Online slot players grow louder echoing similarity of questions, are online casinos rigged?
If you’d asked me this question pre UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) you’d have received the following reply: – I’ve gambled at numerous Microgaming casino since 1997 and I’m 99.999% Microgaming online casinos are not rigged. Now in December 2010 I’m not so sure.
Yet another casino player posts their discord about lack of game fairness with online casino gambling. Eventually you have to wake up and smell the coffee. Time to Quit Online Casino Gambling. I remember in 2003 Microgaming releasing Thunderstruck, its first 5 reel 9 pay-line free spin bonus slot machine. It was the month MGS also released its casino games platform upgrade from Thumper to Viper.
Microgaming in early 2010 upgraded Viper to wide screen. However many issues followed. With numerous updates to core features, slots platers are now wondering if these updates have included the alterting or weighting of slot reels & or their return to player percentages.
NB – All Microgaming casinos had their casino games audited on a monthly basis by PriceWaterhouseCoopers until eCOGRA opened up shop in 2003. From that point forward eCOGRA conducted all MGS casino game audits. It should be noted, eCOGRA was established and funded by Microgaming who even to this day has a Microgaming employee sitting on the eCOGRA Non Executive Board.
Granted I played online casinos a lot back then, maybe my average of hitting 2 complete sets of scattered Thunderstruck rams per month was not everyone’s average hit ratio. But since the UIGEA got dropped into our laps in late 2006, wins like this have been getting far less frequent as each year passes.
Albeit Microgaming has increased its release of bonus slots with free games and bonus feature games. To the point where there are over 250 of the aussie style pokies games available at casinos powered by MGS. Three new slot games per month are now being released on average. More bonus slots, with less people playing due to the UIGEA, means less money per slot machine being dropped.
In layman terms, your chances of winning are decreased. Although the overall RTP (return to player) percentages may be set to 95% for each slot, these may not have changed. However reiterating with less money going into each slot machine the chances of getting a decent win is also decreased.
It’s not just Microgaming casinos that have players concerned about depositing more and winning less. Real Time Gaming (RTG) casino have also been on the hit list too. As have other casino software such as Playtech and Rival. However as I only play at Micrograming powered casinos, I can only offer my experiences and views with MGS.
Microgaming has always claimed their RTP is set in stone. That is, once the games goes live neither the casino operator nor MGS can alter or change the return to player percentage pay-out. However with more and more casino software being brought into contention about less than fair slots game play, one surely has to consider that Microgaming may possibly be tweaking their casino games.
Looking at this from a hypothetical stand point, fact is Microgaming (like most casino software providers) receive royalties or in blunt terms, kick back percentages on all money deposited through each licensees online casino. With the UIGEA profits would have taken a huge decline. It would not seem unreasonable for players to adopt the belief when their slots game play has commenced going South and correlating this back to the commencement of the UIGEA.
I can’t prove either way if Micrgaming casino software or if all online casinos are rigged. However I can say, like so many other players I too used to get a decent run of play time with a $100 deposit. However these days I can drop $1,000US in less than 3 hours and get totally sucked dry, with little or no chance of even peaking over my initial deposit balance. Add this same scenario to mimic other online slot players experiences and maybe it is time to quit online casino gambling.
NB – Unlike land based casinos, online casinos only supply the average pay-out percentage of their combined slot machines each month. In my opinion each Microgaming online casino should supply the RTP on each slot machine.