Gamble Online for Play Money, Not Real Money

All online casinos and online poker websites offer both play money and real-money versions of their games. When you play the real-money games, you must deposit money into an account with the site before placing any wagers. If you lose money this way—and you often will—it disappears from your account at the site. Some sites, too, offer nothing but play-money games. Most of these sites support themselves by serving advertising to their users. Any kind of casino game and almost any kind of multiplayer poker game can be found in a play-money version online somewhere.

Gamble for Real Money, But Choose a Reputable Site

I can see why many gamblers would have no interest in playing nothing but play-money games. Without risking money, it’s impossible to win money. And winning or losing money is the entire point of gambling. To learn more about a gambling site’s reputation, spend some time on some player forums. See what other players have said about their experiences there. Many sites offer blacklists of casinos. You should avoid sites on these blacklists. You should also stick with gambling websites that are recommended and reviewed by reputable gambling information portals like this one.

Stick with the Games with a Low House Edge

Most people reading this are interested in playing casino games like blackjack, craps, roulette, slot machines, or video poker. All these games have a mathematical edge in favor of the house. You don’t have to worry about these games being rigged in favor of the casino because the casino has no incentive to offer anything but a “fair” game.  Blackjack and video poker offer the lowest house edge, but craps isn’t bad, either. Roulette and slot machines are the games with the highest house edge, and they’re probably best avoided.

Play Poker Games Where You Can Get an Edge over the Other Players

Poker games where you play against other players are an entirely different animal. In a poker game like Texas hold’em or Omaha, you’re not competing with the casino. You’re competing against other players. And since poker is a game of skill, if you’re more skilled than your opponents, you can get an edge over them in the long run.  If you’re equally skilled as the other players, you’ll lose money slowly over time. Not only do you have to be more skilled than the other poker players at the table, but you must also be skilled enough to compensate for the rake.

Bet on Sports in an Educated Way

It’s not easy to make a profit betting on sports, either, though. Just as casino games have a house edge and poker has a rake, sports betting has a mechanism to transfer your money from your wallet to the sportsbook. This mechanism is called the vig. For another, they’ll look for profitable situations. The handicappers at the sportsbook aren’t always 100% accurate when they create the point spreads. They’ll also often move the lines in response to the public so that they can get an even amount of money on either side of an event. Educated gamblers can use these opportunities to make lots of money betting on sports.

Beware of Sign-Up Bonus Terms and Conditions

All online casinos and other gambling sites offer sign-up bonuses to new players. These offers seem like an easy way to get free money, but they’re not as good a deal as most gamblers initially think. Remember, these gambling websites aren’t in the business of giving away money.

Set Strict Bankroll Management Rules for Yourself and Follow Them

Bankroll management experts suggest setting a loss limit and a win goal. Once you’ve lost a certain amount of money (or won a certain amount of money), you quit and cash out. The problem with their suggestion is that some people think it increases their probability of winning.

Change How You Define “Winning”

Most people define winning at gambling as walking away with a profit. You can do that some of the time with win goals and a bankroll management strategy. But in the long run, your losses will overtake your wins, and you’ll still wind up broke.  I suggest thinking of gambling as an entertainment expense, like buying a movie ticket or a novel. In fact, the hourly cost of such entertainment can be commensurate or even better than paying for that movie ticket.

Explore Non-Traditional Gambling Activities, Like Day Trading

To this point, I’ve focused on traditional gambling activities like casino games, poker, and sports betting. But many people enjoy other ways of getting their money into action. And some of those activities, like day trading, are completely legal. Enjoy trading in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. That’s becoming a popular deposit method for online casinos, but it’s such a volatile financial instrument that you can probably have a lot of fun betting one way or the other on the price of Bitcoin. Forex is another popular but non-traditional gambling activity where you bet on the comparative values of foreign currencies.

Network with Some of Your Gambler Friends via Email or Other Software, But Be Really Careful

Nothing prevents you from gambling on sports with your buddies. People do it all the time by setting up office pools of various kinds. You can expand the number of people participating in these activities with you through clever use of email and message boards. But be careful. The Wire Act is a federal law that makes it illegal to place bets over the phone. For the purposes of enforcing this legislation, communications over the internet count.