Can You Tell If a Game Is Rigged? Most Players Say Yes — But Are They Right?

Every gambler has experienced losing streaks at some point in their gameplay. They take 10 or 20 spins on a game with a 97% return-to-player percentage (RTP), only to lose every single one.

If a game has a 97% RTP, it should pay out $0.97 on the dollar, right?

What players often forget is that RTPs are calculated over time – not on every bet. This means that someone could potentially lose every bet they place, even if they spin the reels dozens of times.

Is there any way to know if a game is rigged? Let’s look at the facts.

What Are the Chances a Casino Game Is Rigged?

The chances that games at a licensed casino are rigged are slim to none. If a casino is caught rigging a game, it will be charged fines and potentially lose licensure; the parties involved may also face jail time.

It’s simply not “worth it” for a licensed casino to rig games.

Casinos always make money on games because they set RTPs to below 100%. Thus, they will always make money – even if some players score big wins.

Can You Tell If a Casino Game Is Rigged?

Most players believe that they can tell if a casino game is rigged; however, that’s not always true.

In the following sections, we’ll talk about why some players mistakenly believe casino games are rigged.

Why Some Players Believe Casino Games Are Rigged

Gambler’s Fallacy

The gambler’s fallacy is a phenomenon where players mistakenly believe that the odds dictate they should win after a series of losses.

For example, someone might believe that since they have a 50/50 chance of winning a coin toss, it means they should be able to correctly guess heads or tails 5 times for every 10 times the coin is flipped. Yet, this simply isn’t true.

You have a 50/50 chance of guessing heads or tails on every toss – not a guaranteed win of 5 out of 10 tosses.

Playing at Offshore or Unregulated Casinos

Some players correctly believe that some offshore or unregulated casinos rig games. Since these casinos are not regulated, verified, or licensed, gamblers may be playing rigged games.

When there are no checks and balances, games may be rigged. This is why we don’t recommend playing at unlicensed casinos at OddsSeeker.

Although these casinos may not be rigging games, there is simply a higher likelihood that they will if there are no consequences for their actions. At the very least, there could be developer bugs in games that go undetected, which we’ll cover in the next section.

They Simply Don’t Win

Sometimes when players are on a losing streak, they begin to suspect a game is rigged. Though this is not often the case at licensed and regulated casinos, mistakes sometimes happen.

Licensed online casinos in the U.S. are bound by law to report programming mistakes, so both casinos and developers test games to ensure RTPs are accurate; however, there have been some instances where slot developers accidentally set a game’s RTP to zero.

In these cases, players reported suspected errors, and the developers and casino investigated potential errors. By law, they must report any errors to state governing authorities and refund gamblers who bet money on those games.

Yet even in these cases, the games themselves aren’t “rigged”. There’s no financial reward for a casino that sets a game’s RTP lower than the posted percentage.

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