How can playing Online Casino Bonuses be profitable

So you may be asking yourself how can you actually make money playing online casinos. If you have been to Vegas or seen any casino, it doesn't take long to realize that casinos are not in the business of offering profitable games to the players. In fact, all games are "rigged" towards the casino to win with a little thing called House Advantage.

House Advantage (HA) is a way the casinos can make sure they win money. The casino controls the rules of each game to make sure they have an advantage. In a game like Blackjack, a typical HA is around half a percent (.05) when using the correct strategy 100% of the time. Of course, the number of people that actually use the correct strategy 100% of the time are very small. Over time, even with this small advantage the casino will make money.

Online casinos are no different then the actual casino in that they have built in HA in their games. What does make them different is that they offer signup bonuses to entice you to play. This is where things get interesting.

There is a term that is used often in gambling circles that is known as Expected Value (EV). EV is how much profit on average a bet will make you. Not all bets are +EV or profitable. EV is expressed in casino bonuses as

EV = bonus - (House Advantage * Wagering Requirement).

Lets say you are out in Vegas and you want to play Blackjack. You throw $200 down on the table and play for a few hours. At the end of the night, you end up making $2,000 in wagering. If we look at our expected value for this we have

EV = 0 - (.005 * 2000) = -10

That -10 represents what we should expect to win during our $2000 worth of play. On average this is a losing bet. Obviously some will lose more and some will lose less or win, but given the rules of the game and statistics on average we should lose $10. Not anything to get excited about.

At an online casino however, there are a couple of new variables added to this equation. One is the bonus that is given to you when you signup. The other is the wagering requirement that is associated with that bonus. Lets look at Starluck Casino as an example.

At Starluck you deposit $100 and get a $100 bonus. You must wager at least $1600 (8 * (Deposit + Bonus)) before cashing out. We stick these numbers into the equation

EV = 100 - (.005 *1600) = $92

Again, some will win more, some will win less, some will bust out, but on average you should expect to profit $92 from playing this casino. This is how Online Casino Bonuses can be profitable.

If you have any questions, contact me anytime.

CasinoDave