Many people around the world play at online casinos, and that’s fine if it’s your only source of gambling. However, online casinos are nowhere near as close to the real thing when it comes to simulation. Take Craps for example. The casino determines what number rolls by using a random number generator. However, just how random is random? If you have been in a casino, you know that every single person at a table has a unique rolling pattern. Some stack the dice and casually vault them into the air. Others shake them up and rocket them to the back wall, while other frequently launch the dice off the table or fall short of the back wall. There are even players who change their rolling pattern every roll or point.

An online casino does not have the ability to simulate this. Sure, they can manipulate the random number generator, but there’s still no way to accurately simulate table action. Having programmed, I know that a random number generator is not all that random. Worse, if the computer simply “picks a number”, it is not even a proper setup to being with. Let’s keep looking at Craps. Does the casino have a random number generator that simply picks a number between one and twelve? If so, all the numbers have an even shot at coming out, which is against true probability. Perhaps they list out all probable combinations and then the computer selects one. This would be a little more accurate, probability wise, but it still lacks the real randomness of live action—and weird events are more likely to ensue.

What I’m about to tell you is true and happens more frequently that one would imagine. A tester recently played at an online casino (Craps) to monitor number frequency in the field. Within the span of just 150 rolls, the computer rolled 11 non-field numbers in a row and then followed it up a handful of rolls later by rolling 12 non-field numbers in a row. What’s the big deal you ask? Well, first, the field has a 44.5% chance of winning on every roll and second; the probability of throwing 11 non-field rolls in a row is .0015%. The probability of throwing 12 non-field numbers in a row is .0008%. These events should happen once every 667 rolls and once every 1176 rolls respectively, yet both where seen within a handful of rolls from each other within the 150 rolls monitored.

But wait, there’s more. Within these same, now historic, 150 rolls, a six was not thrown for 13-16 rolls 5 times. The probability of not throwing a six 13 times is 14.5% (9% for 16 rolls)—this happened 5 times in 150 rolls. The same happened to the eight—in fact—there were two instances where an eight was not thrown for 18-20 times. The probability of this happening is 5-7% and it happened twice.

When you add all of these things together, you get a more accurate picture of just how unrealistic random number generators are for simulating real casino action. I am not trying to scare you away from playing. In fact, money can be made and fun can be had at online casinos. However, you need to realize that you are playing in a different environment with different rules. You can’t go chasing bets thinking they are overdue, mathematically, to come in, because this is a different world with a different way of producing outcomes. Playing strategies that you would use in a real live casino might not be applicable in an online casino. Read more at WiseBettor.com.

Online casino players know that the latter ones offer various casino bonuses. “Free-load” looks attractive, however, are they really useful these bonuses? Are they profitable for gamblers? The answer to this question depends on a lot of conditions. Mathematics will help us answer this question.

Let’s begin with an ordinary casino bonus on deposit: you transfer $100 and obtain $100 more, which it will be possible to get having staked $3000. It is a typical example of casino bonus on the first deposit. The sizes of a deposit and bonus can be different, as well as the required stake rates, but one thing remains unchangeable - the amount of the casino bonus is accessible for withdrawal after the required wager. Till this moment it is impossible to withdraw money, as a rule. To find the right bonuses and online casinos try Casino hire.

If you are going to play in the online casino for a long time and rather insistently, this casino bonus will help you, it can really be considered free money. If you play casino slots with 95% pay-outs, a bonus will allow you to make on average extra 2000$ of stakes ($100/(1-0,95)=$2000), after that the amount of bonus will be over. But there can be complications, for example, if you simply want to have a look at a casino, without playing for a long time, if you prefer roulette or other casino games, forbidden by casinos’ rules for winning back bonuses. In the majority of online casinos you won’t be allowed to withdraw money or will simply return a deposit, if a wager is not made on the games allowed in the online casino. If you are keen on roulette or blackjack, and a bonus can be won back only by playing slots, make the required $3000 of stakes, in the course of 95% of pay-outs you will lose on average $3000*(1-0,95)=$150. As you see, you not only lose the casino bonus but also take out of your pocket $50, in this case it is better to refuse the bonus. Anyway, if blackjack and poker are allowed for winning back the bonus with a casino’s profit only about 0,5%, so it can be expected that after winning back the bonus you will have $100-3000*0,005=$85 of the casino’s money.

The “sticky” or “phantom” bonuses:
More and more popularity in online casinos is gained by “sticky” or “phantom” bonuses - the equivalent of lucky chips in real casinos. The amount of bonus is impossible to withdraw, it must remain on the account (as if it “has stuck” to it), until it is completely lost, or annulled on the first withdrawal of cash means (disappears like a phantom). At first sight it may seem that there is little sense in such a casino bonus - you won’t get money anyway, but it’s not completely true. If you win, then there is really no point in the bonus, but if you have lost, it may be of use to you. Without a casino bonus you have lost your $100 and that’s it, bye-bye. But with a bonus, even if it is a “sticky” one, $100 are still on your casino account, which can help you worm out of the situation. A possibility to win back the casino bonus in this case is a bit less than 50% (for that you only need to stake the entire amount on the chances in roulette). In order to maximize profits from “sticky” casino bonuses a casino player needs to use the strategy “play-an-all-or-nothing game”. Really, if you play little stakes, you will slowly and surely lose because of the negative math expectancy in casino games, and the bonus will only prolong agony, and won’t help you win. Clever casino players usually try to realize their casino bonuses quickly - somebody stakes the entire amount on chances, in the hope to double it (just imagine, you stake all $200 on chances, with a probability of 49% you’ll win neat $200, with a probability of 51% you’ll lose your $100 and $100 of the bonus, that is to say, a stake has positive math expectancy for you $200*0,49-$100*0,51=$47), some casino players use progressive strategies of Martingale type. It is recommended to fix the desired amount of your gain, for example $200, and try to win it, taking risks. If you have contributed a deposit in the amount of $100, obtained “sticky” $150 and plan to enlarge the sum on your casino account up to $500 (that is to win $250), then a probability to achieve your aim is (100+150)/500=50%, at this the desired real value of the casino bonus for you is (100+150)/500*(500-150)-100=$75 (you can substitute it for your own figures, but, please, take into account that the formulas are given for games with zero math expectancy, in real casino games the results will be lower).

The cash back bonus:
There is a seldom encountered variant of a bonus, namely return of loosing. There can be singled out two variants - the complete return of the lost deposit, at this the returned money usually is to be won back like with an ordinary bonus, or a partial return (10-25%) of the loosing over the fixed period (a week, a month). In the first case the situation is practically identical to the case with a “sticky” bonus - if we win, there is no point in the bonus, but it helps in case of losing. Math calculations will be also analogous to the “sticky” bonus and the strategy of the game is similar - we risk, try to win as much as possible. If we are not lucky and we have lost, we can play with the help of the returned money, already minimizing the risk. Partial return of the losing for an active gambler can be regarded as an insignificant advantage of casinos in games. If you play blackjack with math expectancy - 0,5%, then, having made stakes on $10 000, you will lose on average $50. With 20% of return $10 will be given back to you, that is you losing will amount to $40, which is equivalent to the increase in math expectancy up to 0,4% (ME with return=theoretical ME of the game * (1-% of return). However, from the given bonus can also be derived benefit, for that you need to play less. We make only one but a high stake, for example $100, on the same stakes in roulette. In 49% of cases again we win $100, and 51% - we lose $100, but at the end of the month we get back our 20% that is $20. As a result the effect is $100*0,49-($100-$20)*0,51=$8,2. As you see, the stake then has positive math expectancy, but dispersion is big for we’ll be able to play this way rather seldom - once a week or even once a month.

I will allow myself a short remark, slightly digressing from the main subject. On a casino forum one of the gamblers started to claim that tournaments were not fair, arguing it in the following way: “No normal person will ever make a single stake within the last 10 minutes of the tournament, which 3,5-fold surpasses the prize amount ($100), in nomination of a maximal losing, so as to win. What is the point?”

And really does it make sense? The situation is very similar to the variant with return of losing. If a stake has won - we are already in the black. If it has lost - we’ll get a tournament prize of $100. So, the math expectancy of the above-mentioned stake amounting to $350 is: $350*0,49-($350-$100)*0,51=$44. Yes, we may lose $250 today, but shall win $350 tomorrow, and over a year playing every day, we’ll accumulate pretty 365*$44=$16 000. Having solved a simple equation, we’ll find out that stakes up to $1900 are profitable for us! Of course, for such a casino game we need to have thousands of dollars on our account, but we certainly can’t blame casinos for dishonesty or gamblers for being foolish.

Let’s come back to our casino bonuses, to the most “free-load” ones- without any deposit. Of late one has been able to notice more and more casino advertisements promising up to $500 absolutely free of charge, without any deposit. The pattern is the following - you really get $500 on a special account and limited time for play (usually an hour). After an hour you get only the amount of your gain, but still not more than $500. The gain is transferred on a real casino account where you must win it back, like any casino bonus, usually having run it 20 times in casino slots. $500 free - it sounds attractive, but what is the real price of the bonus? Well, the first part - you need to win $500. Using a simplified formula, we can see that probability of winning is 50% (in practice, it is certainly even smaller). The second part - we win the casino bonus back, you need to stake $10 000 in casino slots. We don’t know the rates of pay-outs in casino slots, they are not published by online casinos and make up on average about 95% (for various kinds they fluctuate about 90-98%). If we get at an average slot, then till the end of the wager we’ll have $500-10 000*0,05=$0 on our casino account, not a bad game… If we are lucky to choose a casino slot with high pay-outs, we can await $500-10 000*0,02=$300. Even though the probability to choose a slot with high pay-outs is 50% (you have listened to the opinions of other gamblers since by random choice this probability will make up hardly more than 10-20%, for there are few generous casino slots), in this case the value of a generous deposit free casino bonus amounts to $300*0,5*0,5=$75. Much less than $500, but still not too bad, though we can see that even with the most optimal suppositions the final amount of the casino bonus has decreased seven-fold.

I hope, this excursion into mathematics domain of online casino bonuses will be of use to gamblers - if you want to win, you simply need to think a little and make calculations.

As an online poker player, you have probably heard of the term “no deposit poker bonuses.” Most poker sites will tell you they offer these kinds of bonuses, but will reveal little information about them. It is as if they expect you to know what it means already.
So what is does a “no deposit poker bonus” mean and how it is used?

In very simple terms, a “no deposit poker bonus” means free money. Online poker can be played with real or play money, but this kind of bonus gives you real money to play poker with. It is absolutely free. No deposit means you don’t have to shell out your own money in order to earn free money. There are some sites which also offer “deposit poker bonuses,” which means you have to deposit some of your money in order to get the free money. No deposit is the opposite of that.

For example, when you sign up for a “no deposit poker bonus” in a poker site, your account will be credited $5 which you can use to play poker. What you do with it is totally up to you. If you do win, the money is still yours. You can even withdraw it without having a credit card. It is as simple as that. Some poker sites have some specific rules and it is best to check out the terms and conditions of the bonus to get a better understanding of the peculiarity of each site.

Some sites have restrictions on withdrawing your winnings using the “no deposit poker bonus” you received from them. On casino sites there is always a cap on the amount you can withdraw. For example, you can only withdraw a maximum $100 after completing the requirements . Poker sites , however, do not have a cap and you can withdraw everything you won. Another restriction for some poker sites is that you may have to deposit a token amount in order to withdraw your winnings, partially or wholly.

It is important that you should check the terms and conditions of the no deposit poker bonus before availing these feature in order to clear up questions in your head.

Now, you ask, why are these sites offering free money? There are actually several reasons.

One reason is that it is a way of enticing a player to try a poker site’s game rooms while using the owner’s own money. There is no better way to invite a person to play poker online than to offer him free money. Most people have jitters playing real money poker online, maybe because of a fear of credit card theft or blowing all their money in the game. A no deposit poker bonus will take away most of those jitters as the player is given a preview of the credibility of the poker site and the security of their credit details.

In playing poker online, it is always good advice to choose the one that has proven itself credible to its patrons. Happy hunting!