Four Ways to Gain an Edge Over a Casino

As you probably already know, the casino always has the advantage when you play most of its games. Although crazy winnings streaks are possible in any online casino game, for every pound bet, the average expected return is anything from 85p to 99p.

It’s clearly always best to favour these high return-to-player games, but they still don’t actually make for mathematically profitable bets. However, there are a few tricks we can employ to turn the tables, so to speak, on the casino.

Scout for the Best of the Best Bonus Terms

With almost every game stacked against you by its very design, nothing you do in terms of your actual gameplay will give you an edge over the casino. Playing blackjack with perfect strategy will get you just about as close as is possible. Yet you will still be expected to lose over the long run according to probability.

It’s clear that we’re not going to get an edge by exploiting gameplay dynamics. The only other option is to play with someone else’s money. Namely, the casinos.

Not all bonuses are profitable though. You need to look for those with low wagering requirements, large (if any) caps on cash outs, and for the casino to be generous with the games it will allow you to play. What seems like a small difference in the terms and conditions between two casinos can result in a wildly different expected value from an offer.

Let’s look at an example to further illustrate this. Of two casinos offering a 100 percent matched deposit bonus up to £100 on first deposits, one could be a very good bet and one very bad.

In our example, our generous casino will allow players to use slots with a 97 percent return-to-player rating. It demands that the player must wager a total of 30 times in total. If the player stuck to wagering on only a 97 percent slot, this offer would have an expected value of £7.

Meanwhile, the slightly stingier casino decides to go for different terms. Still requiring 30 rollovers, it excludes any slots with a return-to-player rating above 95 percent. The change in the expected value of the offer is pretty dramatic. The player should now expect to lose £55.

If the more generous casino wanted to reduce losses from its promotions, it could either restrict games or increase rollover requirements. A simple bump up to a 35x wagering requirement would render this promotion unprofitable even with a 97 percent RTP machine.

Play with a No Deposit Bonus

We’re all about risk free shots at cash and online casinos regularly hand them out in the form of no deposit bonuses. These marketing efforts by up and coming iGaming operators work as a lure for new players. The theory is that once a player has an account with a casino, they’re much more likely to go on to make a deposit.

Although no deposit bonuses are notoriously strict in terms of their wagering, they cost absolutely nothing to use. This means there is literally no downside potential. Only a chance, however small, to win something.

There’s nothing stopping you from signing up and using many of these promotions from a host of different casino operators. You will still be playing at a disadvantage to the casino but it won’t be your money. The more you play, the more likely you are to eventually turn some profit!

Play Poker

Whereas every other game is built to favour the house, poker is different. In poker, the casino takes its cut by taking a small percentage of every pot (usually capped at a certain threshold). The cut is known as the “rake”. To them, it makes no difference who wins or loses, as long as people keep playing.

In poker, every player enters the game with an even chance of winning. There is no edge built into the game. Every decision each player makes changes the odds that the player is receiving to either play their hand to showdown or to attempt to draw to a better hand.

Skilled players only play when they’ve got the best of it. This not only means making good plays at the table but also practicing astute bankroll management to weather any periods of bad luck, and choosing when and who to play against. This can mean avoiding tables with known sharks on, taking seats to the left of poor players, and avoiding stakes may result in losses putting a significant dent in their total bankroll.

It’s not easy to establish a positive win rate at poker. Then you do have to consider the rake too. Your win rate must be large enough to still profit after the casino takes its cut. Although it’s tough, it is possible, even without a bonus. It’s the only game that this can be said for too.

Play Anything with an Advantage

Advantage play in online gambling can take many different forms but the easiest and most consistent profits come from lucrative bonuses of all varieties. Don’t be afraid to get stuck into any and all profitable casino bonuses. There might be profitable promotions waiting in more obscure sections of a casino such as bingo and scratch cards that you’ve previously overlooked.

Understanding the nuances of casino bonus types can be tricky if you’ve not already got a head for numbers and a grounding in probability. However, there are lots of paid services, like Profit Accumulator, that have put in the legwork for you. They explain exactly how to turn a profit from loads of casino bonuses and how to make a killing on sports bets too.

Don’t be precious about what you play. If betting on the Women’s World Cup will award 20 free spins, do it. If you need to grind through £200 free on bingo, take it on. No one said grinding through bonuses with positive expected value was going to be fun. It is profitable though!

Finding Offers that give you an Edge over the Casinos

With a Platinum Membership on Profit Accumulator, as well as gaining access to loads of awesome matched betting casino guides, you can also find lists and lists of suitable, positive expected value casino offers to do. On Profit Accumulator the majority of the offers listed are considered to be low-risk casino offers. For pro-advantage casino players, if you're interested in finding lots of medium to high-risk casino offers to profit from, Bonus Accumulator will be of more interest for you.

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