Casino Gambling: Do Casinos Cheat?
Do casinos cheat? It's a question that should concern every gambler. Many of us have gone through times when we were tempted to think that the house might be cheating us. It may be a prolonged losing streak in craps, or many near-misses in slot machines. So do casinos cheat?
The short answer is that nearly all *reputable* casinos do NOT cheat. They have no reason to, and every reason not to. We will give the reasons why.
The first important reason for casinos not to is that they do not have to. The way the gambling games in casinos are set up, the casinos are already guaranteed profits no matter what players do. What kind of a setup is this that casinos use? It is very simple: When you win a bet in the casino, it pays you less than what the bet is really worth. It's like over-pricing a piece of merchandise or underpaying a skilled laborer. In the long run, this "unfair" practice earns the casino a lot of money.
Here, let us explain that more. A bet in gambling always has a matching price which the bettor receives if he or she wins. It's why we gamble, isn't it? Now the true worth or value of a bet is measured by the odds of that bet happening. Let us say you are betting heads on a coin toss. The odds of you winning is 1 to 1 or 50/50. You wager $10. If the casino were to pay you for the real worth of your bet, it should pay you $10 if heads turn up. But what it does is it pays you LESS than that. It can be $9.50 or $8.00 or even $7.50.
In short, the casinos make money by giving you less than your winning bets deserve. The casinos do not have to cheat. The odds are already in their favor.
The second reason why casinos do not cheat is that it is simply very hard to do. Gambling especially in Nevada is strictly regulated and monitored by authorities. Gambling equipment such as slot machines, craps dice and playing cards all undergo inspection when they go out the factory and before they hit the casino floors. A casino simply would not risk its reputation to cheat, especially when it isn't even needed.
And before you ask, dealers do NOT like to cheat players. It is from winning players that dealers get their tips. No dealer likes to see players on a losing streak; it means a loss for them too.
Casinos do sometimes instruct their dealers to do certain things that may be considered cheating. Preferential shuffling in blackjack is one example. But this is a counter-measure against card counting, which causes the house to lose money.
This is not to say that no casino ever cheat. Some do and on the Internet the players are especially vulnerable. To be on the safe side, play only in high-profile casino sites that are trusted by many third-party authorities. We have hand-picked the best online casinos for you. Play online now. We guarantee these online casinos do not cheat!
