The Ultimate Guide to Increasing Your Chances of Winning

Winning Contrary to popular belief, gambling is not entirely based on luck. Of course, most of it is luck, but a small part of it is determined by skill, strategy, and behaviour. If you do everything right, you'll increase your chances of winning.

However, it's still not guaranteed that you will leave the casino with more money than you started out with. Even if you do everything by the books, you still have a chance of losing money.

That being said, we have a list of 10 tried-and-true ways of increasing your chances of winning money at a casino:

1. Play the games with the best odds.

This is probably a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised at how many people camp out at the roulette table, hoping for their big break. You should go for the games that offer the lowest house edge, the best winning odds, and the highest payout odds.

2. Take advantage of your welcome bonus.

A welcome bonus is free money, after all! However, you have to be careful because some casino set up their Welcome Bonuses in such a way to make some extra cash off their players. You need to do some math with the bonus, playthrough requirements, and the house edge of the game(s) you're playing to figure out whether or not you'd end up keeping the bonus after you meet your playthrough requirements. In other words, make sure you don't let the casino automatically take most of the bonus (or, even worse, all of it) in the end because of the house edge.

3. Practise, practise, practise.

One of the biggest mistakes you could ever make at a casino is to play a game you don't fully understand. That's why it's a good idea to practise with a free play game before plunking down any real money on a bet. There are free play games available all over the Internet. Don't stop practising until you're fully confident that you understand the game enough to be able to employ a good strategy. Actually, you need to...

4. Know what you're doing.

Know the game. Understand the odds. Use a strategy you completely understand and you know will work well. It's tempting to try out a new and unfamiliar game at a casino (especially if you're bored with all of your usual games), but you need to resist that temptation until you fully research the game's rules and strategies. It's never a good idea to learn as you go when real money is involved.

5. Don't chase your losses.

Anyone would agree that it's really tempting to recoup your losses, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses and walk away. Granted, this doesn't actually increase your chances of winning, but being disciplined enough to know when to quit will help you stop gambling before losing even more money.

6. Aim for small wins.

When you're at a casino, you want to last a long time. The more bets you make, the more likely you will win in the long run. To do this, take into the account the amount of time you want to spend at the casino, and then figure out how you can last the entire time. It's to accumulate small wins. You need time and patience in order to do this. Resist the temptation to place large bets. Success in gambling comes from small margins, after all.

7. Make lots of small bets.

Here's a rule of thumb: each bet should be about .5 per cent of your bankroll. This is a smart rule to implement because if you lose a small bet, your bankroll won't take much of a hit than if you had made a big bet. If you're successful, your wins will add up over time. You don't want to lose it all over only a few big bets.

8. Don't play when you're tired or drunk.

Bets Everyone knows that alcohol and sleep-deprivation affect your judgement, but not everyone knows that when you're drunk or sleep-deprived, the first part of your brain that turns off is the part that says, "I'm not performing so well."

So if you play when you're tired or drunk, you'll take much longer to realise when it's time to quit.

casino know this. That's why they try to fill you up with free or super cheap drinks. Online casino are onto this, as well. They try to keep you online as long as possible.

When you're gambling, you need to be super self-aware and quit when you start feeling tired or drunk. No exceptions.

9. Keep an eye out for weekly promotions to boost your bankroll.

A lot of big reputable casino offer weekly promotions in order to lure their players in. Such weekly promotions may include bonus chips, free bonuses, prizes, sweepstakes, or double points. Choose wisely, though. Much like welcome bonuses, some casino may set up their promotions in such a way to screw their players out of money.

10. Play at reliable, regulated online casino.

If it's too good to be true, it probably is. The Internet is aplenty with shady casino that would probably take your money and run. In order to find whether or not an online casino is reputable and regulated, take the following steps:

Take a look at the casino's banking options. Some of the most common ones include credit cards, click-and-pay, and money bookers. The more banking options a casino offers, the better.
Look for the casino's most recent audit results and security certificate. A reputable one would always showcase that information on their homepage. If you have trouble finding it, run for the hills.
Check the type of SSL Encryption the casino has on their website. You can do this by clicking on the security button provided on their website. The best one they could use is 256 Bit SSL Encryption. Also, it wouldn't hurt to check which third party security company they're using.

You can never be too careful with your money at a casino. By implementing the ten rules delineated above, you'll have a better chance of winning money at a casino. Good luck!