Can Online Casinos Ban You for Winning Too Much?

Johnson Won Fair and Square

What’s interesting about this case is that Johnson won fair and square. He relied solely on perfect basic strategy, neither cheating nor using well-known advantage-play techniques such as card counting or shuffle tracking. Atlantic City was hungry for high rollers after the 2008 financial crisis, and the three casinos invited him to their high-stakes tables of their own accord.

AC Casinos Agreed with Johnson’s Terms

Johnson readily agreed but negotiated changes to the standard rules of the game that gave him a mathematical edge over the house. Hungry for high-stakes action, the three casinos allowed him to play under the following conditions.

• Six decks were in play, with the dealer standing on soft 17.
• Johnson could double down on any two cards, including after splits.
• Late surrender was allowed.
• Johnson could resplit aces.
• The maximum limit on wagers was $100,000.
• No minimum play requirements were imposed.
• Johnson was entitled to a 20% rebate each time he suffered losses of at least $500,000.
• The casinos committed to resetting the rebate each day.

Any savvy blackjack player will instantly see that a game with such player-friendly rules can be beaten, and beaten easily. Johnson proved as much by extracting approximately $5 million from Borgata, $6 million from Tropicana, and $4 million from Caesars. No cheating, no card counting, Johnson crushed the game fair and square.

Johnson’s Winning Spree Earned Him a Ban from Caesars

Needless to say, Johnson’s success at the tables shocked the three casinos and seriously impacted their bottom line. Tropicana, in particular, posted the second-lowest table-game revenue for April 2011 among all casinos in the city. The chief executive who accepted Johnson’s terms was fired several weeks later.

Repercussions soon followed for Johnson as well, as he was barred from all Caesars properties worldwide simply for winning too much. Tropicana and Borgata chose a softer approach. Rather than banning him outright, they invited him to continue playing but only under standard house rules. This stripped away his edge and made playing pointless, so he politely declined.

Why Ban ‘Winners’ When You Have a Long-Term Edge?

There is no point in banning casual players to begin with, because they cannot consistently beat the house over the long term. The rules of most gambling games give the casino a considerable long-term edge over players.

This is not to say you cannot win under such conditions. Players can and do win occasionally in the short term. If that were not the case, no one would gamble in the first place. Even so, recreational players are destined to lose to the house edge over time. The longer they play, the more money they are likely to part with.

Legitimate Businesses Always Pay Fair Winners

Massive windfalls are also possible in the short term. It is not unheard of for a player to hit a five- or six-figure fixed jackpot on an online slot. If worse comes to worst, a smaller but legitimate gambling business might offer to pay the larger prize in several monthly installments rather than in one lump sum.

Because smaller operations typically generate less revenue due to their limited customer base, six-figure windfalls can seriously affect their bottom line. Even so, they would never ban you for winning or withhold payment unless they were willing to suffer regulatory repercussions that would damage their reputation and, in turn, their future profitability.

Fraudsters and Rule Violators Are Not Welcome

Cheating in the conventional sense is nearly impossible at online casinos because operators take multiple precautions to protect game integrity. All games, except those hosted by live dealers, run on random number generators that are programmed to retain a percentage of all money wagered for the house.

The only way to win consistently on such games is to hack the software or detect glitches you can somehow exploit. Few, if any, recreational players can do this, and gambling operators actively monitor for such malfunctions. Malfunctioning games are either fixed or removed altogether.

As you saw from the examples in the previous section, the most common reasons online winners get barred involve various forms of fraud and violations of the user agreement. Whether you win or not, you risk having your account closed if you commit any of the following transgressions.

Advantage Players Are Not Welcome Either

Like all private businesses, gambling operators have the right to deny service to customers who could harm their reputation or negatively affect their bottom line through advantage play. Land-based casinos go out of their way to detect advantage players, including card counters, edge sorters, and people who use shuffle tracking.

All of these techniques allow players to overturn the casino’s statistical advantage and gain an edge over the house. While not illegal, they are frowned upon because they can result in steady winnings for the player when applied correctly. As private businesses, land-based casinos are entitled to bar such players and refuse their action.

That said, online gambling offers little to no opportunity for advantage play. Card counting against randomly generated blackjack shoes is futile, and the playing conditions at live-dealer tables seldom, if ever, allow advantage players to gain a sufficient edge.

Certain betting patterns and practices remain undesirable from the casino’s perspective. If you resort to any of the following approaches, you will almost certainly be banned.