Author Guarantor: Tom Rawlinson
Mentor
Last updated: 16 March 2024

Most casino games are games of chance. You pay your money, take your chances, and hope for the best. But there are a couple of exceptions. There are also ways you can tilt those odds more in your favour—you won’t necessarily beat the casino, but you’ll certainly have a better chance of staying in the black.

We worked with the casino gaming experts over at CasinoTopsOnline.com to create these strategies and tips, all of which are designed to help you boost your odds of success.

Create a Bankroll and Stick to it

Create a Bankroll and Stick to it

Ask any gambler how much they have won and lost over their lifetime and you’ll understand why bankrolls are key. Most will tell you that they are “just about breaking even” or even that they are “probably slightly in profit”. But we’re talking about an industry that generates billions of dollars in profit every year—all those gamblers can’t be telling the truth. It’s not that they’re lying, but that they have lost track of how much they have won and lost, often because they remember all the times they have won big but forget the times they have lost.

A bankroll is essential for anyone who wishes to gamble on a regular basis and for anyone who wishes to increase their returns. 

Simply put, a bankroll is a budget set aside for gambling. One of the best ways to create this budget is to calculate how much disposable income you have at the end of the month, keep some back for recreational purposes and investing, and then take a share of the remainder for your bankroll. How much you use is entirely up to you, but it should be an amount that you won’t mind losing; an amount that you can live without. That way, the money is no different than the amount you spend on a night out.

You can keep your bankroll anywhere, as long as you keep track of how much you have. It’s best, however, to place it somewhere secure like a web wallet (Skrill, Neteller, PayPal). That way, you can load your bankroll into PayPal every month, not deposit any more until the end of the month, and use those funds at a variety of sites.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • Don’t exceed your bankroll with more deposits
  • During a bankroll period, you should only increase the money with your winnings
  • Use the funds at all sites you have joined and for all gambling activities
  • Always set a budget that you’re happy to lose

Stick with Low House Edge and High RTP Games

Every casino game has a metric that determines its payout rate, known as either the return to player (RTP) or house edge, depending on whether it’s a slot or table game.

These metrics are calculated over millions of simulated plays. For instance, if a slot has an RTP of 96%, it means that it generated a return that was 96% of the total stake during a simulated session. You don’t need to worry too much about minor differences here. An RTP of 96% isn’t going to pay a lot more than one with an RTP of 95.99%, but if one game is 88% and another is 98%, stick with the latter.

The house edge shows the casino’s edge, as opposed to the player’s. An edge of 1% equates to an RTP of 99%.

Some slots have RTPs of over 97%, but they are rare. If you want the best returns, stick with table games such as blackjack and baccarat, both of which have a house edge of around 1%. If you’re playing roulette, look for games with a single zero, such as French Roulette and European Roulette.

Utilise Bonuses When Possible

Utilise Bonuses When Possible

Casinos will nearly always give you a welcome bonus when you join, but if you choose your sites carefully, the promotions won’t stop there. You’ll find reload offers for when you deposit more money, free spins for logging in on certain days, tournaments where you compete against others for cash and prizes, and more. The best sites also have loyalty programs, giving you points when you deposit and wager and letting you convert those points to bonuses, perks, and cash when you have enough of them.

Of course, there is a catch, and it often comes in the form of a wagering requirement, but the bonuses are always worth collecting. A little luck and persistence are all it takes to turn one of these offers into a sizeable, bankroll-boosting return. 

Take a look at this guide to the top 10 best-ranked casinos to discover some great sites and generous bonuses.

Check Out Popular Gaming Strategies

There is no strategy guaranteed to beat the casino every time, but there are a few that could increase your chances.

Take Basic Blackjack Strategy as an example. It’s a strict strategy for playing blackjack that relies on probability, tasking you with making moves that give you the best chance of winning every time. The exact moves you make depend on your hole cards and the dealer’s visible card, but some notable moves include never taking insurance.

The Martingale strategy is another one to consider. Often used on 50/50 bets in games of roulette, the idea is to double your bet when you lose and return to your base stake when you win. This way, you will always win back your losses. There are major downsides though, including the fact it won’t work if you hit a table limit. Also, while it can recover losses over an extended gaming session, you won’t necessarily walk away with a win. For best results, use this strategy on a casino with a good loyalty program. Even if you end up right back where you started, you’ll still have all of those loyalty points.

There are other strategies available as well, including the Paroli, which tasks you with increasing your wager when you win and then returning back to your original stake after 3 successive wins. 

Just make sure you avoid the strategies based on gambling fallacies, such as the belief that if red appears 5 times in a row on a roulette wheel, the next spin will land on black. It’s true that there is a high chance of at least 1 black landing on 6 spins, but if the first 5 have already landed on red, there is an equal chance of the next one being red or black.

Never Chase Losses and Always Bet Responsibly

Chasing losses is one of the worst things that you can do as a gambler. You lose a lot of money and are so desperate to get it back that you increase your wager and take bigger risks. You end up wagering more than you can afford to lose and place bets that you wouldn’t usually place. Inevitably, you lose a lot more money and find yourself deeper in the hole.

If you lose money and feel the need to chase those losses, stop gambling. Call it a day and try again another time. You can also go the other way and reduce your wager while making more sensible bets. It could help you to claw back some of those losses and there’s much less chance that you will find yourself heavily in the red.

Casinos and sportsbooks have a host of responsible gambling tools that you can use to stay in control. These include deposit limits, loss limits, reality checks, self-exclusions, and more.

Play Some Poker

There is no house edge if there is no house, so if you’re looking to improve your chances, play a few games of poker. There are many casino poker games, including Three-Card Poker and Caribbean Stud Poker. But poker rooms that pit you against other players are best. It’s every man for themselves. You play the cards, not the casino, and if you have a little luck, some good strategy, and the ability to bluff your way through a few bad hands, you can clean up.

You will find poker rooms at some of the best online casinos and sportsbooks. They are typically included as additional site sections, often relying on third-party poker software that connects through many different sites, thus ensuring the games are always full.

Furthermore, big poker rooms usually have daily freerolls. A freeroll is a tournament that’s free to enter, but if you make it to the final table, you could be in line for some sizeable payouts. It’s a good way to learn the game and if you’re good enough, it’s an excellent way to build your bankroll.

Summary: Increase Your Chances of Success Playing Online Casino Games

As you can see, there are many ways to improve your chances of walking away with a payout. These strategies are easy to learn and implement—you’ll be well on your way to success before you know it.

Just remember, nothing is guaranteed, there’s no way to win every time, and there’s always a risk. So, gamble responsibly, keep that bankroll in check, and stop playing as soon as you find yourself getting frustrated or taking bigger risks than necessary.

Published: 16 March 2024 10:43