Beating House Edge with Bonuses
Many casinos offer new sign up bonuses. Often up to 100% matching bonus on your first deposit. Besides that, sometimes casinos offer bonuses on your subsequent deposits. In exchange for giving out such generous bonuses, these casinos would require you to bet a number of times your deposit (sometimes deposit plus bonus) before allowing you to cash out the bonus.
If you play using optimal playing strategy, you can be ahead of the casinos. For example, you deposit $500 and with a 100% matching bonus you will have $1,000 to bet.
Next, assume the casino requires you to bet 12 times this amount before you can cash out the bonus. You will need to bet a minimum of $12,000. For simplicity, assume you bet 120 times, each time betting $100, therefore making a total bet of $12,000.
Choose games with low house edge. For example, Spanish 21 (dealer stand on soft 17) with a house edge of 0.4%. Here’s a list of casino games with the corresponding house edge. Everytime you make a bet, you are expected to lose 0.4% of your bet. If you bet a total of $12,000 then you are expected to lose 0.4% of your total bet, which is $48.
After deducting for your losses of $48 from your available fund of $1,000 you will have $952. This leaves you with a profit of $452 after taking out your first deposit of $500.
This is theory. In practice, it is not uncommon to have a losing streak or winning streak. The losing streak will wipe out your bankroll. It is the gambler who knows how to cut his losses when in a losing streak and push his luck when in a winning streak who will come out winner in the end.
