Can Online Casino Gambling Turn Into a Full-Time Job?

Imagine waking up at 10 AM, grabbing your smartphone, and proceeding to make serious profits through online casino games—all without having to get dressed for work.

This scenario sounds like a fantasy for many online gamblers. Unfortunately, it’s far from reality.

The truth is that you can’t become a professional gambler through mobile casino games. The following seven reasons explain why it’s impossible to treat online gaming as a steady job.

1 – The House Has an Advantage

The house edge is the biggest and most obvious reason why you can’t count on online casino games to deliver consistent profits.

Mobile casinos hold an advantage in every game they feature. This edge allows them to make profits in the long run.

Of course, you can still win money through casino games despite the house advantage. The average player, though, is going to lose.

Here are common house edges for various online casino games:

• Baccarat – 1.06% (banker bet)
• Blackjack – 0.5% to 1%
• Craps – 1.36% (pass line)
• Caribbean Stud – 5.22%
• European Roulette – 2.70%
• French Roulette – 1.35% (even-money bets)
• Slots – 1% to 5%
• Video Poker – 0.4% to 1.5%

You can see that games like online baccarat, blackjack, and craps give you a strong chance to win. Nevertheless, you’re still facing a long-term disadvantage.

Here’s an example on how much you’d stand to theoretically lose with a high-paying game like baccarat:

• You wager $1,000 total on the banker.
• The banker hand’s house edge is 1.06%.
• 1,000 x 0.0106 = $10.60 in losses

2 – Any Online Casino Game With Over 100% RTP Is Gone

In rare cases, casinos feature games that offer over 100% RTP. Most notably, the Las Vegas video poker scene features full-pay Deuces Wild (100.76%), 10/7 Double Bonus (100.17%), and 10/6 Double Double Bonus (100.07%).

However, opportunities like this don’t exist in the online gaming world. Any game that delivers over 100% payback is long gone.

Bovada Casino, for example, offers a Joker Poker game that once featured 100.05% RTP. They have since changed the pay table so that this game now delivers lower payback.

Occasionally, a mobile gambler will stumble upon a glitch and make profits this way. Such an incident happened in 2018, when a New Jersey online gambler uncovered a glitch that kept wild symbols onscreen at all times. The player, Jay, and his friends made nearly $900,000 off this faulty game before the developer took it down.

Of course, stories like this are extremely rare in the online gambling world. Developers are very precise about designing games to eliminate any exploitable elements.

In the case of the New Jersey gamblers, the casino site in question removed the slot, Ocean Magic, from their sites.

3 – Strategy Doesn’t Cut It

Some of the highest-paying mobile casino games feature extensive strategy. If you master the strategy, then you can look forward to really high RTP.

Blackjack is a perfect example of this. Some online blackjack variations offer as much as 99.8% payback. Certain mobile video poker games deliver up to 99.9% RTP.

Therefore, it might seem like you can master basic strategy for these types of games and have a great chance at winning. The reality, though, is that you’re still not guaranteed profits in this situation.

Even in the case of a video poker variation that offers 99.9% payback, the house still holds a 0.1% advantage. Of course, you can win profits in this situation with just a little bit of luck.

The keyword here, though, is “luck.” You can’t guarantee that you’ll earn any profits when the online casino still has an edge.

4 – Bonuses Don’t Usually Overcome the House Edge

Just about every online casino offers bonuses these days. They realize that bonuses are necessary to stay competitive in the market.

As you may know, “playthrough” refers to how much you’ll need to wager before a bonus is officially yours. You definitely want lower rollover so that you can get your cash as quickly as possible.

You can combine a bonus with low rollover and a high-paying online casino game for maximum effect. If you play an online blackjack game with 99.5% RTP or higher, then you stand a good chance of earning theoretical profits with a solid deal.

Here’s an example on how this would play out:

• You qualify for a $200 bonus.
• Playthrough is 40x.
• 200 x 40 = $8,000 must wagered
• 8,000 x 0.995 = $7,960 in theoretical winnings
• 7,960 + 200 = $8,160 in overall winnings
• 8,160 – 8,000 = $160 theoretical profit

The problem with this scenario is twofold. First, many online casinos restrict the highest-paying games when it comes to bonus deals.

They may completely discount play on certain games with high RTP. In other cases, they’ll increase how much rollover must be met for certain games. For instance, you might have to satisfy 200x playthrough rather than 40x.

The other issue is that playthrough is often configured in a manner that still gives the casino a slight advantage. The bonus will help your winnings to some degree but it won’t push you into profitability.

Here’s an example on how the terms surrounding bonuses make it difficult to make money:

• You qualify for a $100 bonus.
• Playthrough is 50x.
• 100 x 50 = $5,000 must wagered
• Games with over 97% RTP don’t count towards rollover.
• You play a game with 96.5% RTP.
• 5,000 x 0.965 = $4,825 in theoretical winnings
• 4,825 + 100 = $4,925 in overall winnings
• 4,925 – 5,000 = $75 in theoretical losses

5 – VIP Rewards Are Minimal

You might think that the combination of a bonus, high RTP, and loyalty rewards are enough to help you make profits. Even when adding the rewards into the equation, though, you’re still facing the same dilemma.

Most real money online casinos start you off at a 0.1% cashback rate. This means that you can add another 0.1% to the RTP when playing casino games.

You can also look forward to potentially boosting your cashback rates by moving up the VIP ladder. In such a case, you might be able to increase your cashback up to 0.15% or even 0.2%.

While being able to get cash back from your play is nice, it’s not typically enough to push you towards profitability. Receiving $1 back for every $1,000 wagered barely makes a dent in the house edge.

Here’s a look at what impact cashback would have on the previous example involving a bonus:

• The same variables as in the previous example apply.
• The difference, though, is that you also get 0.1% cashback.
• 5,000 x 0.965 = $4,825 in theoretical winnings
• 5,000 x 0.001 = $5 in cashback.
• 4,825 + 100 + 5 = $4,930 in overall winnings
• 5,000 – 4,930 = $70 in theoretical losses

6 – Progressive Jackpots With 100%+ RTP Are Highly Volatile

One way that you can actually gain a theoretical edge with online casino games involves playing progressive games that have breached the breakeven point.

Every game with a progressive jackpot has a point where, given the increase in the jackpot, it begins offering theoretical profits. With RealTime Gaming’s Let It Ride, for example, you earn theoretical profits by playing when the jackpot is worth more than $201,245.

Given that the odds behind online table games are known, you can actually determine when you’ll be scoring theoretical winnings based on the jackpot size.

Even when you do have a theoretical advantage, though, you’re unlikely to realize these profits. Volatility is the main culprit here.

You’d actually have to win the jackpot at some point to cash in on the theoretical winnings. If you don’t do so, then you’re just playing a regular casino game with a house edge.

The jackpot in RealTime Gaming’s Let It Ride, for example, only has 1 in 649,740 odds of hitting. You’d theoretically need to play 649,740 hands on average, with the $1 side bet involved, before winning the big prize. With that said, you’re unlikely to profit from progressive online casino games anytime soon.

7 – Advantage Play Isn’t Normally Possible Online

Advantage players, such as card counters, have skills that allow them to make a living through casino games. Unfortunately, advantage play isn’t valid in online casinos.

The same methods that work in Las Vegas casinos aren’t applicable at online gambling sites. With card counting, for example, you need deck penetration, which refers to how far the dealer goes into shoe before shuffling.

Hole carding is another method that doesn’t work online. This advantage play method refers to when you look for a sloppy dealer and spot their hole cards when they’re dealing.

The obvious problem here is that software deals the games. Cards essentially appear out of thin air in this case, thus eliminating the chance of their values being revealed.

Conclusion

Mobile casinos games don’t offer any sort of reliable income. You’d have to find a rare glitch like the New Jersey gambler did to earn guaranteed profits.

However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t win with online casino games. You can combine a game with fair RTP, bonuses, and loyalty rewards to greatly increase your chances of winning.

From here, you’ll likely need some luck to pull in profits. Such a feat is possible, though, if you combine the right mix of elements and are willing to face a slight house edge.

In summary, you should view internet casino games as entertainment rather than a potential job. You may win money, but there’s certainly no guarantee of this happening.