount of money you’re going to play within each and every casino session. Think of the lower limit as a “losing goal”, i.e. the amount of money you can afford to lose, and the upper limit as a “winning goal”, which is the total amount that you’re happy to win. The key thing to remember is that if you reach either limit it’s time to stop playing.
Be realistic when you’re setting these limits and take into account your own personal budget. Don’t play more than you can afford to lose and end your sessions when you reach your upper limits to ensure that you preserve the profits you’ve made.
Understanding House Edge
Another strategy to employ when playing casino games online is to look for games with the best possible House Edge.
The house edge of a game is essentially the statistical advantage that the casino has in a game – and they’ll have this in every game. In an online casino, the house edge is expressed as the RTP (Return to Player) percentage of each game. If you encounter a game of blackjack, say, with a 97.5% RTP, this means that the house edge is 2.5%.
Sadly, there’s no way to avoid house edge or bypass it, the only way you can win consistently is to select games with a low house edge. All licensed casino operators are required by law to display the RTP of their games clearly online, so it’s easy enough to search for those with the lowest house edge.
Here’s an example of the typical house edge of popular casino games:
- American Roulette 5.26%
- Baccarat 1.06%
- Classic Blackjack 0.13%
- Craps 1.36%
- European Roulette 2.70%
- Jacks or Better 0.46%
Other games with a lower house edge include video poker and three-card poker.
Effective Betting Management
Now that you’ve got a good idea of how to manage your bankroll and will focus on playing low house edge games as a strategy, it’s time to define your betting strategy.
A betting strategy is just as important as managing your bankroll when it comes to winning at the casino on a consistent basis. If you bet too much or too little you could jeopardize your chances of hitting a streak of wins.
Calculating the size of your bet depends on a number of factors including:
- Your bankroll
- Your upper and lower limits
- Bet sizes allowed in the game
When it comes to slots gaming, you’ll also need to take into account the ‘coin value’ and rounds per minute.
Another aspect of betting management is to determine how long you want to play for. If you know you prefer long gaming sessions, placing smaller bets more frequently is an effective way to beat game variance that could negatively impact your cash wins.
Larger bets, on the other hand, are more difficult to control. However, they can help you reach your upper limit, provided you’ve got the bankroll to support them.
Knowing When to Stop
Last but not least, an airtight strategy for playing in an online casino involves knowing when to stop playing and the signs to look out for that could send you into tilt.
Don’t chase losses if you want to maximize your wins. Attempting to win back what you’ve lost is one of the easiest ways to drain your bankroll. The more you chase, the more of your bankroll you’ll spend and the greater the potential for losses can be.
One simple way to avoid falling into the trap of chasing losses is to rigorously stick to your bankroll management and your betting strategy. Don’t play for longer than you intend or bet more than you can afford to lose.
This can also apply to those players who find themselves on a winning streak too, hence the importance of defining your upper limit as well as your lower one. As soon as you hit your limits, whether financially or time-wise, stop playing and take a break from casino gaming for a while.
