Real Money Gameplay – What are the Key Considerations?

Posted by Harry Kane on Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Despite the popularity of playing slots in ‘demo mode’ on these shores, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has recently moved to ban this at all online casinos. This means that new slots players cannot make use of this mode before playing for real money, making it harder for them to test games and experiment with betting strategies.

This could arguably make real money gameplay riskier for players, even those who prefer games of chance such as online slots. Remember, staking your hard-earned cash represents a significant risk and financial commitment, and one that must be managed carefully if you’re to wager responsibly at all times.

What is Real Money Gameplay?

In simple terms, real money gameplay refers to the process of staking your hard-earned cash across different casino games and verticals. Whereas games played in demo mode enabled you to sample slots and similar titles while using fake digital currency, you’ll have to fund every single spin or hand when wagering real money.

This introduces the challenge of bankroll management, in addition to mastering gameplay and setting a viable betting strategy for specific games or verticals. This is a significant concern and one that has a huge bearing when pursuing real money returns and attempting to wager responsibly over an extended period of time.

The Main Considerations When Wagering with Real Money

In order to successfully wager for real money and make the most of your financial resources, there are several steps that you need to consider and follow carefully. These are universally important regardless of your preferred real money casino games, while some may even apply to sports betting.

1. Understanding the Return-to-Player (RTP) Rate

Every casino game and vertical has its own unique house edge, which helps to ensure that operators make a profit across their entire platform. This is expressed as a percentage, while it helps you to determine the risk of loss during gameplay. Interestingly, you can also calculate the return-to-player (RTP) rate using the house edge figure (and vice-versa), and understanding this is key when wagering for real money.

The RTP rate is also individual to each game and must be published by operators online. This describes the amount of money that you can expect to recoup for every £1 wagered online, while this is also expressed as a percentage. So, if you play a slot with an RTP rate of 96%, you’ll bank £0.96 for every £1 staked over the course of the average gaming session.

The relationship between the RTP rate and house edge is also easy to explore. To calculate the house edge using the published RTP rate, for example, you simply need to subtract the latter from a value of 100. So, using the same example above of a slot with an RTP rate of 96%, you’ll need to subtract this from 100 to create a value of 4%.

In terms of casino games, popular low-variance slots tend to boast an average RTP rate of 96% or more, and in this respect, they can deliver a far better return than high-variance alternatives with an RTP rate of between 90% and 94%. Games such as classic blackjack also have an RTP rate in excess of 99%, ensuring frequent (albeit modest) returns that help you to maintain your real money bankroll.

It’s important that you review this information when playing for real money, so that you can make an informed decision relating to both your stake and potential return in relation to your bankroll. This will have a huge bearing on the management of your real money bankroll, especially in relation to how you deal with and embrace risk.

2. The Nuances of Bankroll Management

Touching further on the concept of bankroll management, this is arguably the single most important consideration when wagering with real money. This is because of the simple premise that real money wagering incurs the genuine and inescapable risk of loss, and it’s important to always manage and minimise this.

Of course, understanding the RTP rate helps as it lets you estimate a potential return in relation to you spend when betting online. However, it’s also important to start by creating an initial bankroll that’s manageable, and only includes an amount of money that you can comfortably afford to lose.

This should also cover a finite period of time, such as a day, week or month (depending on how frequently you wager and your betting patterns). You can also create a bankroll to cover particularly gaming session, but the key is to manage this in a disciplined way and adhere to it at all times.

3. Make Use of Available Casino Bonuses

While understanding that the games with the highest RTP rate tend to offer the best value for money is an excellent starting point (along with disciplined bankroll management), you should also consider the impact of the welcome bonuses deployed by different casino operators. These will vary from one operator to another, while they’re also updated by brands on a regular basis.

For example, most contemporary offers tend to combine deposit matches with a predetermined number of free spins, the latter of which afford free gameplay on specific titles as chosen by the operator. This could be key if you’re an avid slots enthusiast, so long as the game weighting rules are favourable and contribute to the fulfilment of any wagering requirements.

In addition to the precise gameplay and game weighting terms, you should also review the wagering requirements in full. These are expressed as a multiplier and will dictate how much you’ll have to play through before withdrawing any winnings (without forfeiting the bonus) and should be within the boundaries of your existing bankroll.

You should review the timeframe in which you have to meet the wagering requirements. This can also impact bankroll management directly, as it may cause you to increase your spending in a relatively short period of time. Avoid this is key, as it can cause real issues when engaging in real money betting and accessing bonus funds.