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Bonuses,
house edge, and expectation.
Online casinos - the honest ones anyway - purchase the right to use gaming
software from widely known software development companies in the industry.
An example is Playtech, who supplies the blackjack gaming software
for Golden Palace Casino and Bet365 casino, among others.
These software
suppliers have programmed the games using random number generators to
emulate a given number of decks of cards, and have assigned the individual
games a specific set of rules. Knowing this, an optimal strategy is
available for any game that will reduce the overall house edge to as low as
possible for that particular program.
For
example: On the right you
will see a card giving the best possible strategy for the Playtech
Blackjack Surrender game. (Underneath the strategy card are the rules.)
Playing according to this card results in a casino house edge of only .39% - that is,
around 1/3 of 1%. You can expect to lose $3.90 for every $1,000 you wager in
the long run by following the card for this game, and that's the best anyone
can do.
Online casinos offer
first-time deposit bonuses to attract new players. This is a practice
which works for them - it gets recreational customers who like to gamble
hooked on their games, and most of them will eventually lose back the
deposit bonus plus a good chunk of their own funds. Very few players will
stick to the lowest house-edge games and play them optimally, while using a
sound money-management plan. For the few customers who are
disciplined enough to do this, the deposit bonuses are easy pickings and the
casino simply writes it off as part of their cost of doing business.
A few of the better
online casinos regularly offer reload bonuses as well. These are
additional deposit bonuses available from time to time after you are a
customer (some of them are a set monthly amount). What all these deposit bonuses amount to is a
bet against your discipline. The casinos are willing to bet against
your having the presence of mind and determination to just play for the
deposit bonuses and then cash-out while you are ahead.
In order to cash-out
the bonuses you must meet the minimum wagering requirements. These
differ by site and are typically anywhere from 20 times to 60 times the
bonus amount. For example, before you can withdraw a $200 bonus (plus any
other winnings) you might have to wager a total of $8,000. Now you could try
to do that as quickly as possible by making large bets, but that is an
excellent way to lose back the bonus plus your own money.
Variance is
the term used to describe the swings in the game - you will have both
winning and losing streaks while playing. By always making only the minimum
bet (usually $1) you keep the effect of variance to a minimum and are almost
assured of being able to cash out most of the bonus as a profit. The problem
with this approach, of course, is time.
Our bot solves this
issue and makes cashing the bonuses easy. Set it to bet the minimum wager
and just turn it on when you go to bed at night and then off again
when you get up in the morning. Even the largest bonus can be withdrawn in
just a few days using this method. The reload bonuses can be cashed
again and again every month!
Below is a table
showing the current deposit bonuses for each casino that our bot works
at. Notice the house edge for the game it plays, the minimum wagering
requirements, and your corresponding expectation. Your expectation is
the amount of the deposit bonus that you should cash-out as profit on average.
(Actual
results will still be somewhat affected by variance.) But you can rest assured that
our bot plays optimally, as it creates a log of every hand played
that you can check yourself.
Notice the Zero Bonus Casinos:
At one time these all offered initial deposit bonuses that allowed blackjack
for clearing. We expect some of them to reinstate the bonus in the near
future; meanwhile you can get on their mailing list by opening an account
and receive occasional special bonus offers by email.
System requirements: Windows 98 or newer.
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