What Defines a Game of Chance?
Posted by Harry Kane on Friday, July 12, 2019
If you’ve heard the term ‘game of chance’ before, the chances are that you’re not alone. After all, this lexicon describes most gambling games and pastimes, from slots and craps to roulette and lotteries.
A game of chance is essentially defined as a game whose outcome is influenced primarily by a randomising device, rather than the skill or ability of the player. From a gambling perspective, however, this remains something as a grey area, as some games of chance also require elements of skill and strategy that impact on the success of each individual.
Not only this, but the precise definition varies from one gambling jurisdiction to another, with the classification in the U.S. far more stringent that deregulated markets such as the UK. Below, we’ll look at games of chance in the UK, whilst asking why you should care and how you can profit from them.
How Do Games of Chance Work?
As we’ve already said, games of chance are overtly influenced by a specific randomising device, such as a roulette wheel, spinning top or even dice.
These devices produce entirely random and non-sequential results during the course of a single gaming session, with each outcome playing the pivotal role in determining whether or not a player wins or loses.
We’ll delve a little deeper into this later on, but first we need to consider the mechanisms that enable games of chance to work. Essentially, they rely on various types of random number generator to produce results, depending on whether you’re gambling online or at a bricks-and-mortar establishment.
The purest form of this technology is a true random number generator (TRNG), which extracts randomness from physical phenomena and introduces into either a computer or a particular piece of hardware. The phenomena in this instance can be exceptionally simple, such as the subtle variations in mouse movements or the amount of time between keystrokes.
However, online casinos tend to use pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs), which leverage mathematical formulae or precalculated tables to produce entirely unpredictable number sequences.
Whilst it can be argued that PRNGs are not as robust as TRNGs, they’re still highly efficient and ideal for iGaming applications.
This is because they’re able to produce a high volume of numbers within a relatively short space of time, whilst they’re deterministic nature also enables operators to strike the ideal balance between guaranteeing fairness and capping the number of algorithms used.
As the underlying technology has advanced, PRNGs have become commonplace in the iGaming space and helped to create an increasingly transparent marketplace. This is despite the fact that PRNGs are periodic, as whilst the random sequences used will eventually repeat themselves they last for so long that they’re extremely difficult to hack.
In terms of functionality, casinos use PRNGs in games of chance that aren’t governed by a dealer. In the case of slots, for example, operators assign a value to every single symbol on a reel (there are typically 60 icons featured across a standard 5-reel slot).
Each reel has 12 symbols, so an PRNG is used to create a value of 1-12 for every single icon. Five random values are then combined to create each outcome, based on the premise that we discussed above.
If you regularly frequent a bricks-and-mortar casino, you’ll probably know that all machines and roulette wheels use hardware random number generators (HRNG) rather than TRNGs.
Quite simply, this type of hardware generates random numbers from a physical process, using microscopic phenomena such as noise signals or the photoelectric effect.
These stochastic processes are almost entirely unpredictable, although the use of subtle physical phenomena makes it easier to cheat in land-based casinos.
Introducing the Law of Independent Trials
Interestingly, the use of PRNG does not define a game of chance in the iGaming space. This betrays the complexity of individual games and the balance between luck and skill, whilst it also brings us neatly onto the so-called ‘law of independent trials’.
This law essentially defines games of chance in the UK market, and it refers to the theory that any occurrence is likely during every round in disciplines of this type.
So, when a shooter throws his role in a craps game or a dealer spins the roulette wheel, the odds remain identical in perpetuity. This is incredulous in some respects, but it’s a cold hard fact that highlights the fallacy of attempting to pre-empt or manipulate games of chance.
Under this description, slots, roulette and craps are clearly defined as games of chance, but by the same token blackjack does not fit within this category.
Make no mistake; the law of independent trials does not apply to blackjack, as the odds for and against players vary constantly as each card is dealt. The same principle can be applied to poker, and both of these disciplines can be described as games of skill as players must perpetually calculate their odds of winning in order to inform their strategy.
The Last Word – How Can you Profit from Games of Chance?
In addition to blackjack and poker, there are other games that also tread the fine line between skill and chance. Take roulette, for example, which allows players to implement negative and positive progression strategies and make the most of their bankroll.
By optimising their board coverage with each individual wager, players can also optimise their chances of winning and enjoy regular returns over time.
This offers an insight into how you can profit from so-called games of chance, but one of the most important things is to avoid believing that you can circumnavigate the randomisation of these disciplines and ultimately impact individual outcomes.
This is one of the great gamblers’ fallacies of all-time, although it can be extremely alluring to new or inexperienced players when they first wager online. Instead, you need to take small but practical steps that constantly seek to minimise risk and lower the house edge, creating an over-arching strategy that should deliver regular (if modest) gains over an extended period of time.
Efficient bankroll management is key here, as this enables you to make the most of your capital and access games for as long as possible. If you’re an online poker fan, you can also study data on your rival players and tailor your own strategy to capitalise on any weaknesses, which is important as you can’t use physical tells when wagering through your laptop or mobile.
Ultimately, games of chance are central to the iGaming space, with disciplines such as slots now dominating online gambling. It’s therefore crucial that you understand how these games work, before determining viable strategies that can help you to succeed.