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 on perfect basic strategy alone, neither cheating nor using well-known advantage play techniques like 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 on their own accord.

AC Casinos Agreed with Johnson’s Terms

Johnson readily consented but negotiated some changes to the standard rules of the game that gained him a mathematical advantage over the house. Starving for high-stakes action, the three casinos agreed to let him 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 a game with such player-friendly rules can be beaten and easily, too. And beaten it was, as Johnson managed to extract approximately $5 million from Borgata, $6 million from Tropicana, and $4 million from Caesars. No cheating, no card counting, Johnson crushed the game on the up and up.

Johnson’s Winning Spree Earned Him a Ban from Caesars

Needless to say, Johnson’s success at the tables gave the three casinos a nasty jolt and seriously affected their bottom line. Tropicana, in particular, recorded the second-lowest table game revenues for April 2011 out of all casinos in the city. The chief executive who agreed with Johnson’s terms was fired several weeks later.

Repercussions quickly followed for Johnson as well as he ended up getting barred from all Caesars properties worldwide, simply for winning too much. Tropicana and Borgata adopted a softer approach. Rather than banning him straight out, they offered him to continue playing but only under standard house rules. This effectively took away his edge and rendered the endeavor futile, 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 win consistently against the house in the long run. The rules of most gambling games are set to give the casino a considerable long-term edge against players.

This is not to say you cannot win by playing under such conditions, though. Players can and will win occasionally in the short term. Had it been otherwise no one would engage in gambling, to begin with. With that in mind, recreational players are doomed to lose to the house edge over time. The longer they play, the more money they are bound 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 a six-figure fixed jackpot on an online slot. If worse comes to worst, a smaller but legitimate gambling business would offer to pay the larger prize in several monthly installments rather than in one go.

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

Fraudsters and Rule Violators Are Not Welcome

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

The only way to consistently win on such games is to either hack the software or detect glitches you can somehow exploit to your advantage. Few, if any, recreational players are capable of achieving this, not to mention gambling operators themselves observe for such malfunctions. Malfunctioning games are either fixed or altogether taken down.

As you saw from the examples in the previous section, the most common reasons why winning online players get barred have to do with various forms of fraud and violations of the user agreements. Winning 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 can harm their reputation or negatively affect their bottom line through advantage play. Landbased 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 enable players to overturn the casino’s statistical advantage and gain an edge over the house. While not illegal, they are frowned upon because they result in consistent winnings for the player if applied properly. As private businesses, landbased casinos are entitled to bar such players and refuse their action.

With that said, online gambling presents little to no opportunity for advantage play. Card counting randomly generated blackjack is an exercise in futility, while the playing conditions at the live dealer tables rarely, if ever, allow advantage players to gain a sufficient edge.

However, certain betting patterns and practices are undesirable from the casino’s perspective. If you resort to any of the following approaches, you will surely suffer a ban.