When playing your favourite pokies online in NZ it’s important to know what the casino ‘house edge’ is. Below we are going to look at what this is and how it can determine how much winnings you will earn. Each game you play on will have a different house edge so it’s always handy to know what percentage of winnings you are playing for.
You can usually find what the house edge is when you are checking out the pokie you are thinking about playing although some sites like jeffbet.com have a page dedicated to listing what the payout percentage is for every game they offer which is a great way of providing their players with some useful information they need when comparing the house edge with the payout percentage.
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So What Exactly is The House Edge?
The payout percentage is the amount of each bet you will get back whilst the house edge is the amount of each bet the casino wins.
Simply put, the house edge is a percentage which reflects the advantage that that particular game has over you as the player – Incorrectly some people believe that is the ratio of money lost to the total wager – what the house edge actually does is indicate what the average loss is to the original bet – in this way it is easier for the player to gauge any expected losses during a single hand or gaming session.
So, if we take that into account the higher percentage, the larger the advantage is for the house. As an example if you were to place a wager (your first) of say $100 on a game that has a 0.30% house edge then you would expect to lose 30c. Again, on a game which has a house edge of 5% then you would expect to lose $5.
Even though this does not sound a great profit for the casino when you begin to think of how many people play and the hours that the online casino is open it begins to become very clear that even though the house edge might not be so high all those cents add up.
Some Examples of Game Payouts
If we take a look at JeffBet (the payout page) then you can easily see what the average is by looking down the column on the right. From Mayan Gods which has a payout to the player of 91% to games such as Rome: Cesar’s Glory which has a payout percentage of 96.23% the usual payout percentage falls within the 90’s on JeffBet.com
Although all online casino games come in a wide variety all of them have been designed to give the house (the casino) an overall edge or advantage over the players – and although the edge for some games is fixed some house edges vary and this is due to certain factors like the deck size and rules.
Quelling the Fear of Being Cheated
Once you as a player understand what the house edge is and why it is there then the percentage that the casino takes should also be pretty good proof that the casino is not cheating you out of any of your own hard-earned cash.
Of course, there will always be those that swear that a casino resorted to underhanded tactics in order to take their money, but this could not be further from the truth as you only have to take a look at the figures. In 2021 the Global online market was worth over 231 billion US dollars so in reality, those that say that they have been cheated by their online casino is usually a defence mechanism that will perhaps compensate for bad luck, and in some cases, poor strategies.
There is always that chance that a lucky player will walk away from the casino as an instant millionaire and many who experience successful streaks but the plain fact is that casinos don’t need to cheat to get to your money as they have an inherent advantage due to the rules of the games and the odds.
In Conclusion
The house edge has been around for as long as the casino has existed (starting with the land-based venues). Over the centuries the house edge has evolved, being refined until today when it is as efficient as possible. The whole concept of the house edge is to ensure that over the long-term the casino will have an advantage over those that choose to play there, which makes a great deal of sense as casinos (both land-based and online) would go out of business pretty quickly if there were no house edge.
Pokie games provide a good percentage for the house, but as they have provided some truly life-changing cash prizes this ensures that they remain high in popularity amongst players In fact, pokies/slots are the largest revenue generator at all casinos around the world.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember when you are going to play on one of your favourite casino games is that even though you cannot really beat the house edge you can focus on having the most entertaining time possible whilst online. Never chase your losses and when your time playing is no longer fun, walk away.
