Gaming machines and online casinos

Some years ago my brother told me he would never bet at an online casino, because he couldn't be sure the games weren't rigged. Some months later he proceeded to tell me about the great times he had playing slots and VP in Vegas.

I laughed a little. apaprently he never did catch on to the contradiction. I mean, the gaming machines (slots, VP, BJ machines, etc) are no different in principle from an online game. Sure, the VP machines allegedly use one deck and, I presume, shuffle it before dealing, but how can you know for certain? You don't watch real cards being shuffled. You only ahve the manufacturer's and the casino's word that the virtual cards are cirtually shuffled (or at least randomly picked) for each hand.

So it comes down to trust, doesn't it?

I do trust brick and mortar casinos for one simple reason: they win by playing fair, therefore they don't need to cheat. Besides, you can stick to games where you can see real cards being shuffled and dealt, real dice bouncing on the table, real tiles being shuffled and dealt, and real balls racing around real wheels.

Quote: Nareed

... he would never bet at an online casino...

I'm with your brother. The issues are more than you are putting out there, for me. Plus I can picture myself gambling constantly against a house edge. It would just be too easy and it would be dumb.

I've considered gambling on sports online, but to me that's not casino gambling.

This forum is full of threads already about bad experiences with online casinos.

Quote: odiousgambit

I'm with your brother. The issues are more than you are putting out there, for me. Plus I can picture myself gambling constantly against a house edge. It would just be too easy and it would be dumb.

I've never gambled online and don't intend to. Trust issues aside, I preffer gambling to be something special, done every now and then for enjoyment, not an everyday thing I'll sooner or later get tired of.

Another reason is to prevent myself from wasting a bundle of money. It's a lot easire to go for big bets when you don't physically see the money you're exchanging for chips. And there are the payment issues as well.

I do play online casino games sometimes. Mostly for fun, but also to learn the game and to test ideas on strategies, counting, etc. But I play the free games only.

Quote: odiousgambit

This forum is full of threads already about bad experiences with online casinos.

Sure. And we'll see plenty more yet. Here I wanted to discuss the trust issues of online vs brick and mortar casinos. For instance: how sure are we the VP machines at a Vegas casino (any or all of them) are not rigged with a somewhat bigger house edge?

I know there's a gaming commission. I also know about bribery. So that's no guarantee.

Arbitrarily let's say a given VP game, if played honestly, has a house edge of 1% Well and good. The casino will make money off that game if it plays honestly. But suppose the programming were tweaked to give a 1.01% house edge. That's minor, it might not be noticed by players, but it would increase the casino's income, right? Minutely, of course, but multiply that by however many VP machines are out there.

Side note: should casinos place signs at gaming machines telling you the house edge for each particualr machine? How about similar signs at table games?