Gambling strategies to maximise winnings at online casinos
Use an online casino betting strategy to improve your odds and ramp up the fun. Discover the best online casino strategies, from the Martingale to the D’Alembert system, while playing at real money casinos in South Africa.
What is a betting strategy?
An online casino betting strategy is an approach you can take to systematise your gambling. Rather than betting sporadically, you can strategically place bets by employing specific betting systems to improve your odds and increase your chance of success while playing casino games.
Popular betting strategies include the Martingale, D’Alembert, and Paroli systems, which we explain later. Be mindful that no betting strategy is foolproof, and using a strategy is still gambling – you can win or lose each time you bet!
Why use a casino betting strategy?
Betting strategies are designed to minimise losses or increase your chances of winning by following a specific pattern. Though they can’t guarantee success, they can help you maximise your potential profits, particularly when playing skill-based games.
Best slots strategies
A betting strategy isn’t required to play online slots. They are games of chance, so there’s no way to guarantee a win each time you spin the reels. However, the following steps can help to improve your chances of success:
Check the return to player (RTP) percentage. RTP is given as a percentage, and the average RTP of slots is 96%. The higher the RTP, the lower the house edge. So, if you play a slot with an RTP of 98%, it means that for every R1 spent on the game, an average of R0.02 is retained by the casino as house edge, and R0.98 is returned to your pocket.
Understand the game’s volatility. High-volatility slots pay out bigger wins infrequently, while low-volatility games pay out smaller wins more frequently. Medium-volatility games are somewhere in between.
Use casino bonuses to play slots. Many online casinos in South Africa offer deposit match bonuses and free spins that you can use on slot games, so take advantage of these promotions to boost your winning chances.
Best roulette strategies
Like slots, roulette is a game of chance. They use RNG technology to provide fair play and ensure you have no control over which segment the ball lands on. However, strategies like the Paroli or D’Alembert can be effective, especially when applied to even money bets. Here are some tips to inform your online roulette strategy:
Be mindful of the roulette variant that you play, as they all have different house edges. For instance, European roulette has a lower house edge (2.70%) than American roulette (5.26%).
Use betting systems like D’Alembert or Paroli on even-money outside bets, such as red/black and odd/even to help you recover losses and gain a steady profit during a playing session.
Though they offer the biggest payouts, inside bets are not necessarily a good option if you’re looking to minimise your losses. Improve your chances of earning a payout by placing outside bets, which have better odds as displayed in the table below:
| Bet | Type | Payout | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight | Inside | 35:1 | A bet on a specific number. |
| Split | Inside | 17:1 | A bet on two numbers next to each other. |
| Street | Inside | 11:1 | A bet on three numbers. |
| Corner | Inside | 8:1 | A bet on four adjacent numbers. |
| Column | Outside | 2:1 | A bet on one column of numbers. |
| Dozen | Outside | 2:1 | A bet on twelve numbers. |
| Red/black | Outside | 1:1 | A bet on the number being red or black. |
| High/low | Outside | 1:1 | A bet on the number being high (18-36) or low (1-17). |
| Odd/even | Outside | 1:1 | A bet on the number being odd or even. |
Best blackjack strategies
Though luck plays a significant role in blackjack, you have more control over how the game pans out. After all, deciding when to hit or stand with your hand is crucial to your blackjack success. Here are some helpful tips to consider as you play online blackjack in South Africa:
Work out which combinations you should hit or stand on. For instance, if the blackjack variant requires the dealer to stand on 17, standing every time you receive a hand of 17 or higher makes sense.
Make the most of your ability to split hands when you receive a pair. Splitting sevens and eights is a good basic strategy in most blackjack games.
While risky, the double-down bet provides an opportunity to increase the value of your initial stake by 100%. As you are only dealt one extra card, it makes sense to double down when you have a hand of 10 or 11.
Best baccarat strategies
Baccarat is one of the simplest online casino games. You have just three betting options – the player, the banker, or the tie. The table below shows the odds and payouts associated with each baccarat bet type:
| Bet | Odds | House edge | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | 45.86% | 1.36% | 1:1 |
| Banker | 44.62% | 1.06% | 0.95:1 |
| Tie | 9.52% | 14.40% | 8:1 |
Though it offers the lowest payout, the Banker is the safest bet in baccarat with the lowest house edge. Side and tie bets may seem tempting due to the higher payouts, but they’re best avoided if you want to minimise your losses.
Best poker strategies
Poker (video poker excluded) is one of the few casino games where skill plays an important role in determining the game outcome. Understanding poker hand rankings and folding when unsure of your hand is a valuable strategy to help limit losses.
When you play poker with others, learning how and when to bluff can also significantly improve your chances of winning. With poker, the more you play, the more experienced you become. Playing free online poker to hone your skills and perfect your strategy is a good idea.
Top betting systems for casino games
Now that we’ve looked at strategies for specific games, it’s time to check out popular betting strategies you can employ while playing at online casinos in South Africa:
D’Alembert system
With the D’Alembert system, you need first to identify a betting unit. For instance, if you have R1,000 to spend, you could set one unit as R10. When you win, you need to decrease the next bet by one unit, and if you win, you increase the next wager by one unit. This strategy is handy for managing your bankroll, but it won’t necessarily help you land big wins.
Oscar’s Grind
Oscar’s Grind is another betting system that you can use for even-money wagers. Again, you need to establish a single betting unit and increase your bet amount by one unit every time you win. You should do this until you reach four units. Losing bets should remain the same. Once you have secured one unit in profit, you should return to the start of the progression sequence.
Labouchere system
The Labouchere system is slightly more complex. To begin, you need to write down a sequence of numbers (e.g., 1, 2, 3), with the potential profit for each cycle equalling the total sum of all the numbers, so it is six units in this case. Each time you bet, the stake should equal the sum of the first and last numbers in your sequence, so in this example, it would be 1+3 = 4 units.
When you win, you remove the first and last number from the sequence, but if you lose, you add the amount staked to the end of the series, so it would become 1, 2, 3, 4. The sequence then continues until you have made as much profit as you are happy with.
Martingale system
Commonly used in roulette, the Martingale strategy requires you to double your bet each time you lose. For instance, if you start with a R10 bet, you would increase it to R20, R40, and R80 until you win. You then revert to the initial stake.
The Martingale betting system is a negative progressive betting strategy effective on even money bets in roulette and baccarat. However, it’s also the riskiest betting system. It hinges on the idea that you can’t lose forever, but there is no limit to the losses you could incur when playing online casino games.
Fibonacci system
Another option is the Fibonacci system, based on the Fibonacci sequence of numbers. The sequence starts with an R1 wager and continues with each number equalling the sum of the previous two. Every time you lose a bet, you advance in the progression by one number. Each time you win, you move two positions down the sequence. The wagers would be as follows: R1, R1, R2, R3, R5, R8, R13, R21, R34, R55.
Like the Martingale system, Fibonacci is a negative progressive strategy; however, it’s high risk so careful bankroll management is essential. Always gamble responsibly and set a budget to minimise loss.
Browse more casino guides
Check out other guides that could help improve your odds across a range of games at online casinos in SA:
Casino strategy FAQs
Betting strategies can be beneficial, as they can systematise your approach to gambling. However, they do not guarantee that you will win every time.
It depends on the game, but luck is an element of all online gambling games. Some games like poker require skill and experience, but games like slots and roulette are 100% based on luck.
The Fibonacci and D’Alembert are widely regarded as the most successful and popular online betting strategies.
The gambler’s fallacy is a mistaken belief that a random event is more or less likely to occur based on previous results from the same event. Although some casino games have statistical trackers that let you see the results of previous rounds, this should not be used to inform your strategy as are RNG software ensures outcomes are random.
A betting strategy is a series of guidelines you can adhere to before placing your bets, while a system is more formulaic and typically based on patterns or a series of numbers.
Non-progressive systems are the easiest to understand, and these strategies typically limit losses as they allow players to change the size of their bet however they please.
Yes, online slots are powered by random number generators (RNG), meaning they are 100% random.
Blackjack games tend to have the lowest house edge and the best odds, with an RTP of 99% or higher.
