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Reason #4 why the Wizard likes Bovada:
One-Stop Shopping
Bovada offers the triple crown of gambling: casino, poker, and sports. Many other casinos have tacked on poker as an afterthought, and many poker rooms have tacked on a casino as an afterthought, and the lack of attention shows, sometimes painfully. And very few of these sites let you make sports wagers.
But Bovada doesn’t just offer all three, they do each one well, and everything’s integrated. It’s easy to play all three off one deposit, off just one account.
Another nice thing about Bovada is that you don’t need a separate account to play casino games with fake money. In fact you do not even need an account for that at all, you can just click over there and play. Finally, Bovada usernames are only six or seven characters long making them possible to remember. By contrast some competitors’ usernames are extremely long and cumbersome.
Ask the Wizard: Online Gaming - General Questions
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One thing I don’t notice on your site about online gambling is the legality of it. I understand that in some locations it is illegal to gamble online and many of the online casinos are actually offshore.
— Dave from Gaithersburg, Maryland
The way I see it the legality of online gambling in the US is in legal limbo. There are laws that prohibit gambling in all but licensed establishments. However it could also be argued that the gambling is not taking place in the US but wherever the server for the casino is, usually the Caribbean or Central America. Probably the better answer is that it doesn’t matter. As long as you’re not hurting anyone but yourself and no government authority is stopping you then I say don’t let the legality stop you.
We have been playing online for about 2 years, and have been quite lucky, but recently, I got bit by the "cash advance" fee on one of my credit cards. I noticed you mentioned that on your online gambling page, and wondered if you had had any success disputing the charge? I tried with mine, and they said anytime money goes to a casino, it’s considered a cash advance. This is the first time in all the time we’ve been playing online, and on a new credit card. Is there a good argument to use with the bank, they just brushed me off? It was BofA incidentally, so watch out for them. Thanks for your time.
— Vpwhiz from Long Beach, California
As you read on my page this has happened to me a few times. When it happened to me the banks and the casinos each blamed each other for deeming the transaction as a cash advance. Since that time I have found that many credit cards now tell you up front that casino chip purchases are considered a cash advance. This seems to be the situation with your card so I’d say you are stuck with the fee. If you read the fine print of the Yahoo or Ebay credit card agreements they say this directly. To quote from the Ebay Visa terms and conditions, "Transaction Fee for purchase of wire transfers, money orders, betting or casino chips or similar items, purchase of foreign currency and travelers checks from other than a bank; and use of convenience checks 2% of the transaction amount, with a minimum of $5." Now I use a debit card for most of my online casino purchases and never have to worry about cash advance fees. The reversals seem to happen faster as well with a debit card. However I still use the Next Visa and MBNA Mastercard for my big Golden Palace purchases and they have never charged me a cash advance fee.
In your experience which sites actually pay their affiliates for traffic. Am especially interested in Unified Gaming 10% deposit/lifetime. Thanks.
— Kevin from Bay, St. Louis, U.S.
I used to be a Gambler’s Palace and Sportbet affiliate, as well as some other Unified Gaming casinos. Both Gambler’s Palace and Sportbet seemed to pay me on a regular basis. These two had the most prominent positions on my site at the time. However it was hard to tell from which casino I was being paid. They all issued checks though the Bank of Nevis without any details about from who or why you were getting the check. Checks based on my own gambling winnings also came without explanation from the Bank of Nevis, making things even more confusing to keep track of.
Is there an online gaming site with Macintosh support?
— John from Boston, Massachusetts
I don’t know. If any Mac users out there can help then please send me an e-mail. I’ve been asked this several times.
I have never gambled on-line, but I would suppose that since you play the games from your computer, with no one watching, it would be a lot easier to do things as card counting or even using a computer to make your decisions. Is this true? Do on-line casinos have any way to check if you’re cheating? Also, do you have a time limit to play each hand?
— Gonzalo from Mexico City, Mexico
Yes, you can easily count cards when playing blackjack online. In fact some products like Blackjack 2021 are specifically designed to aid the player doing this. It isn’t cheating either. However most online casinos shuffle after every hand which makes counting cards a waste of time. I have heard that a few have penetration of about 1/3 of the shoe but can’t name any. Most places seem to have no time limit.
A quick question about online comp programs: The Sands casino offers a variety of comps for wagering at their casino. Is there a way of figuring out how much money I would need to bring to the table to wager $7,500? For arguments sake, assume I am playing perfect blackjack.
— Steve from New York, USA
The answer depends on how much you are willing to bet in each hand and how high you are willing to allow the probability of losing the entire bankroll. To answer this question properly would require quite a bit of work. There is no easy formula that I know of to get at the answer. Simulations would probably be required. Assuming you are willing to bet $10 a hand would need to bet 750 units. If you were to buy 100 units ($1000) the odds of losing the entire bankroll before making 750 bets would be very low. If you bet $5 a hand I think you would be quite safe buying 150 units ($750). Sorry I can’t be more scientific. If anybody else has any suggestions on the solution, even in a coin flipping model, I would be interested to hear your ideas.
Many on-line casinos advertise that they payout 98% or a number close to that. They also claim that this number is audited by one of the big-six accounting firms. How is this number calculated? Also, is there a way to calculate my own personal payout ratio for a certain game within certain period of time?
— Vahe from Glendale, California
The payout is the ratio of money won to money bet. For example if players bet a total of one million dollars and the total amount paid to winning bets was $998,000 then the payout ratio would be 98%. Keep in mind that as players recirculate the same money the house edge grinds them down so the typical player will retain much less than 98% of their original purchase. The way to calculate your own ratio if to keep track of the total amount you bet and the total amount you win and divide.
Dear Wizard,
First I want to say you are running a first class operation. Second, I was wondering about the prospects of gambling for a living or gambling to supplement one’s income either online or at a real casino. I can imagine it is probably a dubious enterprise for most, but for some, it could be rewarding.
Second, I am wondering about the casino’s limits on the size off a wager and how that affects the expected return or how well one can do in a session. It would seem low limits would favor the casino, rather than the player, since statistically, the longer you play the more you will lose. Also, it would seem that it would be easier to start small and work your way up rather than start big and go higher.
Also, do you think it is possible to tilt the odds in a players favor long term by a style of play in an online casino for a game such as blackjack?
— Craig
Thanks for the kind words. I could talk all day about your first question. There are ways to gamble for a living. In my opinion the most viable ways are blackjack card counting, sports betting, and Internet bonus/advantage play. All three of these methods require a large bankroll to make enough to live on, ballpark $100,000, and that is just to get by. Most people have to start small and build their way up. Everyone has to bet relative to his own bankroll. Internet betting limits are high enough for most players. Not many people wish to bet more than $500 per hand. Boss Media’s single player game offers a small player advantage in blackjack, but it is so small it is not worth the time to play it.
Can you explain how the Internet casinos (Random Computers) determine their percentage of money returned. For example: If you are playing basic strategy in black jack you should lose approximately 2.5 to 3 percent over time. Is that based strictly on the hands you are playing at the time; or the number of people online playing at the time; or over a specific number of hands played at that casino by everyone over a period of time etc. The reason I am asking is - can heavy hitters that may be winning in other games affect the cards you are receiving in order for the casino to win its percentage or profit.
— Anonymous
When a casino says they pay back 98% for example in blackjack it is generally a historical statistic, looking at the last month or so. They should state somewhere the time period on which it is based. The 98% is the ratio of money returned to money bet is 98%. This generally includes money bet on doubles and splits in the denominator. So if a casino had all basic strategy players their return percentage would likely be less than the house edge, which is based on the initial bet only. Heavy hitters can definitely skew the percentages. That is why sometimes a casino will pay over 100%, because a high roller got lucky and won more than all the other players lost.
I tried to find your reviews of the online casinos but the page says you have stopped making them available. I personally like knowing if a casino has a questionable policy. Why did you delete the reviews?
— Anonymous
That is a fair question. For those who don’t remember I used to review all the Internet casinos I played and had a list of at least 50 reviews. One problem in maintaining this list was I got numerous requests from casinos not on the list to be added. I received no revenue through these reviews and in fact they may have taken customers from the paying advertisers. Another problem is Internet casinos often rise and fall in quality. I was taking a beating on the bulletin boards for saying good things about casinos that had evidently fallen downhill. So I started to remove reviews there were over a year old. However I still found it a hassle dealing with the requests to be added and dealing with complaints coming from players who had a bad experience with a casino I gave a good review to. My site does not make that much money so I decided revenue did not warrant the bother of maintaining that section.
If an online casino offered this deal would it still be profitable? Over a one-month period, you take the entire profit/loss of each player. If the player is in profit you, you give them an extra 10% of their profit and deposit it to their accounts at the end of the month. If the player has lost money, you give them 25% of their loss back and credit this back to their account at the end of the month. Would the online casino still be profitable? What is the risk? Can anyone do the math behind this?
— Max from London
If the players were smart, no! Assume the player made just one bet on an even-money bet in single-zero roulette. The players expected profit would be pr(win)*(1.1) - pr(lose)*0.8 = (18/37)*1.1 - (19/37)*0.8 = 12.43%. In an online environment a high percentage of players grind through their entire deposit until they lose everything, so you might be okay. However I think the pros will smell blood and attack it like and the casino would get killed.
What software (purchased or downloaded) would you recommend for some one who wants to practice Blackjack & Craps on a computer (closest to a real game), but cannot go online to play (work computer)?
— Michael from Clinton Township
For purposes of recreational playing, it seems that every store that sells computer software games have a few with various casino games, often in the bargain bin. I’ve tried some of them and find them all to be pretty bad. The Internet casinos do a much better job. Sorry, but I can’t recommend anything.
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