Cheating is certainly not recommended, not legal, and in no way endorsed by RealOnlineGambling. But, for the sake of education, this course will deal with ways for a player to cheat at blackjack and the methods that a blackjack dealer may use to cheat the players.
Cheating in casinos refers to actions by the player or the house which are prohibited by regional gambling control authorities. This may involve using suspect apparatus, interfering with apparatus, chip fraud or misrepresenting games. The formally prescribed sanctions for cheating depend on the circumstances and gravity of the cheating and the jurisdiction in which the casino operates. The all-seeing cameras make it easy to detect blackjack cheating after the fact, and most methods leave the casino feeling suspicious even if they can’t immediately be certain that any cheating has occurred. Inevitably, they’ll go to the tapes and be able to see exactly what happened. Do not Cheat – It is illegal! Again, do not cheat!
In blackjack, cheating methods have existed since as long as the game has been around. Since decades, players think about how to cheat blackjack and have tried to use different techniques in order to cheat the casinos out of their money. Unfortunately, in modern casinos cheating at blackjack top UK online casinos is not really possible or easy at all since most casinos are well equipped to handle cheaters. Casinos use lots of different devices and cameras and employ highly trained security to catch players who are cheating.
Also, most casinos are aware of all the tactics which are used by players and the infamous “pit bosses” keep an eye on every move of every player in order to catch suspicious behaviors of the players.
Given below are some of the most common cheating methods that have been used by players for cheating at blackjack in the past few years; they definitely show us how to cheat blackjack.
Casino Сheating
Most players try to cheat at blackjack at casinos. In the past, when there had been no online casinos the land based casinos were the only place where the players could go to play their favorite games, and cheat at them too. There are literally dozens of cheating methods that have been used in the past for cheating at casinos.
Players used techniques like marking the cards with undetectable marks and introduced them into the decks so that when the cards were dealt they could easily recognize the value of those cards. As casinos became more aware of such tactics, players switched to luminous marks which cannot be seen with the naked eye but only through special lenses. One of the most effective cheating techniques was dealer collusion. Several players in the past had joined hands with the dealers who would help them cheat using several different techniques like second dealing and false shuffling and mixing of the cards.
Dealers have been highly talented and thus it was almost always impossible to catch dealers cheating at the games.
Electronic Cheating Devices
As the game became more popular within the players, cheaters moved on to something else to give them better edge over the house. Several types of electronic cheating devices have been used at casinos often in order to cheat at blackjack. Many cheaters had come up with their own devices and small computers which would help them count the cards and track the shuffles.
In the past years, when the security at casinos had not been so tight, it was possible for the players to carry electronic devices with them to casinos, but not anymore.
Online Cheating Methods
Today, online casinos have become quite popular and with that has come the age of online cheating methods. Players now use some sophisticated cheating methods and software for card counting which would allow them to get an edge over the house. Also, the blackjack bots have created quite a storm in the recent past since they not only allow players to cheat but they are also quite difficult to detect and prevent for the online casinos which has turned out to be quite a threat.
Can you trust online casinos?
Do Online Casinos Cheat Blackjack Vegas World
Gambling is all about taking risks, but you don't want to add uneccessary risks by playing at a casino that will cheat you out of your winnings, or not allow you to win at all.
Some gamblers insist that all online casinos are rigged, that 'impossible' things happen too often for them to be truly random.
This view is fairly widespread and seems odd to those of us involved in the industry. But online casino gambling is actually a victim of its own success, as the article below tries to explain.
Do online casinos cheat?
Do Casinos Cheat At Blackjack
In a word, NO!
How Casinos Cheat At Blackjack
But there remains a perception that they do. This is due to three simple factors that we outline below.
Why is gambling at an online casino different to a 'real' casino?
Frequency of games - more games per hour means 'unusual' events happen more often.
Playing alone - you don't see others players win, so have to judge the casino's fairness on your results only.
Do Online Casinos Cheat Blackjack Games
Past reputations - early, unregulated casinos were not always honest.
1. Frequency of games
One of the big advantages of online gambling is that you play at your own pace. You're playing against your own version of the casino, so you don't have to wait for others to place their bets or be paid out. There are no physical chips or cards or balls, so there's no 'clearing up' to be done between games. The cards are dealt quicker, the Roulette wheel takes less time to spin, the dice are always ready to be thrown.
As a result, you can play many more games per hour than you can in a land-based casino.
But there's a downside to this. Unusual events will seem to occur much more frequently than they would in a bricks and mortar casino. Not in terms of probablity, but in elapsed time.
As an example, the probability of getting 6 consecutive blacks in Roulette is approximately 1 in 64.
In a real casino, it can take two minutes between spins of the wheel, so this event will only occur on average every two hours or so (2 x 64 = 128 minutes). Playing online, you can get in three spins every minute, or 180 in an hour. Suddenly, the unlikely event of 6 consecutive blacks is happening every 20 minutes (180 / 64 = 21.33).
In both cases, the probability is the same, but the impression is that an unusual event is happening six times more often when playing online, which leads players to the conclusion that the online casino must somehow be rigged.
It's perfectly understandable, and a hard misconception to shake off. Players generally don't study probability but have an innate feel for how often results come. Anything unusual makes them suspicious.
But we assure you that the random number generators used by online casinos are completely random and are constantly monitored and tweaked to ensure that the results they generate are as close to 'natural' as possible.
2. Playing alone
As mentioned above, when you play online, you're playing alone. That gives you a great amount of freedom, but there's an important psychological effect to consider.
Let's say you're playing Blackjack in a real casino on a table with four other players and you hit an unlucky streak and lose ten hands in a row. It's highly unlikely that all the players at your table are having such a bad time as you - the probability is that one or more players at your table will win some of those hands.
Even though you're losing, you can see others winning, so you know that the casino is honest.
Online, you're focusing only on your own results. Because you don't see anyone else win or, more importantly, see the casino lose, those ten losing hands seem to be against all probability.
As with the Roulette example above, it gives you an uneasy feeling that things are not quite right.
Think in terms of pure probability and you'll see that you've exactly the same chance of winning online that you have in a real casino.
3. Past reputations
Do Indian Casinos Cheat
Online gambling enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity. At times, it was like a new frontier. But like any new venture, it attracted some dubious characters along with the genuine operators.
Everyone involved in online casino gambling has to be honest about this: in the early days, some casinos cheated. It's an unfortunate fact, and for many years did nothing to improve players' confidence in the honesty of online casinos.
Fortunately, things have now changed. The online casino industry is one of the most regulated of all businesses. Most of those 'rogue' casinos have been run out of town - named and shamed and blacklisted by the numerous industry watchdogs.
These industry ombudsmen exist to uphold the image of fairness and reliability and will step in to investigate and resolve any player disputes. So long as you're playing at a regulated casino site, you'll be protected against any wrongdoing.
In the UK, things are even stricter. Since the Gambling Act was enforced, only regulated casinos are allowed to advertise or be promoted. In this case, regulated means licensed in an approved jurisdiction. This caused major headaches as many of the biggest casinos suddenly found themselves outside this so-called 'White List'. Most have now moved operations to places such as Malta, but some have resisted and are now unable to promote to UK and EU players.
Of course, the big money involved in online gambling will always attract unscupulous operators, so it's always wise to be wary of new casinos. Our recommended casinos have all been around for enough time to prove themselves trustworthy and reliable - and in the unlikely event that any of them prove to be the opposite, we'll get rid of them immediately.
So do online casinos cheat?
In conclusion, reputable, long-standing online casinos don't cheat, they're not rigged and they are fair.
But before you start to gamble online, you'd be well advised to check out your options. Our casino overview page is designed to allow you to compare and contrast our approved online casinos. When you've narrowed down your options, read our individual casino reviews, where you'll find all you need to know - games, bonuses, languages, deposit and withdrawal options, customer service details.
If you're nervous about starting to gamble online, we recommend you try out one or more of our secure casinos, safe in the knowledge that the casinos we approve are licensed, regulated and - above all - honest.
Click here to see our recommended casinos!