Cheating has been around as long as people have been able to gamble. Casinos especially, with their large variety of games, have had to put multiple measures in place in order to stop players from cheating. With casinos offering real money rewards, the chances of players cheating are much higher. Therefore, the casino must constantly be a step ahead of players. With modern technology making its way into every aspect of our lives, it too has made its way into gambling. Online casinos are no exception, and many Australian online casinos have had to put multiple software security barriers in place. Mainly to protect themselves from having players cheat on their games. These security measures have made it very difficult for a player to cheat. However, there are still the odd few that try to break through the high-tech security barrier.
History of Cheating in the Wild West
Although cheating on games did not start in the Wild West, it sure did get popular there. It is here, in America that many would hear of cheating occurring and ending in gun fights in the 1700s. The Wild West, although not exactly as violent and lawless as displayed in the movies, did encounter such events.
There is one particular story that stands out above the rest and that is the story of John Wesley Harding. It all started in Texas on Christmas day, when Harding, a renowned gunslinger, chose to enjoy a game of cards with opponent James Bradley. Like most games, this one started off well, but soon started brewing up a frenzied argument. The argument got so heated that they decided to ‘take it outside.’ Where they agreed to settle their argument with a shooting duel. The two faced each other and with a slight of hand Bradley drew and shot his pistol first, just missing Harding. To which Harding quickly responded with one shot, killing Bradley. This is one of the first stories of cheating in cards.
The Dawning of The Casino Era- Cheating History
With civilisation and multiple revolutions taking place, gambling started to spread like wildfire. Unfortunately, most of this gambling was done illegally, causing the industry to suffer. It was then that people realised that they needed a safer, legal way of gambling, if they were to continue. So, they began to build casinos and thus, the dawning of the casino era came about. Places like Las Vegas were the first to have casinos. With the building of these casinos and implementation of legal gambling, most of the illegal underground gambling rings fell away. This is due to the large amount of people that the casinos had attracted.
However, in the 1950s, it is said that most of the casinos were owned by organised crime. Which had the opposite effect of what they initially intended. The casinos were no longer as safe as players wished them to be. The games were still fair on the most part, though. This was because the organisations still wanted to legally earn their money. It is rumoured though that even the initial construction of these casinos was paid for via illegal activities. Las Vegas especially began to take flight with Mob organised casinos during this time.
Cheating in the Modern Day
The modern day, along with its technologies has made cheating a very difficult task for players to undertake at both land-based and online casinos.
At land-based casinos cameras have coverage of every inch of the casino. This is to check that players aren’t counting the cards or influencing the dealers. Aside from the cameras, at land-based casinos, all gambling equipment such as dice and roulette wheels get tested on a regular basis to ensure that they do not run into any snags.
Online casinos use Random Number Generators (RNGs) to prevent cheating. This makes it even more challenging for players to pull one over on the casino. After all, in order to cheat, players would need to actually hack into the online systems. Hacking of this kind can only be performed by experts in technical and casino software.
In this case if you ever hear players complaining of online casinos cheating, they would be referring to unfair odds that the casino has. However, legal online casinos will only have the advantage of randomness and set house edges. RNGs cannot be set by online casinos who are regulated and tested regularly by organisations like eCOGRA.
Summary
So, to summarise, it is clear that no matter where you are or what platform you are using, there is always someone wanting to cheat. Although, most online casinos have many security measures in place, it is vital for you to ensure that your chosen casino is licensed and tested for fairness. And if you notice any form of cheating while you play, you can report it to the auditors or online casino in real-time.