Do You Think Casino Games are Rigged?
Gamblers, as they say, are some of the most superstitious people on the planet. That is why it is not uncommon to see many "mojos" or good luck charms scattered about the bingo tables, or "rabbit's foot" tucked under the belt or a "lucky coin" in a purse or wallet of a poker or slots player. All these amulets and "magical items" are used even by savvy and clever professional gamblers to ward off bad luck or overcome the bad vibes of a rigged casino both in the virtual and real worlds. To be sure, this impression exists only in the mind of the gambler.
When a player gets out drawn in poker when he pushes all in and his opponent only has one out, or loses several times in a row with twenty in blackjack, he either attributes this to bad luck or a rigged game. Bad luck perhaps, or a bad play; but certainly not a rigged game for a casino gains nothing and stands to lose everything out of cheating.
When a poker player complains about his bad luck, he sometimes attributes it to game fixing by the gaming website or land based casino. But conventional wisdom would tell you that the casino wouldn't care less who wins the poker pot because it would get the rake just the same regardless of who wins the pot. It makes bad business sense for a casino to cheat because the moment word gets around, that's the end of its business.
The house edge, or the built-in advantage of the casino over the players perpetually works in its favor. In the long run, the casino will beat any player even granting that the player has a lucky streak of wins. If the game is played into perpetuity, the player will eventually lose everything to the casino. That is why, even without resorting to cheating, a casino will win.
Another reason why some players think that casinos are rigged has to do with how the human mind works. The pace of the game in an online poker site, for example, is about three times faster than that in a land based casino simply because the dealer is a computer program. And, if the player is playing three tables, the number of hands played increases threefold. Assuming that the player played 200 hands during that blackjack session and won more than half of these, the player will still conclude that there was cheating because the human mind tends to remember only the bad experiences - and in this case, the player will remember only his losses even if it turns out that he was actually ahead.
