Updated: December 22, 2023
Every person who gets involved in gambling somehow doesn’t know the phrase “Casinos always win.” You need to understand that the secret is hidden behind the rules of the games you choose. Depending on the selected game, the advantage of the casino may be between 0 and 9% per spin (hand). In this article, we will talk about different games and how much the casino wins. We will consider the following games: roulette, poker and slots. Read further in the article, and you will know Why Do Casinos Always Win.
Yes, the casino will always have a mathematical advantage over the player, but there is one legal way to get an advantage over the casino. This trick uses the help of bonuses given by the gambling site.
Next, we will consider three different types of casino games, and we will find out which one has a better percentage of winning.
There are three very popular types of roulette – The European one is the most famous one (with one zero), the American one(two zeros) and the French one (with one zero). You need to know that if the wheel doesn’t have a zero, then there will not be an advantage; the chances will be equal for the player and the casino. So, there will not be a point in this game in the long term; there won’t be a winner in the end.
The advantage of the European roulette with one zero will take 1/37 of each bet made; this is a 2.7% advantage for the casino on your average bet.
We will consider the European one because it’s more popular. So, even if you bet on all of the numbers (1 CAD), your final bet will be 37 CAD, the payout will be 36 CAD.
So, even if you win 10 times in a row, in the long term, a day, a week or a month, you will lose all of the money. If you don’t know whether to believe us or not, you can easily check the roulette; just read the article until the end.
Let’s consider all of the possible bets at roulette and see the final results of the mathematical expectation.
In the picture below, you will be able to see a formula that calculates each separate bet.
, (1)
The formula (1) ME, unlike any made bets on “European roulette,” can be converted taking the full probability, not collaborative events, that is Pwin.+ Ploss.=1, to the view of the game in the N sectors (rooms), is equal to:
, (2)
Since the probability of winning Pwin in “European roulette” while you are playing for N sectors (rooms) is equal to
so, we finally get ME for any bet at European roulette when you are betting on N sectors (rooms), is equal to:
, (3)
Let’s calculate ME for every single bet in European roulette. Then, the result of ME can be seen in table 1.
Table 1. Calculation of ME for “simple” bet
| «Simple» bet | ||||
| Straight-Up | Payout – 35 | Win Probability 1/37 | Loss Probability 36/37 | =35×1/37-36/37= -1/37 |
| Split | Payout – 17:1 | Win Probability 2/37 | Loss Probability 35/37 | =17×2/37-35/37= -1/37 |
| StreetStreet | Payout – 11:1 | Win Probability 3/37 | Loss Probability 34/37 | =11×3/37-34/37= -1/37 |
| Corner | Payout – 8:1 | Win Probability 4/37 | Loss Probability 33/37 | =8×4/37-33/37= -1/37 |
| Six Line | Payout – 5:1 | Win Probability 6/37 | Loss Probability 31/37 | =5×6/37-31/37= -1/37 |
| Column & Dozens | Payout – 2:1 | Win Probability 12/37 | Loss Probability 25/37 | =2×12/37-25/37= -1/37 |
| Even Chance | Payout – 1:1 | Win Probability 18/37 | Loss Probability 19/37 | =1×18/37-19/37= -1/37 |
What does the table show? ME is exactly equal to the value obtained by the formula (3). Let’s look at the results. The player will lose at the end, even if he wins
When the punter places a bet (any bet) on the European roulette, he loses 1/37 of the made bets in the end. By the way, the results for American roulette are even worse. That’s why owners of casinos don’t care if the gamblers win 1, 2 or even 10 times in a row.
As long as they return to play, the owners know that they just “borrowed” the won money but with huge interest. So, no matter how many times the player wins, he will return all of the money and will even spend more than he won at the casino. Only 1-2% of the people will succeed in stopping the game on time, and they won’t return the money for a long time.
So, no matter what kind of strategy you use, when the ME is -1/37 of each bet, the ME will always be negative for the player in the long term. We should not forget that casinos are made for the owners to become wealthy. That’s why they add restrictions to the maximum bets; thus, the strategies are useless in the long term.
Let’s calculate the volatility (dispersion) of any bets made at roulette depending on how many sectors N (rooms) we bet on. Then, use the variance (dispersion) to determine the optimal Bank Kelly criterion when playing European kind.
Bank on Kelly’s criterion shows what a gambler’s bank to the total balance should look like aspired to infinity.
We can calculate the dispersion of the bets like this:
, (4)
The formula (4) for the variance “D” of any bets can be converted to take the full probability, not joint events, Pwin.+ Ploss.=1, to the mind:
, (5)
Since the probability of winning Pwin while you’re playing in the N sectors (rooms) is equal to:
, finally, we get the expression for the dispersion” D “of any bet when you are playing in the N sectors (rooms), is:
, (6)
The magnitude of dispersion in”D” has a positive value throughout the range of games in the N sectors. That is an important detail.
Places where you should calculate the required bank for the game at “European roulette” using Kelly’s criterion:
, (7)
Using the expressions (3) and (6), we finally obtain the expression:
, (8)
According to Kelly’s criterion for playing, the formula (8) shows that the optimal amount of the bank is a negative value.
If the optimal value of the gambler’s bank following Kelly’s criterion is negative, then playing roulette isn’t recommended because the balance will always be close to zero. In the long term, he will lose all of his money.
If you want to get the total picture of gambling and how “good” it is to gamble, you can follow Kelly’s criterion for a mathematical expectation of the game result that is:
, (9)
This picture shows that a small bank balance is actually better for players.
The optimal criteria of the Кoptima game can only be used to evaluate games with a positive expectation! If the game has a negative ME, it will not attract the attention of the gamblers. For European roulette, it’s ME -1/37, which is less than zero, so this game is not profitable for the punter. This is the reason why this game is not mathematically good for a player, regardless of the used strategies, tips, bets, etc.; in the end, you will be the one who loses all of the money.
Note: the formula (3), (5) and (8) can be obtained for “American roulette” with two sectors of zero: 0 and 00.
The card games are the most unprofitable games for players (except Blackjack and partly Baccarat). There is a hidden secret behind shuffling the cards after each hand; the player thinks that he is losing slower; this is kind of true, but he is losing more and for sure. There are a few variants of pokers that are the most popular at Canadian online casinos: Oasis, Six card poker, Russian, Red Dog and others.
There are 2 types of slots: land-based slots and online slots. The percentage of return (RTP) is usually between 80% and 90% in the first variant. This means that a few players have a real chance to hit a huge winning.
Online slots have become more and more popular over the past few years, not only because it’s a convenient way of use but also for the RTP. Right now, the most popular slots come from NetEnt and Microgaming, but many other providers offer a higher RTP.
If you are playing at an honest and reliable Canadian online casino (like Fastpay), you will enjoy an average RTP of 96%, while the blacklisted casinos offer an RTP of 90% – 95%. Play all of your favourite slots for free right here, and get familiar with the return of percentages.
Blackjack and slots can be extremely profitable for a player. Even if you are not following a specific strategy, you can get a positive expectation of winning.
Slots with high volatility have a higher chance of hitting a big win, but they also have a higher chance of losing the entire balance of the money.
In the end, we have concluded that the most unprofitable game is poker, while the top 2 most profitable games are Blackjack and slots. Try to use strategies when playing at Canadian online casinos, this will increase your chance of winning. Make sure you choose trusted casinos as the blacklisted ones may lower the RTP of the games. Do not forget that one of the essential things when gambling is to stop on time. If you are lucky enough to hit a Huge Win, then we recommend you stop playing immediately, then request cashout and forget about gambling for a while.