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Online gambling is a general term for gambling using the Internet. This page provides a brief introduction to some of the forms of online gambling, as well as discussing general issues.The online gambling games index provides you with some carefully selected online gaming providers.

Roulette gambling

Roulette is a casino and gambling game named after the French word meaning "small wheel". In the game a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular surface running around the circumference of the wheel. The ball eventually falls on to the wheel and into one of 37 (in European Roulette) or 38 (in American Roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel. Wheel layout The main pockets are numbered from 1 to 36 alternating between red and black, but the pockets are not in numerical order around the wheel, and there are instances of consecutive numbers being the same color. There is a green pocket numbered 0, and in American Roulette there is also a second green pocket marked 00. [edit] Betting Players can place a variety of 'inside' bets (selecting the number of the pocket the ball will land in, or range of pockets based on their position), and 'outside' bets (including bets on various positional groupings of pockets, pocket colors, or whether it is odd or even). The payout odds for each type of bet is based on its probability. There are usually posted rules for table minimum and maximum bets, and these rules usually apply separately for all of a players 'inside' and 'outside' bets for each spin. Players can continue to place bets until the Dealer announces "No more bets." [edit] History Early roulette table, ca. 1800 Early roulette table, ca. 1800 The first form of roulette was devised in 18th century France. The roulette wheel is believed to be a fusion of the English wheel games Roly-Poly, Ace of Hearts, and E&O, and the Italian board games of Hoca and Biribi, and then the name Roulette from an already existing French board game of that title. The game has been played in its current form since as early as 1796 in Paris. The earliest description of the roulette game in its current form is found in a French novel "La Roulette, ou le Jour" by Jaques Lablee, which describes a roulette wheel in the Palais Royal in Paris in 1796. The book was published in 1801. An even earlier reference to a game of this name was published in regulations for French Quebec in 1758, which banned the games of "dice, hoca, faro, and roulette." (ref. Roulette Wheel Study, Ron Shelley, 1986.)[1] In 1842, fellow Frenchmen François and Louis Blanc added the "0" to the roulette wheel in order to achieve a house advantage. In the early 1800s, roulette was brought into the U.S. where, to further increase house odds, a second zero, "00", was introduced. In some forms of early American roulette wheels as shown in the 1886 Hoyle gambling books, there were numbers 1 through 28, plus a single zero, a double zero, and an American Eagle. The payout on any of the numbers including the zero's and the eagle was 27 to 1. In the 1800s, roulette spread all over both Europe and the U.S., becoming one of the most famous and most popular casino games. Some call roulette the "King of Casino Games", probably because it was associated with the glamour of the casinos in Monte Carlo. (François Blanc actually established the first casinos there.) A legend tells François Blanc supposedly bargained with the devil to obtain the secrets of roulette. The legend is based on the fact that the sum of all the numbers on the roulette wheel (from 1 to 36) is 666, which is the "Number of the Beast." [edit] Board depiction (American Roulette) 0 ? 00 1- 18 1st 12 1 2 3 ? 4 5 6 ? odd 7 8 9 ? 10 11 12 ? red 2nd 12 13 14 15 ? 16 17 18 ? blk 19 20 21 ? 22 23 24 ? even 3rd 12 25 26 27 ? 28 29 30 ? 19- 36 31 32 33 ? 34 35 36 ? ? ? ? [edit] Types of bets [edit] Inside Bets * Straight: a single number. The chip is placed entirely on the middle of a number square. * Split: a bet on two adjoining numbers, either on the vertical or horizontal (as in 14-17 or 8-9). The chip is placed on the line between these numbers. * Street: a bet on three numbers on a single horizontal line. The chip is placed on the edge of line of a number at the end of the line (either the left or the right, depending on the layout). * Corner (or square): a bet on four numbers in a square layout (as in 11-12-14-15). The chip is placed at the horizontal and vertical intersection of the lines around the numbers. * Sixline (or 'sixaine'): a bet on two adjoining streets, with the chip placed at the corresponding intersection, as if in between where two street bets would be placed. [edit] Outside Bets * Even Money Bets: a bet on 18 numbers. This is placed in the a box representing the attribute (black/red/low/high/even/odd) that you wish to bet on. * Group Bets: a bet on the first, second, or third group of twelve numbers. * Column: a bet on all 12 numbers on any of the three vertical lines (such as 1-4-7-10 on down to 34). The chip is placed on the space below the final number in this string. [edit] Bet odds table (American Roulette) (in addition to the mentioned payout the bet is returned) Bet name Winning spaces Payout Odds of winning (against) Expected value (on a $1 bet) 0 0 35 to 1 37 to 1 -$0.053 00 00 35 to 1 37 to 1 -$0.053 1 1 35 to 1 37 to 1 -$0.053 2 2 35 to 1 37 to 1 -$0.053 ... ... ... ... ... 36 36 35 to 1 37 to 1 -$0.053 Row 00 0, 00 17 to 1 18 to 1 -$0.053 Row 3 1, 2, 3 11 to 1 11.667 to 1 -$0.053 Row 6 4, 5, 6 11 to 1 11.667 to 1 -$0.053 Row 9 7, 8, 9 11 to 1 11.667 to 1 -$0.053 ... ... ... ... ... Row 36 34, 35, 36 11 to 1 11.667 to 1 -$0.053 five number bet 0, 00, 1, 2, 3 6 to 1 6.6 to 1 -$0.079 Column 1 1, 4, 7, ..., 34 2 to 1 2.167 to 1 -$0.053 Column 2 2, 5, 8, ..., 35 2 to 1 2.167 to 1 -$0.053 Column 3 3, 6, 9, ..., 36 2 to 1 2.167 to 1 -$0.053 First 12 1, 2, 3, ..., 12 2 to 1 2.167 to 1 -$0.053 Middle 12 13, 14, 15, ..., 24 2 to 1 2.167 to 1 -$0.053 Last 12 25, 26, 27, ..., 36 2 to 1 2.167 to 1 -$0.053 Odd 1, 3, 5, ..., 35 1 to 1 1.111 to 1 -$0.053 Even 2, 4, 6, ..., 36 1 to 1 1.111 to 1 -$0.053 Red 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36 1 to 1 1.111 to 1 -$0.053 Black 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 35 1 to 1 1.111 to 1 -$0.053 1 to 18 1, 2, 3, ..., 18 1 to 1 1.111 to 1 -$0.053 19 to 36 19, 20, 21, ..., 36 1 to 1 1.111 to 1 -$0.053 Note also that 0 and 00 are neither odd nor even in this game. [edit] House edge The house average or house edge (also called the expected value) is the amount the player loses relative to any bet made, on average. If a player bets on a single number in the American game there is a probability of 1/38 that the player wins 35 times the bet, and a 37/38 chance that the player loses their bet. The expected value is: -1*37/38 + 35*1/38 = -0.0526 (5.26% house edge) For European roulette, a single number wins 1/37 and loses 36/37: -1*36/37 + 35*1/37 = -0.0270 (2.70% house edge) In roulette the house has the same edge on all other kinds of bets also, because the pay outs are always set as if the zero square(s) did not exist. The only exception are the five numbers bet where the house edge is considerably higher (7.89% on an American wheel) and the 'even money' bets in the some European games, where the house edge is halved because only half the stake is lost when a zero comes up. The house edge should not be confused with the hold. The hold is the total amount of cash the table changes for chips, minus the chips taken away from the table. In other words, the actual "win" amount for the casino. The Casino Control Commission in Atlantic City releases a monthly report showing the win/hold amounts for each casino. The average win/hold for double zero wheels is between 21-30%, significantly more than 5.26%/2.70% of all players money because players are making repeated bets after winning and losing portions of their total money. This is known in the casino gaming industry as "churning" and is especially true of slot machine players who usually end up losing all their money. A player with a certain total amount of money may not win or lose all their money instantly, such that the total of all bets they make will often be greater than the total of the money they actually started with. The house edge applies to each bet made not the total money, which means the player can end up losing significantly more than 5.26% of his starting money. For example it is likely that a player with $100 making $10 bets on red will be able to bet more than 10 times, because sometimes he wins. He may end up betting a total of 20 times on red. This means the expected value is 20*$10*5.26% = $10.52, over 10% of his money is now in the 'hold' despite the game having a 5.26% house advantage. A player who continually bets until they run out of money will give the house 100% hold. [edit] Called (or call) bets Traditional roulette wheel sectors Traditional roulette wheel sectors There are a number of series in roulette that have special names attached to them. These are placed by betting a set amount per series (or multiples of that amount). They are based on the way in which certain numbers lie next to each other on the roulette wheel. Not all casinos offer these bets, and some may offer additional bets or variations on these. [edit] Voisins du Zero ("Neighbors of Zero") This is a name for the numbers which lie between 22 and 25 on the wheel including 22 and 25 themselves. The series is 22,18,29,7,28,12,35,3,26,0,32,15,19,4,21,2,25 (on a single zero wheel). 9 chips or multiples thereof are bet. 2 chips are placed on the 0,2,3 street; 1 on the 4/7 split; 1 on 12/15; 1 on 18/21; 1 on 19/22; 2 on 25/26/28/29 corner; and 1 on 32/35. [edit] Tiers ("The third") This is the name for the numbers which lie on the opposite side of the wheel between 27 and 33 including 27 and 33 themselves. The series is 27,13,36,11,30,8,23,10,5,24,16,33 (on a single zero wheel). 6 chips or multiples thereof are bet. 1 chip is placed on each of the following splits: 5/8; 10/11; 13/16; 23/24; 27/30; 33/36. A variant known as "Tier 5,8,10,11" has an additional chip placed straight up on 5, 8, 10 and 11; and so is a 10-piece bet. This is also called the "Small Series" It includes the following wagers which are all Splits 5/8, 10/11, 13/16, 23/24, 27/30, 33/36 [edit] Orphelins ("Orphans") These numbers make up the two slices of the wheel outside the Tiers and Voisins. They contain a total of eight numbers, the Orphans comprising 17,34,6 and the Orphelins being 1,20,14,31,9. 5 chips or multiples thereof are bet. 1 chip is placed straight-up on 1 and 1 chip on each of the splits: 6/9; 14/17; 17/20 and 31/34. [edit] "xx and the Neighbors" A number may be backed along with the 2 numbers on either side of it in a 5 piece bet. For example, "0 and the Neighbors" is a 5 piece bet with 1 piece straight-up on 3, 26, 0, 32 and 15. Neighbors bets are often put on in combinations, for example "1, 9, 14 and the neighbors" is a 15 piece bet covering 18, 22, 33, 16 with 1 piece; 9, 31, 20, 1 with 2 pieces and 14 with 3 pieces. Any of the above bets may be combined, eg "Orphelins by 1 and Zero and the Neighbors by 1." The "...and the Neighbors." is often assumed by the Croupier. [edit] Betting strategies and tactics Albert Einstein is reputed to have stated, "You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it." Nevertheless, the numerous even-money bets in roulette have inspired many players over the years to attempt to beat the game by using one or more variations of a Martingale betting strategy, wherein the gamer doubles the bet after every loss, so that the first win would recover all previous losses, plus win a profit equal to the original bet. As the referenced article on Martingales points out, this betting strategy is fundamentally flawed in practice and the inevitable long-term consequence is a large financial loss. Another strategy is the Fibonacci system, where bets are calculated according to the Fibonacci sequence. Regardless of the specific progression, no such strategy can statistically overcome the casino's advantage. While not a strategy to win money, Los Angeles Times editor Andrés Martinez described an enjoyable roulette betting method in his book on Las Vegas entitled "24/7". He called it the "dopey experiment". The idea is to divide one's roulette session bankroll into 35 units. This unit is bet on a particular number for 35 consecutive spins. Thus, if the number hits in that time, the gambler wins back the original bankroll and can play subsequent spins with house money. However, there is only a (1 - (37 / 38)35) * 100% = 60.68% probability of winning within 35 spins (assuming a double zero wheel with 38 pockets). There is a common misconception that the green numbers are "house numbers" and that by betting on them one "gains the house edge." In fact, it is true that the house's advantage comes from the existence of the green numbers (a game without them would be statistically fair); however, they are no more or less likely to come up than any other number. Various attempts have been made by engineers to overcome the house edge through predicting the mechanical performance of the wheel, most notably by Joseph Jagger at Monte Carlo in 1873. These schemes work by determining that the ball is more likely to fall at certain numbers. Claude Shannon, a mathematician and computer scientist best known for his contributions to information theory, built arguably the first wearable computer to do so in 1961. [2] To try to prevent exploits like this, the casinos monitor the performance of their wheels, and rebalance and realign them regularly to try to keep the result of the spins as random as possible. More recently Thomas Bass, in his book The Newtonian Casino 1991, has claimed to be able to predict wheel performance in real time. He is also the author of The Eudaemonic Pie, which describes the exploits of a group of computer hackers, who called themselves the Eudaemons, who in the late 1970s used computers in their shoes to win at roulette by predicting where the ball would fall. In the early 1990s, Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo used a computer to model the tendencies of the roulette wheels at the Casino de Madrid in Madrid, Spain. Betting the most likely numbers, along with members of his family, he was able to win over one million dollars over a period of several years. A court ruled in his favor when the legality of his strategy was challenged by the casino. In 2004, it was reported that a group which consisted of two Serbs and one Hungarian in London had used mobile cameraphones to predict the path of the ball, a cheating technique called sector targeting. [3] In December 2004 court adjudged that they didn't cheat because their special laser cameraphone and microchip weren't influencing the ball - they kept all £1.3m. [4] [edit] Betting only on red One conceivable strategy would be to bet on the ball landing in a red space for a certain number of spins, for example, 38. There are 18 red spaces on a roulette table with 38 total spaces. Dividing 18 by 38 yields a probability of landing on red of 47.37%. This probability can be used in a binomial distribution and made into an approximate standard normal distribution. Doing so indicates that, if one were to spin the wheel 38 times, there is a 99% probability that the ball would land on red at least 10 times. There is an 83% probability that in 38 spins, the ball will land on red at least 15 times. Out of 38 spins, there's a 50% chance that 18 will be red. However, the break-even point is 19 spins, since the bet on red is 1:1, and the probability of 19 red spins in 38 is only 37%. This indicates the difficulty of winning by only betting on red. The results occur because, as indicated by the 18 divided by 38 equals 47.37% figure, the ball will land on red less than half the time. This percentage applied in the binomial and standard normal distributions creates the vast divide in probability from 18 red spins to 19 red spins out of 38 spins. It is very unlikely for anyone to spin much more than 18 red spins out of 38 spins. [edit] Betting multiple times This type of bet is a combination of the red bet and the martingale system. The difference is that this bet also includes the odd. This strategy starts off with a bet of 1 on each the red and the odd (or you can do the black and even). Each bet is treated separately. When one bet loses, it is doubled. When one bet wins, it gets set it back to 1. The reason that this technique keeps the player in the game so long is that there is almost a 25% chance of winning both the red and the odd and there is almost a 50% chance of breaking even (win one bet and lose the other). Of course, in order for this method to last, the player would need an unlimited source of money, and a casino with another one to boot. In reality, this method backfires when the player can't bet any longer and loses. The loss that this causes is possibly hundreds of times bigger than a loss made when starting. Also, in the long run, because the house still has an edge, the player will lose money just like with all other "unbeatable" casino games. [edit] Using the dozen bet There are two versions to this system, single dozen bets and double dozen bets. In the single dozen bet version, the player uses a progressively incrementing stake list starting from the casino table minimum, to the table maximum. The aim here is to use a single dozen bet to win before the stake list ends. Many techniques are employed such as: betting on the same dozen to appear after two consecutive appearances, betting on the dozen that has appeared most in the last 15, 9, or 5 spins, betting on the dozen that, after a long absence of 7 or more spins, appears for the first time. The double dozen bet version uses two dozen bets and half the stake list size of the single dozen bet version. [edit] 1st and 3rd column strategy One bet of 2 pieces on the 1st column and one bet of 2 pieces on the 3rd column covers most of the red numbers on the table. One bet of 2 pieces on the black will provide insurance for occurrance of black. This betting system covers nearly all numbers except for the 6 red numbers in the middle column and the zero (and double zero in American Roulette). If the result is a red number in either the 1st or 3rd column, the player only breaks even. If the result is red in the middle column the player loses 6 pieces. If the result is black and in the middle column, the player loses 2 pieces. If the result is a black in the 1st or 3rd column, the player wins 6 pieces.

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Online venues, by contrast, are dramatically cheaper because they have much smaller overhead costs. For example, adding another table does not take up valuable space like it would for a brick and mortar casino. Online poker rooms also allow the players to play for low stakes (as low as 1¢) and often offer poker freerolls (where there is no entry fee), attracting beginners.

Online venues may be more vulnerable to certain types of fraud, especially collusion between players. However, they have collusion detection abilities that do not exist in brick and mortar casinos. For example, online poker room security employees can look at the hand history of the cards previously played by any player on the site, making patterns of behavior easier to detect than in a casino where colluding players can simply fold their hands without anyone ever knowing the strength of their holding. Online poker rooms also check players' IP addresses in order to prevent players at the same household or at known open proxy servers from playing on the same tables.

Free poker online was played as early as the late 1990s in the form of IRC poker. Shortly thereafter Planet Poker was the first online cardroom to offer real money games. Author Mike Caro was one of the founders and the "face" of Planet Poker.

The major online poker sites offer varying features to entice new players. One common feature is to offer tournaments called satellites by which the winners gain entry to real-life poker tournaments. It was through one such tournament on Poker Stars that Chris Moneymaker won his entry to the 2003 World Series of Poker. He went on to win the main event causing shock in the poker world. The 2004 World Series featured three times as many players than in 2003. At least four players in the WSOP final table won their entry through an online cardroom. Like Moneymaker, 2004 winner Greg "Fossilman" Raymer also won his entry at the PokerStars online cardroom.

In October 2004, Sportingbet Plc, at the time the world's largest publicly traded online gaming company (SBT.L), announced the acquisition of ParadisePoker.com, one of the online poker industry's first and largest cardrooms. The $340 million dollar acquisition marked the first time an online cardroom was owned by a public company. Since then, several other cardroom parent companies have gone public.

In June 2005, PartyGaming, the parent company of the then largest online cardroom, PartyPoker, went public on the London Stock Exchange, achieving an initial public offering market value in excess of $8 billion dollars. At the time of the IPO, ninety-two percent of Party Gaming's income came from poker operations.

The market appears to be currently in a consolidation phase. In early 2006, PartyGaming moved to acquire EmpirePoker.com from Empire Online. Later in the year, bwin, an Austrian based online gambling company, acquired PokerRoom.com. Other poker rooms such as PokerStars and Poker.com that were rumored to be exploring initial public offerings[2] have postponed them.

Legality of Online Games Playing

From a legal perspective, online poker may differ in some ways from online casino gambling. However, many of the same issues do apply. For a discussion of the legality of online gambling in general, see online gambling.

Online poker is legal and regulated in many countries including several nations in and around the Caribbean Sea, and most notably the United Kingdom.

In the United States, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill in February 2005 to legalize and regulate online poker and online poker cardroom operators in the state. The legislation required that online poker operations would have to physically locate their entire operations in the state. Testifying before the state Senate Judiciary committee, Nigel Payne, CEO of Sportingbet and owner of Paradise Poker, pledged to relocate to the state if the bill became law.[3]

The measure, however, was defeated by the State Senate in March 2005 after the U. S. Department of Justice sent a letter to North Dakota attorney general Wayne Stenehjem stating that online gaming "may" be illegal, and that the pending legislation "might" violate the federal Wire Act. However, many legal experts dispute the DOJ's claim.

North Dakota Rep. Jim Kasper (R-Fargo), the author of the legalization bill, has vowed to continue his efforts. He states that he is "not putting away the idea of getting into Internet gaming licenses in North Dakota" and that the "revenue we missed is too great to pass up." Kasper has also stated that he will introduce the legislation in the 2007 session of the North Dakota legislature.

In response to this and other claims by the DOJ regarding the legality of online poker, many of the major online poker sites stopped advertising their "dot-com" sites in American media. Instead, they created "dot-net" sites that are virtually identical but offer no real money wagering. The sites advertise as poker schools or ways to learn the game for free, and feature words to the effect of "this is not a gambling website." Televised ads still feature the dot-net conceit but print ads have been trending back toward advertising the dot-coms directly.

In July 2006, United States federal agents, citing the Wire Act, arrested BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers in Dallas, Texas while he was changing planes. He was traveling between Costa Rica and the United Kingdom; in both jurisdictions online gaming and poker are legal and regulated.[4]

Later in the year a similar event happened in France, where Norbert Teufelberger and Manfred Bodner, the CEO's of bwin, [5] were giving a press conference. The arrest was made due to offenses against the French gambling laws.

Since many banks and credit card companies will not allow direct money transfers to online poker sites, electronic money transfer businesses provide online “e-wallets” that players can load from a bank account, then transfer the funds directly to the poker site. The advantage of these services is that it makes it easy for people to transfer money between different poker sites without the money going back to their bank accounts.

On October 13, 2006, President Bush officially signed into law the Safe Port Act, a bill aimed at enhancing security at U.S. ports.[6] Attached to the Safe Port Act was a provision known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). According to the UIGEA, "unlawful internet gambling" means to place, receive, or otherwise knowingly transmit a bet or wager by means of the internet where such bet is unlawful under any law in the State in which the bet is initiated, received, or otherwise made. Thus, the UIGEA prohibits online gambling sites from performing transactions with American financial institutions. As a result of the bill, several large publicly traded poker gaming sites such as PartyPoker.com, PacificPoker.com and bwin closed down their US facing operations. Some operations have not closed and it is still possible for some American players to play online for real money and even sign up for new accounts. The UIGEA has had a devastating effect on the stock value of these companies.[7]

Following passage of UIGEA, former U.S. Senator Al D'Amato joined the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Part of the PPA's mission is to protect and to advocate for the right of poker players to play online. Sen. D'Amato's responsibilities include Congressional lobbying. The PPA has over 650,000 members as of August 2007.[8]

On April 26, 2007, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (IGREA). IGREA would modify the UIGEA by providing a provision for licensing of Internet gambling facilities by the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. On June 8, 2007, the House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Frank, held a hearing entitled, "Can Internet Gambling Be Effectively Regulated to Protect Consumers and the Payments System?". Details of the meeting, including the archived webcast, are available on the House Financial Services Committee website [9]. Expert witnesses at the hearing testified that Internet gambling can be effectively regulated for age verification, money laundering issues, facilitation of state and federal tax collection, and for issues relating to compulsive gambling. As of August 2007, IGREA has 35 cosponsors. [10]

On May 3, 2007 Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) introduced HR 2140, the Internet Gambling Study Act. This bill "provide(s) for a study by the National Academy of Sciences to identify the proper response of the United States to the growth of Internet gambling."[11] As of August 26, 2007, IGSA has 64 cosponsors.

On June 7, 2007, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) introduced HR 2610, the Skill Game Protection Act. This act would legalize Internet poker, bridge, chess, and other games of skill. Also on June 7, 2007, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced H.R. 2607, the Internet Gambling Tax Act. The IGTA would legislate Internet gambling tax collection requirements.

How online poker rooms profit

Typically, online poker rooms generate the bulk of their revenue via three methods. First, there is the rake. Rake is collected from most real money ring game pots. The rake is normally calculated as a percentage of the pot based on a sliding scale and capped at some maximum fee. Each online poker room determines its own rake structure.

Second, pre-scheduled multi-table and impromptu sit-and-go tournaments are not raked, but rather an entry fee around ten percent of the tournament entry fee is added to the cost of the tournament.

Third, some online poker sites also offer games like black jack or side bets on poker hands where the player plays against "the house" for real money. The odds are in the house's favor in these games, thus producing a profit for the house.

These are also the three primary methods brick and mortar casinos derive profits from operating poker tables.

Integrity and fairness

As with other forms of online gambling, many critics question whether the operators of such games—especially those located in jurisdictions separate from most of their players—might be engaging in fraud themselves.

Internet discussion forums are rife with allegations of non-random card dealing, possibly to favour house-employed players or "bots" (poker-playing software disguised as a human opponent), or to give multiple players good hands thus increasing the bets and the rake, or simply to prevent new players from losing so quickly that they become discouraged. However, there is little more than anecdotal evidence to support such claims, and others argue that the rake is sufficiently large that such abuses would be unnecessary and foolish. Many claim to see lots of "bad beats" with large hands pitted against others all too often at a rate that seems to be a lot more common than in live games. This might actually be caused by the fact that online cardrooms deal more hands per hour. Since online players get to see more hands, their likelihood of seeing more improbable bad beats or randomly large pots is also increased.

Many online poker sites are certified by bodies such as the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and other major auditing firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers to review the fairness of the random number generator[12], shuffle[13], and payouts for some sites.

Differences compared to conventional poker

There are substantial differences between online poker gaming and conventional, in-person gaming.

One obvious difference is that players do not sit right across from each other, removing any ability to observe others' reactions and body language. Instead, online poker players learn to focus more keenly on betting patterns, reaction time, speed of play, use of check boxes/auto plays, opponents' fold/flop percentages, chat box, waiting for the big blind, beginners' tells, and other behavior tells that are not physical in nature. Since poker is a game that requires adaptability, successful online players learn to master the new frontiers of their surroundings.

Another less obvious difference is the rate of play. In brick and mortar casinos the dealer has to collect the cards, shuffle, and deal them after every hand. Due to this and other delays common in offline casinos, the average rate of play is around thirty hands per hour. However, online casinos do not have these delays. The dealing and shuffling are instant, there are no delays relating to counting chips (for a split pot), and on average the play is faster due to "auto-action" buttons (where the player selects his action before his turn). It is not uncommon for an online poker table to average ninety to hundred hands per hour.

This large difference in rate of play has created another effect among online poker players. In the brick and mortar casino, the only real way to increase your earnings is to increase your limit. In the online world players have another option, play more tables. Unlike a physical casino where it would be nearly impossible to play multiple tables at once, most online poker rooms allow this. Depending on the site, a player might play from 4 to 10 tables at the same time, viewing them each in a separate window on the computer display. For example, a winning player may make around $10 per 100 hands at a low-limit game. In a casino, this would earn them under $4 an hour. After dealer tips, the winning player would probably barely break even. In an online poker room, the same player with the same win rate could play four tables at once, which at 60 hands per hour each would result in an earning of $24/hour. Some online players even play eight or more tables at once, in an effort to increase their winnings.

Another important difference results from the fact that some online poker rooms offer online poker schools that teach the basics and significantly speed up the learning curve for novices. Many online poker rooms also provide free money play so that players may practice these skills in various poker games and limits without the risk of losing real money. People who previously had no way to learn and improve because they had no one to play with now have the ability to learn the game much quicker and gain experience from free-money play.

Finally, the limits associated with online poker are much less than the table limits at a traditional casino. On gambling sites, players can find limits as low as $.01/$.02. However, at most brick and mortar establishments the lowest limits are often $1/$2.

Bonuses

While the practice of comping players with free meals, hotel rooms, and merchandise is quite common in B&M casinos, online poker rooms have needed to develop new ways to reward faithful customers. The most common way of doing this is through deposit bonuses, where the player is given a bonus code to enter when placing money into an account. The bonus code adds either a percentage or a set amount of chips to the value of the deposit. One should be aware that these are not up-front payments. The bonus is released in a piecemeal manner in accordance with the number of raked hands played. In addition, several online cardrooms employ VIP Managers to develop VIP programs to reward regular players and additional bonuses exist for players who wish to top-up their accounts. These are known as reload bonuses.

Compatibility

Online poker rooms typically operate through a separate piece of software. This may be cross-platform, for example using a Java Applet, allowing the programme to run equally well on various computer systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS. However, many online poker rooms offer downloadable programmes designed only for Microsoft Windows which require a compatibility layer such as Wine to run on Macintosh or Linux computers. Some sites do make available clients that run natively on Mac or Linux.

Some mobile content providers have started offering poker on portable devices (mobile phones, PDAs). The functionality of mobile online poker software is much the same as computer-based clients, albeit adapted to the interface of mobile devices. The player must be able to receive a cell phone signal in order to play.

Online poker portals and forums

Online poker portals are websites offering poker-related content. Examples of such content could be news, tournament results, strategy articles or reviews of online poker cardrooms. Some portals have a considerable amount of content, while others attempt to act as mere conduits to other sites, where actual gambling games are offered. Poker forums exist that discuss poker strategy, cardroom information, gambling news, and other topics.