Is online blackjack rigged? Most reputable sites are probably legit. Some sketchier ones might well be rigged. The problem is you have no way to know if you are being cheated. If you have any doubts then you should not play. You could even be cheated in a brick-and-mortar casino. The dealer could be false shuffling. They could be dealing seconds. Blackjack is one of the most old and popular casino games. It has been played since the 18th century. Millions of people across the world play it and many are still sceptical whether or not the game is rigged in the dealer’s favour. Theoretically this means it is easier to win at blackjack online, although the margins are thin. To put it bluntly, as long as the casino you are playing with is secure then you will know that the game is not rigged. Live dealers give the customer the closest experience possible as to being in an actual casino.
The question “is online blackjack rigged” is a loaded one. It doesn’t mean exactly what you might think it means. In this post, I look at whether blackjack is rigged or not, and what most people mean versus what really matters.
Online blackjack is (for the most part) NOT rigged, by the way – at least not in the way most people mean. People who are asking if online casinos are cheating at blackjack generally mean that the casino is stacking the deck and adjusting the probability in the casino’s favor.
That’s NOT what’s happening. When you play online blackjack, you face the same probabilities as you would in a land-based casino.
What’s more, online casinos have little incentive to cheat at blackjack. After all, blackjack – like all casino games – has a mathematical edge in favor of the house based on the payout odds versus the odds of winning.
Why the Casino Doesn’t Have to Rig Their Online Blackjack Games
Here’s an example of what the average person thinks online casinos are doing when they say they’re rigging their games:
Draftkings Blackjack Rigged
The player goes on a winning streak. So, to make sure that the player doesn’t get away with the money, the casino starts dealing the player losing hands.
That’s how most people think the casino is rigging their blackjack game – by outright manipulating the hands the players are getting.
Free casino games download for android. But that doesn’t make sense, and here’s why:
The casino has no idea how and when the player is going to quit. They have no idea of how long to let a winning or losing streak continue before “flipping the switch,” so to speak.
The only way they could cheat would be to eliminate the possibility of you ever winning a hand.
And how many hands of blackjack would you play if every hand was a loser?
![Electronic Electronic](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VSSdCpUyYcM/maxresdefault.jpg)
How the Casino Actually Gets Its Edge in Blackjack
If you and the dealer faced identical game conditions, blackjack would be a break-even game. After all, you both are using the same deck of cards. You both have the same probability of being dealt a natural.
In fact, since you get a 3/2 payout for a natural, you’d think you would have an edge over the casino.
And, you also get to decide what to do with your cards. The dealer doesn’t. The casino has to follow the game rules of hitting on a 16 and standing on a 17, regardless of what cards you have.
But, as we both know, the casino DOES have an edge over the player?
Where does the casino get this edge?
As with most casino games, it’s a simple condition of the rules that creates the house edge:
You must play your hand first – before the dealer plays her hand.
And, if you bust, the casino wins – even if the dealer busts later in the hand.
If blackjack was a fair game, you’d push if the dealer and you both busted.
That single fact – the requirement that you risk busting before the dealer plays her hand – makes up for the 3/2 payout and for the increased flexibility that you have playing your hand.
Even if you make the mathematically optimal decision in EVERY situation at the blackjack table, the house has a mathematical edge of between 0.25% and 1% — depending on the other game rules in place.
And this house edge chips away at your bankroll over time as surely as the annual interest rate on a loan. If you play long enough, the casino will win all your money.
It’s inevitable.
So, in a sense, blackjack is rigged regardless of whether you play online or in a brick-and-mortar casino.
But that’s not what you meant, is it?
Doesn’t the Casino Have to Rig the Game to Counteract Card Counting Online?
Is Online Blackjack Rigged
Most people know that blackjack players who know how to count cards can flip the mathematical advantage to their favor. All they must do is track the ratio of high cards to low cards in the deck. When there are a lot of high cards, the odds are in the player’s favor. The counter raises the size of his bets to take advantage of the increased probability of a 3/2 payout.
Brick-and-mortar casinos go to great lengths to prevent card counters from getting away with all their money. Most of their attempts to thwart card counters involve shuffling the deck more often.
But if they’re aggressively anti-card-counter, they’ll ban you from their blackjack tables. They might even ban you from the casino altogether.
Online casinos don’t have to worry about this for one simple reason:
They shuffle the deck after every hand.
This eliminates any inequity in the ratio of high to low cards after every hand. You don’t know what the ratio of high cards to low cards is when you bet, so you can’t get an edge. (Check our our article about differences between live vs internet blackjack).
Are Other Casino Games Rigged?
Not only is online blackjack not rigged – at least, not in the colloquial sense of the word – other online casino games aren’t rigged, either.
All casino games have payouts that aren’t commensurate with the odds of winning.
Roulette is another example:
You can bet on red, for example, and you’d think you’d have a 50/50 probability of winning – making roulette a break-even game in the long run.
But a roulette wheel has 38 numbers on it. 18 of them are red, 18 of them are black, and 2 of them are green.
You lose a bet on red if the ball lands on any blackjack OR green number.
Those 2 green numbers are where the casino gets its edge in roulette, and that edge applies to every bet on the wheel, including the single number bets that pay off 35 to 1.
I point this out to demonstrate why the casino doesn’t need to rig their games. The math behind the game is how the game is rigged.
Are There Any Exceptions? Is Every Online Blackjack Game Fair?
Years ago, I read an account of a video poker game run by a rogue casino operator where the player literally played 100s of hands without seeing a single payout. The probability of that happening in a fair game is almost nil.
The casino isn’t in business any longer, and it’s hard to not wonder what they were thinking. After all, it’s impossible to make money if you have no customers.
And in this case, they weren’t even trying to pretend that they were offering a fair game.
So, yes, there are exceptions, but they’re the exceptions that prove the rule.
Is online blackjack rigged?
ALMOST certainly not.
All you need to do is avoid any strange, unknown brands and stick to reputable and high payout online casinos.
By Randy Ray
Thread Rating:
windblast
I have been playing BlackJack, on a regular basis, in William Hill for more than a year (I must have played 25/30K hands) and, month after month, I have been losing, most of the time far more than I expected. Let me point out the fact that, to some extent, losing is normal because of the house edge and that losing becomes easy when your strategy is bad. Nevertheless and assuming a fairly correct strategy, there is another factor to consider: luck! For instance, the percentage of stiff hands (hands between 12 and 16) the player gets and the percentage of hands equal or above 20 the dealer gets. Well, based upon my experience, I reckon that I have been extremely unlucky because, namely when betting high, I have been dealt stiff hands far above expected (which is around 38,5% with 4 decks) are the dealer has been dealt far more hands equal or above 20 (probability around 30%).
Well, in the long run, I don´t believe in winning but I also don´t believe in bad luck, which means losing is normal but, as I said and considering a fairly correct strategy, only to some extent!
That is why decided to try the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds that you can play online or offline (you will just have to 'save as' the page). Wow !!! What a really different experience this was !!! Amazing! For the very first time, I was able to win and to win big, in overall terms! I could not believe it! I was shocked ! Of course, there was no real money envolved but I tried to keep the same approach as if playing for real.
So, I think you should try playing the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds and compare it to your online real money BlackJack experience! Your comments will be much appreciated.
Best regards,
Windblast
Well, in the long run, I don´t believe in winning but I also don´t believe in bad luck, which means losing is normal but, as I said and considering a fairly correct strategy, only to some extent!
That is why decided to try the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds that you can play online or offline (you will just have to 'save as' the page). Wow !!! What a really different experience this was !!! Amazing! For the very first time, I was able to win and to win big, in overall terms! I could not believe it! I was shocked ! Of course, there was no real money envolved but I tried to keep the same approach as if playing for real.
So, I think you should try playing the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds and compare it to your online real money BlackJack experience! Your comments will be much appreciated.
Best regards,
Windblast
aluisio
Hey wind, nice to share, although I am not pretty sure if we have enough data here do judge your lack of luck. By the way, your amount of hands times your average bet, how many units are you down considering this 'long term' of more than an year? That should indicate something. Other opinion, in this forum i have learned that one of the most important things you must believe is bad luck or good luck, whether it is luck or variance, watch out for it. My personal experience, last year I was playing some blackjack in the Hollywood Penn National Casino, near Harrisburg-PA and I simply lost or pushed 23 hands in a row. Yeah, 23 hands of basic strategy play without a single win.
In adition to that I do not know the size of the sample you've got playing the Wizard's free blackjack simulator.
In adition to that I do not know the size of the sample you've got playing the Wizard's free blackjack simulator.
Is Online Craps Rigged
DJTeddyBear
No disrespect to the Wiz or his programmers, but some of his games have bugs. So using them to compare, or to show that An online casino might be cheating, is an invalid comparison. The Wiz' games are strictly for fun and practice.Heck, even without the bugs, it's an invalid comparison.
What you should do is compare an online casino to that casino's free play. If you do provably better for free, only then can you make any sort of conclusions - which STILL need to be confirmed by a third party before fingers can be pointed.
I invented a few casino games. Info: http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ ————————————————————————————————————— Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? ?
FleaStiff
![Rigged Rigged](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VHL_3WOq9vc/W8av4rv0-JI/AAAAAAAAH5A/IsP0kfFzITAFnqpgzC6ZtKStdJ1ERjr9wCLcBGAs/s1600/Is%2BOnline%2BPoker%2BRigged%253F%2B-%2BThe%2BDefinitive%2BAnswer%2B%255B2018%255D.jpg)
I have been playing BlackJack online for more than a year
Are there multiple players at the table? Do you have any figures for Hands Per Hour?
dm
I have been playing BlackJack, on a regular basis, in William Hill for more than a year (I must have played 25/30K hands) and, month after month, I have been losing, most of the time far more than I expected. Let me point out the fact that, to some extent, losing is normal because of the house edge and that losing becomes easy when your strategy is bad. Nevertheless and assuming a fairly correct strategy, there is another factor to consider: luck! For instance, the percentage of stiff hands (hands between 12 and 16) the player gets and the percentage of hands equal or above 20 the dealer gets. Well, based upon my experience, I reckon that I have been extremely unlucky because, namely when betting high, I have been dealt stiff hands far above expected (which is around 38,5% with 4 decks) are the dealer has been dealt far more hands equal or above 20 (probability around 30%).
Well, in the long run, I don´t believe in winning but I also don´t believe in bad luck, which means losing is normal but, as I said and considering a fairly correct strategy, only to some extent!
That is why decided to try the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds (http://wizardofodds.com/play/blackjack/) that you can play online or offline (you will just have to 'save as' the page). Wow !!! What a really different experience this was !!! Amazing! For the very first time, I was able to win and to win big, in overall terms! I could not believe it! I was shocked ! Of course, there was no real money envolved but I tried to keep the same approach as if playing for real.
So, I think you should try playing the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds and compare it to your online real money BlackJack experience! Your comments will be much appreciated.
Best regards,
Windblast
Well, in the long run, I don´t believe in winning but I also don´t believe in bad luck, which means losing is normal but, as I said and considering a fairly correct strategy, only to some extent!
That is why decided to try the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds (http://wizardofodds.com/play/blackjack/) that you can play online or offline (you will just have to 'save as' the page). Wow !!! What a really different experience this was !!! Amazing! For the very first time, I was able to win and to win big, in overall terms! I could not believe it! I was shocked ! Of course, there was no real money envolved but I tried to keep the same approach as if playing for real.
So, I think you should try playing the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds and compare it to your online real money BlackJack experience! Your comments will be much appreciated.
Best regards,
Windblast
I don't have any online gambling experience, and proud of it, but the Wiz game has no incentive to cheat you. The online version DOES! Since we cannot even trust our own political leaders, who, in their right mind, would trust an online gambling site? Based in................................who the heck knows? The north pole, perhaps? Cuba? Iraq? Same place that sends all those award winning notifications?
dm
I have been playing BlackJack, on a regular basis, in William Hill for more than a year (I must have played 25/30K hands) and, month after month, I have been losing, most of the time far more than I expected. Let me point out the fact that, to some extent, losing is normal because of the house edge and that losing becomes easy when your strategy is bad. Nevertheless and assuming a fairly correct strategy, there is another factor to consider: luck! For instance, the percentage of stiff hands (hands between 12 and 16) the player gets and the percentage of hands equal or above 20 the dealer gets. Well, based upon my experience, I reckon that I have been extremely unlucky because, namely when betting high, I have been dealt stiff hands far above expected (which is around 38,5% with 4 decks) are the dealer has been dealt far more hands equal or above 20 (probability around 30%).
Well, in the long run, I don´t believe in winning but I also don´t believe in bad luck, which means losing is normal but, as I said and considering a fairly correct strategy, only to some extent!
That is why decided to try the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds (http://wizardofodds.com/play/blackjack/) that you can play online or offline (you will just have to 'save as' the page). Wow !!! What a really different experience this was !!! Amazing! For the very first time, I was able to win and to win big, in overall terms! I could not believe it! I was shocked ! Of course, there was no real money envolved but I tried to keep the same approach as if playing for real.
So, I think you should try playing the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds and compare it to your online real money BlackJack experience! Your comments will be much appreciated.
Best regards,
Windblast
Well, in the long run, I don´t believe in winning but I also don´t believe in bad luck, which means losing is normal but, as I said and considering a fairly correct strategy, only to some extent!
That is why decided to try the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds (http://wizardofodds.com/play/blackjack/) that you can play online or offline (you will just have to 'save as' the page). Wow !!! What a really different experience this was !!! Amazing! For the very first time, I was able to win and to win big, in overall terms! I could not believe it! I was shocked ! Of course, there was no real money envolved but I tried to keep the same approach as if playing for real.
So, I think you should try playing the free BlackJack game provided by the Wizard of Odds and compare it to your online real money BlackJack experience! Your comments will be much appreciated.
Best regards,
Windblast
So, you are playing with a 'fairly correct strategy.' There's sort of no such thing. I guess you mean you sort of know basic strategy
and thus play at not too much of an additional house edge. That is ridiculous! You are in no rush - can't you refer to a correct strategy sheet at your side? Are you really in that big of a rush to lose more than necessary? And faster?
dealerwins
I will only play BJ online with a live dealer.
Over the years I have become convinced that the casinos 'RNGs' are not random at all.
Over the years I have become convinced that the casinos 'RNGs' are not random at all.