So, you’re motivated to make money by playing online games.
Let me tell you: don’t quit your job just yet.
In order for it be worth the sort of time investment that professional gaming takes, you need to do some serious research.
This article is going to focus on casino games. If you want to make money playing video games, it’s a whole other can of worms. There are of course plenty of options available to you, such as:
- Becoming a paid beta-tester
- Becoming a live-streamer on Twitch or Youtube
- Writing for an online games magazine
- Winning tournaments in eSports (i.e League of Legends)
These all require a very different approach, as you’re dealing with having to build a personal brand & marketing yourself. Whereas for gambling, you don’t need a public image to make cash.
However, you’ll need similar dedication to make any real money playing casino games.
Making Real Money by Playing Casino Games
Whether you’re in it to add a consistent bonus to your main income, or you want to turn pro and have gambling be your main income, it’ll take some work.
In this guide, we’ll take you through the most important steps. These include:
- Choosing the right casino
- Using bonuses wisely
- Implementing strategies
- Learning the right attitude
Now let’s crack on so you can start raking in the cash as soon as possible.
Choosing the Right Casino
Obviously, if you want to be winning real money, you’ve got to sign up somewhere that is licensed, regulated, and allows players to actually withdraw real money.
How do you find such a casino? Well, like we said. Do you research.
> Search for the top recommended casinos and apps.
> Check out casino review sites & player comments.
> Go on gambler forums, facebook groups, or other gambler communities, and ask around.
Remember, what you’re looking for is security first, and then proof that players have indeed won and cashed out their winnings from that casino.
Your second major concern should be whether your casino offers interesting bonuses.
How to Use Bonuses Wisely
When you sign up to an online casino, you may have noticed that they advertise welcome bonuses and “free money” all over the place. You’ll find:
- No deposit bonuses
- Deposit bonuses
- Weekly/Monthly/Seasonal promotional offers
- Loyalty schemes with VIP levels
- One-off tournament/jackpot prizes like vacations
One thing you should know is that all bonus money must be converted via wagering requirements before you can withdraw it.
And the more you have to play to fulfill those requirements, the more you’re at risk of losing the money.
So, you’ll want to prioritize not only casinos that offer interesting bonuses, but also casinos that offer low wagering requirements as well as fast payout times.
VIP Schemes
It’s also important that your casino rewards its players regularly.
You want to be able to play for a while and get more bang for your buck by racking up the loyalty points.
The higher you climb in terms of VIP ranks, the better and more consistent the bonuses.
This means more playing with bonus money, and more winning real money for free.
Bonus Activation
As you may have noticed if you’ve already played at online casinos, you can only ever play with one activated bonus at a time.
It’s good to make sure you activate your bonuses at times where you can be sure to fulfill your wagering requirements.
Some bonuses are automatically implemented, but most of them await activation. So if you’ve got the time, make sure you always play with a bonus activated.
That way, the more you play, the more you stand to gain extra free spins or free bonus cash.
Strategies: You Can Never Learn Too Much
A great majority of casino games rely on chance for players to make any money.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t manipulate the odds, even just a little.
Even with slot games, you’ll find that there are certain strategies you can implement to up your payouts.
Slot Game Strategies
After dice games, this is the second most luck-based game you’ll find at casinos. The main strategy here is to choose carefully which one you’ll be playing.
Privilege High RTP
First of all, you must privilege slots with a high return to player (RTP).
That number represents how much of your investment the game will give back to you in the long run.
If you’re playing with an activated bonus on a high-RTP game, then the casino’s advantage is drastically lowered, and your edge is increased.
Play Responsibly
So sure, some gamers spend hundreds or thousands because they think the only way to hit a big jackpot is to spend enough to get there.
But the truth is, the safer and more lucrative game style is to take less risk.
You see, slots are a very psychologically straining game. You’re always thinking, I’ll just give it one more spin. So set yourself two hard limits:
- Cash-out limit: as soon as you reach a certain amount of winnings, cash it out
- Betting bracket: always stop somewhere within that bracket
Keep in mind that you are unlikely to get epic winning streaks, so make the most of the winnings and jackpots you rack up.
Table & Card Game Strategies
There are full strategy guides for every single table & card casino game out there.
Poker, blackjack and roulette all have their own specific playing styles.
However, there is a general strategy or attitude that can be applied to all of them.
Learn the Rules
So sure, you can sit at a poker table knowing nothing of the game rules and get some lucky wins. But if you want to manipulate your odds, you had better learn the rules.
- Learn the game rules. This is useful so you can actually engage with the game, predict what others will play, or predict your own odds of success.
- Start looking up odds charts. That way you can calculate what a certain hand means in terms of odds, and how that could affect your next move.
In certain card games, you’ll find that odds prediction is a whole field of study.
Find Good Betting Strategies
Even when you’re playing a luck-based game like roulette, there is still one thing you always control: and that is how much you bet.
In the past, many people have studied the odds of upswings and downswings, and how you should adjust your betting sizes to maximize profit.
You do this by betting higher or lower according to circumstances. These betting systems are easily findable online:
- Martingale System: double your stake when you lose, reset to base bet when you win
- D’Alembert System: increase bet after a loss, decrease after a win
- Labouchère System: keep bets high until you cover your losses
I’ve listed the bare-bones gist of each system, so if you want to check them out in more detail, don’t hesitate to google them.
Play Responsibly
It’s true for slots, and it’s true for all types of casino games. Once again, being a successful gambler is heavily dependent on your attitude.
Just remember that you must only ever bet what you can stand to lose.
For table & card games too, it can be useful to impose a spending limit on yourself, as well as a “number of hands & buy-ins” limit.
Play at tournaments
While it’s true that you should start with low stakes games to get you acclimatized with all the mental tactics, tournaments can get you some great successes.
Plenty of great sites offer things like poker tournaments, and these are often organised on a yearly basis. You can play against some real high-rollers, and make use of the player strategies you learned.
Start slow with free-roll tournaments, and progress to buy-in tournaments only when you feel you have a true grip on your own self-control.