One of the biggest myths in gambling – and online poker in particular – is that the house always wins. Some people might even be reluctant to placing real money bets due to the fear of seeing their money disappear at the best poker sites.
But is it, in fact, true? Are online casinos and poker rooms rigged? In most cases, the answer is no – online casinos aren't rigged. Regulated online poker rooms use special tools to keep your gambling experience as safe and fair as possible. That includes random-number-generators, transparency regarding RTP rates, and more.
However, that doesn't mean casinos won't try to make a profit off of you. After all, all gambling venues are businesses first and foremost, and they have to charge you fees here.
Now is your chance to learn all about fairness in poker and how you can determine whether you can play poker online without worrying or not!
How Online Poker Casinos Ensure Safe and Fair Gambling
So, how can you know whether the poker room you've joined can provide you with the most secure environment to place bets? Here are a few things you need to know about:
- Reliable gambling licenses – Legitimate casinos must have a gambling license that will ensure you will be able to deposit and withdraw cash without restrictions. Each jurisdiction that provides such licenses, like the most common Curacao license, has the means to penalize each casino whose services aren't up to par.
- Random number generators – Most games, except for live poker and table games, use an automatic algorithm that will keep the game as random and as fair as possible. RNG's are unpredictable in their nature, which makes it hard for anyone to tamper with them, which makes games that use RNG's the safest gambling option.
- RTP rates – Video poker, and most games except for live games, should have available information about their Return to Player rates. Those numbers show what percentage of your bet you might get back if you play the game for long enough. Before you choose a game to play, check its RTP rates to ensure you won't lose too much money while playing the best poker games out there.
If a casino has all those protection methods in place, chances are you will be able to have a fair and secure gambling experience.
What to Look for in a Fair Online Poker Casino:
To be sure you're joining a spectacular and safe online poker venue, here's a checklist you should follow:
- Read online casino reviews and make sure the casino doesn't have complaints filed against it and that it is popular amongst players in your region.
- Check out what licenses the casino has. Curacao and Gibraltar licenses are the most popular ones.
- Discover whether the casino uses a third-party regulator to provide an even safer gambling environment.
- If you're playing live poker games, make sure the casino does its best to enforce fair play. Most casinos don't allow the use of special technology that might give players an unfair advantage.
- Make sure you can contact the casino and find out extra details about the security measures they use. You should also be able to report any suspicious behavior if you play online and other players have an unreasonable winning rate.
In Conclusion
In the past, it was harder to ensure the safety of an online poker session. In 2007, a major fraud case was uncovered in a popular online poker venue, which rocked the gambling community.
Since then, casinos have done their best to amp up their security protocols, and now you can have an exhilarating experience with minimal risk.