It has become increasingly obvious that more and more online casinos are giving away prizes in the form of gifts, cars, holidays and cash than ever before, which may lead you to wonder where the money to pay for these actually comes from and if it comes out of their net profits or the gross sums earned by the casino.

Recently we have received questions regarding this issue from player who are concerned that if the cash is taken from the gross income of the casino then this may affect the casino games payouts adversely and players will not receive the full payback percentages as advertised by the casino.

While this is a very legitimate question, it is important to understand and distinguish the difference between prizes that are awarded when a winning bet or combination is hit and prizes that are awarded through promotional draws and loyalty points.

When a prize appears on the paytable of a slot machine or video poker machine then the value of this prize is built in to the long-term payout of the machine. So for example, instead of a payout of $50,000 in cash, a car to the value of $50,000 is offered in its place. This means that in the long run the machine has the same long term payout rate which is paid from the casino’s bankroll and so these do not affect the payouts of the machine adversely.

Prizes that are awarded from promotional draws or loyal promotions are on the other hand, usually covered by the casino’s marketing budget.

Then there are prizes which are awarded randomly to a player currently playing a machine and where the money for these comes from can be either out of the payout or from the marketing budget. A classic example of this in a land based casino is the case of the opening of Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. While the machines were tighter than the norm for the strip, the casino made up for this with random bonuses. While the machines would have paid back 90% on their own, the casino awarded players with an extra 2% in random bonuses increasing the overall payout rate to 92% although these prizes could also have been covered by the marketing budget for the casino.

So in conclusion, no matter where the funding for prizes comes from, it generally does not affect the payout percentage of the casino game concerned. A 90% payout rate remains 90% regardless of what prizes the online casino chooses to give away, so just enjoy the games and if you happen to win a prize, then great but if you don’t you are not getting cheated in any way when it comes to payout percentages.

Not all online casinos are created equal and there are some significant differences from one group to another. This means that apart from certain rules and regulations set out by the online gaming commission, casinos can offer very different rules, odds and promotions that can give them a better edge. For example, one online casino may offer line odds of 3 times the line bet while another may offer 10 times the bet.

Bonuses and games also differ and one casino may offer a variety of Pai Gow tables and bonuses on specific hand while others will not offer the game at all or just have one table. Baccarat is another game that sees very different bonuses, odds and numbers of tables at casinos. You can always tell by the number of variations of a certain game whether or not a casino wants to have a great deal of action on it. For example, there are thousands of different types of slots with many different themes available at online casinos (and land based ones for that matter); this shows that the casino generates most of its revenues off these types of games. There are usually also a number of blackjack and roulette tables whereas games like Sic Bo, Baccarat and Pai Gow enjoy lesser numbers.

It is very important to always review games rules, especially across games with newer variations as these can affect your enjoyment of the game a great deal and rules that are at the discretion of the house need to be fully understood to ascertain whether or not they are fair or just a way to increase the house advantage.

While reading rules before playing your favourite game may seem like as much fun as reading the casino terms and conditions, it really is something that needs to be done to ensure that you enjoy your casino experience, rather than ending up in disputes because you didn’t realise that a game had certain rules or odds after you have played.

Remember that if you don’t like the rules on a certain game you can always look elsewhere because these do differ from one casino to another and you will find one that is a good fit for you.