Before we begin, there is one thing to be aware of above all else, and that is this:You are almost guaranteed to lose more than you win over a long period spent playing casino games.This isn’t necessarily a terrible fact as long as you keep your urges under control and play for fun. At the end of the day, we spend money on computer consoles and games that we know we won’t make money back on. If you look at your casino experience as a game, then losing a little bit of money isn’t the worst thing in the world, as long as firstly you’re having fun, and secondly you can afford the amount you lose.But, to say that playing casino games is entirely down to chance is not true, and there are ways you can improve your odds at a casino, although, again, it is worth remembering that these are as likely, if not more likely, to be ways to lose less money as opposed to win more.Here are a few ways that you can improve your chances at both land-based and online casinos.
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Realism
People have been trying to work out strategies and techniques to beat casinos for as many decades as there have been casinos, and these people have, almost without exception, been wrong. If anyone ever tells you they’ve worked out how to beat the house, it’s probably best not to listen.Knowing that the house is more likely to win than you is actually the first way to improve your odds at a casino.Realism is vital for perspective and self-control, if you know you are more likely to lose than win, it can stop you throwing “bad money after good”, which means spending money you can’t afford to attempt to win back money you could.Always have a limit, a point of loss where you will stop. The most sensible way to do this is to have a limit not on your losses, but on your spending. For example, when you visit an online casino, give yourself £50 to play with, and when that £50 is up, stop. At the end, you might have lost £50, or you might have won £30, but either way, you have not lost more than you can afford to.If you like playing, and you are the kind of person who is unlikely to cash out a small win, then you can arrange that too, here’s an example of how.You have decided that you will bet no more than £50 in an online casino, if you lose it, you stop, and that’s that.However, if you win, then make sure you have a limit at which you cash out at least some of your winnings. Say you play with the £50 budget you have given yourself, and you end up winning £100.Now, you withdraw £50, and you don’t touch that, that’s stored. You’ve now broken even, and you still have a £50 budget to play with, so you start again. Say you win again, as soon as you get up past £100, withdraw everything except £50, now you’re in profit, and you’ve still got £50 to play with. Do this as many times as you can or want to, and you can control not only your losses, but also your winnings, so if you pick up a big win, you can go out for a nice meal to celebrate it the next day (or pay off some money on that nice big TV, if you’re more responsible) while still enjoying some extra time in the casino.
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Research
Before you start playing any casino game, make sure you have put the research in and understand the odds.Some games are less likely to pay-out than others, for example, slots have the lowest likelihood of paying out on average, whereas blackjack and some poker games have a payback percentage of over £0.99 to the pound.Also, while you’re at it, research the rules. It seems like an obvious one, but make sure you know all the rules of the game you want to play before you start playing it. Many games are easy to pick up, and to a certain extent you can learn as you go, but this is a sure-fire way to lose money most of the time.If you can come in with a strong understanding of the rules, you don’t have to concentrate on learning them, and can instead focus on you playing and making sure you don’t lose too much.
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Volatility
If you play slot games, you are likely to hear the word volatility a lot. In the simplest terms, volatility basically means the likelihood you have of winning. Low volatility slots are likely to pay out regular small wins, while high volatility slots will pay out less often, but will tend to pay out bigger when they do.If you are looking to improve your odds, then aim for low volatility games, those with a lower house edge. When you play games with a low edge over time, you are likely to make more money than playing high volatility games, that will pay out big amounts, but often not enough to break even when you consider how many times you didn’t win before, and probably won’t afterwards.
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Jackpots
There’s a chance that you think the advice given here is as much designed to stop you from having fun and taking the odd risk, but that doesn’t have to be how it is.Look for jackpot games, especially jackpot slots. These are the games people play before you read those stories of someone picking up multiple millions with a £0.25 spin on Mega Fortune or one of the many other jackpot slots available. There are also various forms of poker and keno that can pay out hefty jackpots.The odds of winning the jackpot on such games are outrageously low, like, winning the lottery low, but if you don’t ever play, then your odds are zero.Don’t pile your money into jackpot games, but every now and again, put aside a small amount, play a jackpot game, and just see, you never know, it might be you next.
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Practice and Strategy
Earlier, we said that there is no strategy to beat the house, and that’s true, but that isn’t to say that strategy has no place in casinos, because with some games, it very much does.Games like slots are entirely games of chance, and no matter what somebody tells you, you cannot get good at them. However, there are numerous games of skill that exist within casinos, such as poker and blackjack.These are games that you actually do get better at with practice, and you can develop an individual strategy that matches your playing style, which makes you the most likely you can be to win hands.Obviously, there is still some luck involved here, the cards will fall as they do, but if you have a strategy, you increase your odds a little.
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Accept That There’s No Easy Way
We live in a world of quick fixes, and it is hard to ignore the temptation to find the swiftest way to accomplish something.We can pay for a night out using a contactless debit or credit card, book a taxi on our phone, order food from the same phone to be arrive as we get home, and watch or listen to almost anything we want from various streaming services while eating it.With so many things being so immediately accessible, it’s difficult to not expect everything to be the same, but when it comes to playing casino games, there is no easy way to make money, nothing is guaranteed.Cheating exists, but is incredibly illegal, and people tend to get caught doing it. If you thought the chances of picking up a jackpot win were unlikely, it’s best not to consider the likelihood of trying to cheat a casino, and when you do get caught, it’ll cost you a lot more than a £0.25 spin on Mega Fortune!The truth is, there’s no easy way when it comes to online casinos, and if you are looking to keep your losses under control, and increase your odds of winning, then you can never take your foot off the gas.Self-control comes above all else when playing at any casino, as stated earlier, always work with a budget, agree a maximum spend with yourself, and never go past it.Whether you are playing at a land based casino or an online casino, the age-old adage that the house always wins is worth constantly keeping in mind. You may win sometimes, and that’s great, but as long as you keep your spending under control, then even when you lose, it will be an amount that you’ve already decided you can afford to lose, and you’ll avoid any nasty surprises.If you are ever concerned that you, or someone you care about is gambling too much and has lost this sense of responsibility and self-restraint, then call your national Gambling Addiction Helpline, who will be more than happy to give you advice and assistance to stop the problem from getting out of control.