Is online live blackjack rigged
Casino feedback can be a great way for players to determine whether a site is legitimate and is offering the best blackjack games.
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Is online blackjack rigged or fair? Safe methods finding the best games
Many new players who are considering playing blackjack at an online casino site will wonder whether the games are actually fair. Since a number of players will have already played blackjack at a land casino, they will want to know how to find the best blackjack games online that offer fair chances at winning and verified payouts. There are many things to consider when looking for games and with a bit of knowledge and some tips, any player can quickly learn that online blackjack is a fair game that can be enjoyed at some of the top rated casino sites in the industry.
How RNG come into play
When choosing an online casino to play blackjack, one thing players should ensure is that the RNG is tested on a routine basis. The random number generator is used to determine the outcome of games and to deal random cards when the games start. Most online casinos will regularly test the software that is being used to ensure that the RNG is operating properly. Always make sure these tests are performed on a regular basis when choosing blackjack sites and games. Third party groups will be responsible for the testing of the games, one of which is TST. This company tests for compliance and evaluates the RNG as well as the payouts and reports.
Software developers of games
With many leading software developers in the industry, players will have numerous choices when choosing blackjack sites and games. Each software provider will offer different game variations that will have various rules and presentations. Players should take some time to review the top software names before making a selection. One will find that playtech and microgaming casinos offer the largest selection of blackjack games online and both of these companies have a superb reputation for fair games, honest payouts and astounding game design.
Third party accreditations
When a casino site is accredited by a third party company, it will ensure that the site is operating legally and ethically and meets all industry standards. Ecogra is one company to watch for and this independent organisation oversees the proper operation of many of the leading online casinos in the industry. With an ecogra accredited casino site, the games are tested routinely, payout percentages are verified and players will receive extra layers of protection. Accredited casinos will only use software that has been audited by a third party, ensuring the fairness of games and the safety of players.
Online casino feedback
Casino feedback can be a great way for players to determine whether a site is legitimate and is offering the best blackjack games. With feedback, one can learn of another player’s experience and can also learn of the different game variations that are offered. The overall reputation of an online casino is their key to success, so players will find that most sites will be offering tested games for verified payouts and will also never risk their reputation in the industry by rigging any games. Players should take some time to check casino forums, review sites and blogs to learn as much as they can about a site as well as the software and games that are used and offered. At casino review sites, players can find out about many top rated casino sites and can access an internally generated list of recommended blackjack sites.
Casino licensing
The licensing of an online casino is extremely important when players are planning to play any real money games online. There are many different jurisdictions that license online casinos and to ensure safety and fair games, players should turn their attention to those that hold a UK or EU license. The reason is because these two jurisdictions have the most regulations and demand that online casinos meet industry standards. When choosing a site for blackjack, never play at any casino that is not licensed and regulated and try to stick to these with the UK and EU licensing in place.
Is online blackjack rigged?
Online blackjack games are not rigged. These games are the next best thing to sitting in a land based casino and when playing at a reliable and trusted site, players can be sue the games are fair and honest. By choosing licensed casinos that use the best software, players can enjoy amazing blackjack variations and have exceptional chances at winning. Always choose an accredited casino site for the best blackjack games.
Is online blackjack rigged?
This is one of those questions many blackjack players have. It ties into the age-long problem of whether or not online casinos are rigged. We can give you a quick answer — online blackjack is usually not rigged, but it can be.
As this is not a question that we can merely answer and be done with it, we still have to elaborate on what this means exactly. Stick with us if you want to learn why online blackjack usually isn’t rigged, as well as how it can be. Let’s take a look.
Are online casinos rigged?
Before explaining online blackjack and whether you need to worry about them being rigged, we need to talk about the places where one can play online blackjack — online casinos.
In all honesty, online casinos can always be rigged very easily. However, that doesn’t mean that they are. What’s more, the overwhelming majority of them aren’t. And the most important thing to understand here is that there are things that ensure online casinos and the games they offer aren’t rigged.
First of all, quality casino games developers don’t want to be associated with rigged games and casinos. Therefore, they don’t even make games that are rigged, including blackjack. Every good developer creates casino games with random number generators embedded in them to ensure that what happens in the games is entirely random.
Naturally, all casino games are made to slightly favour the casino so that the site can make a profit. However, this casino edge is always very small, and no matter how large it is, it doesn’t mean that you can’t win big in any single game.
Aside from the precautions taken by the software developers themselves, every online casino is subject to the laws of the country it operates in. If they are international, they are still subject to rules that ensure fair play and safety of players.
What’s more, each casino that’s certifiably fair holds the proper licenses. The best licenses in the online gambling world are the ones given by the malta gaming authority (MGA) and the united kingdom gambling commission (UKGC). So, if a casino has one of these licenses, you can be certain that it is fair and no more rigged than life itself!
It’s important to mention that many online casinos allow independent auditors to occasionally check their level of fairness and honesty.
Why and how can online blackjack be rigged?
Players are very suspicious of online gambling games, and they have every right to be. It’s easy to think that the game is rigged because an online casino can easily rig a blackjack game. The casino controls the software, and it can thus control how the game unfolds. What’s more, with the way blackjack works, the casino can easily turn the odds in their favour without anyone noticing.
For these reasons, it’s understandable that you would worry about the game of online blackjack you’re playing being rigged. What’s worse, it’s not that these things haven’t happened before. For example, there is the infamous potripper scandal in which the website’s owner had the ability to see players’ cards.
Cases like these are rare, but not unheard of. When it comes to blackjack, there are many ways a casino might rig the game. The most common method a bad casino could use is removing the aces or face cards completely. You would think that this is easy to notice, but the fact is that most blackjack games use less than 50% of available cards per game, so it’s likely that no one would notice.
Other methods of rigging an online blackjack game exist, but the reality is that most casinos won’t use them. This is mostly because of the reasons we already explained and the rules that prevent them from rigging games. However, most online casinos don’t even want to rig their games. It simply isn’t worth it. If someone realizes that a game of blackjack is rigged, the ensuing bad reputation could easily ruin the casino.
In all honesty, only a very dumb casino owner would want to rig blackjack, as the potential rewards are very low, while the risks are tremendously high.
How can I know if my online blackjack game is rigged?
Finding out whether your game of online blackjack is rigged always comes back to the trustworthiness of the platform where you’re playing the game. As long as the platform itself is fair and legitimate, the chances of the blackjack game being rigged are minuscule.
One of the most important things to check is if the casino holds a license from one of the organizations we discussed (MGA and UKGC) or from another well-recognized agency. Also, make sure that the game of blackjack comes from a legitimate and popular software developer like microgaming, playtech, evolution gaming, netent, etc.
When it comes to the game itself, you can also play live dealer blackjack games. Live games are easier to follow, and any potential problems are less likely to occur and easier to spot. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t play regular blackjack games online. All of the best blackjack games are made with algorithms that shuffle cards entirely randomly. And of course, as long as the casino is good, the possibility for the game being rigged is virtually non-existent.
If you start losing a lot, it’s good to take a hard look at the way you’re playing. Unfortunately, the most likely reason for your constant losses has something to do with you, not the game itself.
Most players tend to blame the game for their losses, instead of inspecting their playing methods and strategies. In most cases, when players accuse the casino of their blackjack game being rigged, they are doing so because it doesn’t occur to them that they did something wrong. So, it’s important to consider this aspect as well when you’re looking into the fairness of the game.
The bottom line
All in all, online blackjack is almost never rigged, even though it can be. Most casinos where you’ll be playing the game are legitimate and fair, so their blackjack games are most likely fair as well.
In addition to that, even though a game of blackjack can be rigged in several ways, there is no point or need for a casino to do it. The rewards are low, and the risks are high, so you can be certain that an online casino would never have a need to rig a blackjack game.
In conclusion, you can relax and start playing online blackjack in your favourite, legitimate online casino without a single worry about it being rigged.
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As long as the game of live online blackjack you’re playing is hosted by a legitimate, trusted casino, it certainly isn’t rigged. If you lose, the only reason is the lack of skill or luck.
If you compare it to all other online casino games, playing blackjack is extremely worthwhile. That’s because the game is mostly about skills and knowledge, and you have the highest chance of winning out of all casino games. The better you are at playing blackjack, the higher your probability of winning.
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Rigged casinos – the truth
By their nature, gamblers seem to be a suspicious lot. If lady luck isn't against you, chances are the casinos are.
For every casino, there are a dozen conspiracy theories about decks being rigged, croupiers on the take, and the cards being marked.
But does any of it hold water, and how can you really trust those hundreds of online blackjack casinos?
Let's take a look at the ways casinos have rigged blackjack through history and how players can protect themselves from disreputable websites.
Why would online blackjack games be rigged?
It's happened to everyone. You spot a dealer holding an ace up-card in a game of european and you opt against insurance. Naturally, the dealer then flips over a 10 to make a blackjack.
And when you decide to stand on 17 the dealer always makes that 18.
It's frustrating, and the anonymity of the whole game makes some canadian players suspicious. How do we really know that the casino game isn't fixed?
Cases of rigging in online poker have been known (the infamous POTRIPPER scandal, for example, where the site's owner could see opponents' hands) but cases of impropriety in casinos are far scarcer.
It's just not in the interest of online casinos to rig games. The bad reputation they would get if they got caught would be devastating, and anyway, as 'the house' they're always statistically ahead of the player.
How could blackjack be rigged?
Cases of players rigging games in land-based casinos have been around as long as blackjack itself.
Marking cards to spot 10s and picture cards is an easy way, but casinos and croupiers are highly-trained to spot markers.
Similarly, card counting - although not 'rigging' in the classic sense - is easy to spot and frowned upon. Card counters will usually be caught and banned across every casino in the area.
Not all online casinos are alike, and some of them are downright dastardly, in their day to day dealings and that is why our reviewers identify the rogues for you.
The "second deal" is a famous method of cheating where the croupier deals the card right beneath the top card (easy to do by a skilled operator). This can only work if the dealer is working with the player he's dealing to, and the second deal is very hard to spot.
Similarly, "pegging" is a system of marking cards so that the dealer himself can tell what the next card he is dealing will be.
Understand your losing edge
One key problem with conspiracy theorists is that by its nature blackjack is skewed towards the house.
With a house edge that can range between anything from 0.89% and 0.65%, blackjack long-term is a difficult game to win.
The odds are also in the dealer's favour. The 1/1-3/2 payout (depending on what online variant you're playing) for a blackjack doesn't represent the true odds of hitting the hand, so you're always fighting against the house.
Of course, there's nothing to say casino games like blackjack aren't worth playing for this reason (nor is roulette worth avoiding because the croupier has spun 10 #32s in a row, killing your bankroll in the process); you just have to accept the edge they have over you.
Online blackjack licensing and security
Good canadian blackjack sites will have proper licensing in place to guarantee a fair game.
The random number generators (rngs) governing the shuffle and deal of the cards will be fair, and more importantly, independently and routinely audited to ensure they're above board.
Similarly, casino payouts from all blackjack games are checked by testing labs working on behalf of the casinos. If any mistakes or software glitches are made, they will be picked up by the auditors.
Online cheating
But online, things get a bit murkier. Of course, hackers could get into a site's software to change the program to deal out a disproportionate number of high or low cards.
Collusion with a live dealer could be possible too, although live dealer staff - as in an offline casino - are rigorously checked before they are allowed to work in a virtual casino.
With greater licensing and security in place, however, it's harder than ever to fix online casino games and get away with it. Just roll with the punches and accept that you're always fighting uphill to beat the house.
Rigged online blackjack
Can online blackjack be rigged?
"has anyone actually won money playing online blackjack?"
"the dealer gets twice the blackjacks as the player, 8 in 100 hands, and the dealer always wins more doubles."
"it would be more likely that I would get hit by lightning than suffer the results I did."
The preceding statements were taken from message boards which specialize in online gambling discussions. While many players believe just the opposite, a growing minority are convinced that online blackjack is indeed rigged by the house.
The question this article tries to answer is, "how likely is it that online blackjack is rigged?"
The answer to this question, like almost all questions, is, "it depends." or "sometimes."
Take, for example, a scam in england which cost an online gambling operation $1.6 million dollars before a rigged blackjack game was discovered, and it's easy to see why many players are so suspicious.
Couple that with the fact that online wagering, once thought of in the same seedy vein as online pornography, has achieved a level of mainstream popularity which attracts thousands of new players daily, often providing easy targets for the unscrupulous and the downright immoral, and you have a situation rife with mistrust and paranoia.
Customers who complain about online blackjack being rigged have four main concerns:
1. Refusal to pay out winnings
Perhaps the worst violation, there is nothing more frustrating than actually beating the house advantage and then finding that your chosen online casino will not pay. And since it is not a land-based business, your odds of recovering the money are very slim.
2. Lengthy delays before winnings are paid out
Almost as annoying as #1, but at least you eventually get what is coming to you.
3. Closures with no warning, without refunding deposited funds
This is a problem almost exclusive to fly-by-night operations and casinos established solely to scam the customer. This problem will almost never be encountered if you choose to gamble at a reputable casino with a solid business history.
4. Use of rigged software, with outcomes not randomly generated
Perhaps even more insidious than not paying out winnings is an online blackjack game which cheats you out of the chance to make a profit in the first place. This subject is often the most passionately debated, because it's almost impossible for the average internet player to prove it one way or another.
While such crooked software does exist, many blackjack players are just too eager to cry foul when they suffer a bad run, thus casting doubt on the industry as a whole and furthering the overall sense of paranoia. While these concerns might sometimes be real and valid, many gamblers simply ignore the most basic fact of gambling which is constantly staring them in the face.
Every casino in the world, whether it's online or land-based, offers games which give the house an edge (strangely, few people ever complain about losing the lottery, a game where the house, in this case the government, has a huge advantage over the player). No matter what you do, you generally can't beat that edge.
Casinos will always make money. Gamblers, as a general rule, will usually lose money. And the longer you play, the more likely it is that the house edge will catch up to you. That's how it works.
If it didn't, casinos would have gone the way of the dodo a long time ago. But despite this fact, many players continue to claim that online black jack games are rigged, usually citing certain software manufacturers as the real culprits.
Most software makers charge an internet casino between $10,000 and $250,000 to develop a web-based casino, and often the software companies get as much as 30% of the gaming win generated by the site.
With that kind of money on the line, it's small wonder that someone who just lost $1,000 at on line blackjack might grow suspicious.
An authority site in this industry, has said, "online casinos are fair and honest for the most part. If you stick to the big four software manufacturers (boss media, cryptologic, microgaming, and world gaming) you shouldn't have to worry about the fairness of the games themselves - the only thing you need to look into is their reputation for support and prompt payments."
An internet gambling expert who reviews e-casinos says, "cryptologic offers about a 98 % return on video poker and blackjack, but, of course, the rules are such that the casino's odds may be a bit higher due to player mistakes. If you want better odds than what the major software-makers offer, you have to venture a bit off the beaten path, but if you do that you risk security."
Considering the above statement, it should then come as little surprise that the problems have occurred almost exclusively at unlicensed and/or unregulated online casinos (it is thought that there are 200+ online casinos operating illegally today).
Casinos licensed by a responsible government are regularly audited and seem to have as few problems as regulated land-based casinos, and the odds they offer are similar.
When considering online blackjack casinos, try looking for the following marks of quality:
1. Software
Reliable and proven software backend that generates random numbers. Probabilities cannot be manipulated by the software backend.
2. Business practice
Operators have shown a history of stable business operations. No prior fraud convictions, bankruptcies, etc.
3. Fair play
Look for companies who openly advertise payouts and are audited by a reputable, independent organization. Bonus winners should also be openly advertised to show that reliable payouts have been made.
Anyone, particularly the software developer, can claim any payout percentage they want. Without independent auditing (from a reputable firm like price waterhouse coopers, for example) these numbers mean absolutely nothing.
4. Quick and reliable payout process
Operators must have some type of payment processing that allows for reasonably quick payouts.
5. Playability
Software should be reliable and able to retain the game state in case of dropped connections.
6. Customer support
Any casino you want to play at should have a toll-free call center and prompt email support. The customer service staff should demonstrate a firm understanding of the product.
7. Disclosure
Virtual black jack casinos should demonstrate full disclosure in releasing details regarding payouts, policies, insurance, etc.
So is online blackjack rigged?
In a sense, all casino games are rigged by paying out at different odds than the true odds. In other words, all casino games have a house edge that is unbeatable.
But usually when someone asks about online casino being rigged, their concern is with whether or not they're getting the same house edge that they would have playing a non-virtual, or brick and mortar version of the game in a land-based casino.
Most of the time, if you're playing at a reputable casino, you will be receiving a fair game, because there is little motivation for an internet casino to cheat with their software. The house edge is already built into the game, so there is no need to cheat in order to win in the long run.
In fact, most online casino operators have plenty of incentive NOT to rig their software. If they get caught, they go out of business, and then their profit margins become 0.
Is online blackjack/roulette rigged?
This has to be one of the most common questions we get asked here at online bookies and it’s one that we can confidently answer.
No. Online blackjack and roulette are not rigged. Assuming you’re playing at a licensed bookmaker .
However, the games are set up in the house’s favour, which is something that you need to remember. For example, if you could bet on something that had a 50/50 outcome, like a coin toss, then the true odds for that bet would be even money or 2.00. A casino isn’t going to offer you this price as they need to make a profit, so they offer you slightly less than even money; the odds might be more like 1.95.
Whatever you are betting on, the bookmaker or casino creates the odds in their favour. Always. Think of it as the price you have to pay to use their service.
But is rigging possible?
It’s all well and good for us to sit here and say that the games aren’t rigged, but technically, they could be if the developers wanted to build them that way. You see, they are set up and run using computers which work with complicated algorithms. These algorithms create random patterns of outcomes for each game.
If a company were to tamper with these algorithms, they could either decrease the stated payout for the game or they could unfairly weight it to pay out in fewer situations.
However, this would be highly illegal and no reputable bookie would risk their license or business for the sake of a few extra quid.
How are games tested?
The games are made by specialist game developers who license their games to the casinos. Once these deals have been signed off the casino can host the games on their own platform.
This saves the casino both time and money. If you look at some of the bigger casinos you will see that they have hundreds of games to choose from and the time it would take to create just one of these games, let alone maintaining and update it, would be a huge weight around the casino’s neck.
The ability to sub-contract in their game library also allows them to choose from a much wider range of games than they would if they were making them all in-house. Many casinos use several different game developers to power their casino, creating much more diversity and interest for players. This is why you will see the same games at difference casinos – they are using the same developers.
You still haven’t mentioned testing
It’s the game developers who are responsible for making their games fair. They handle all of the development, coding, design, etc., so the casino couldn’t change the algorithms even if it wanted to.
There are a number of independent testing companies and regulatory bodies that test new games for fairness and ensure everything is as it should be. The key word here is ‘independent’, so they have no affiliation to any casino or gaming company.
They put the games through their paces over millions and millions of spins/hands and won’t sign off on a game unless it meets the requirements.
The largest of these is ecogra (ecommerce and online gambling regulation and assurance) who are a UK-based panel acting as a regulatory body for online gambling sites. The company have been around since 2003 and have carried out testing on thousands of casinos and casino games.
Ecogra can also be alerted by players if they notice something suspicious going on. They also have a huge database of certificates that you can access to check on any games or casinos that you want to use.
Even though they are based in the UK, they are recognised globally as a leading company within the industry.
Other regulatory bodies include:
- Itech labs
- TST (technical systems testing)
- GLI (gaming laboratories international)
- Gaming associates
- Nmi
- BMM testlabs
- SQS
Random number generators (rngs)
The easiest way to think of an RNG is to use a game like roulette. A roulette wheel contains the numbers 0-36, and if this wheel were to spin at an incredibly fast rate of 100 rotations every second, there would be no way of knowing what number it was going to stop on or even make out any of the numbers as it spins.
The RNG works in the same way. The cycle continues to spin and instantly stops as you press the ‘bet’ or ‘spin’ button on your casino game. The graphic will keep spinning but the outcome has already been decided.
In reality, it works with a combination of random numbers and algorithms that are programmed into that machine. The RNG will cycle through these random numbers several times every millisecond until you tell it to stop by hitting the button.
The RNG is clever in that it’s able to take into account any return to player rates that the game developer wants to include. This is essentially how much a player can expect to get back from any unit of 100 (so £1, or £100) over a huge sample of spins.
House edge
The house edge is essentially the mathematical advantage that the casino has over the player for each game.
The house is going to have an edge with all casino games, but they do alter quite a lot from one game to another. We mentioned earlier that if there was a coin toss, the house wouldn’t offer true odds of even money for that bet, but instead a reduced price at around 1.95 – this is the house edge.
When it comes to roulette and blackjack, the two games have very different house edge percentages. Roulette comes in three main variants, and each has a different house edge:
- America = 5.26% to 7.89%
- European = 2.70%
- French = 2.70%
As you can see, the casino has a much bigger edge with american roulette than it does with european or french. This is because an extra green number is used in american roulette, ‘00’ or double-zero, yet the payouts for each bet remain the same across all three variants. This creates extra opportunities for the house to win from american roulette and increases their edge.
Blackjack has one of the lowest house edges that you can get at just 0.28% for vegas rules games. This is because you can apply a ‘perfect’ betting strategy to blackjack and increase or decrease your stake amount to reflect times when cards statistically might or might not be in your favour.
How do you explain odd results?
These freak occurrences tend to be when people start to cry foul and claim that games are rigged. This is actually called variance.
Variance is ever present in casino games but is highlighted by seemingly non-random instances. For example, the odds of a zero landing in roulette is 1 in 37 attempts given that there are 37 numbers. But this doesn’t mean that zero will land 1 in every 37 spins, does it?
It could be that 1,000 spins are made and zero never occurs, but then it lands on 20 out of the next 50 spins. This would mean that zero has landed 20 times in 1050 spins, which is the same as 1 in 52.5 spins, which isn’t far out, and if you played a much larger sample of spins it would level out even closer.
When people see these seemingly impossible patterns it’s because of short term variance and comes down to luck and timing. Nothing more.
Still not convinced?
These are real games being played on physical machines by a human dealer. They are filmed and streamed live to your computer or mobile from various different camera angles. It’s like playing at an actual casino but from the comfort of your own home.
Live casino games are played manually so do not use rngs and are totally down to the luck of the draw. The results could be just as erratic or seemingly ‘rigged’, but they would at least offer you peace of mind if you don’t trust computers to work with algorithms, or if you are sceptical of online gambling in general.
So, let's see, what we have: this article discusses if online blackjack is fair and safe. Also learn the best ways of finding the most trustworthy blackjack casinos & games. At is online live blackjack rigged
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