Over the years, we have seen a big number of blockbuster movies about the casinos in Las Vegas or Nevada, big poker games, many cheating schemes and gamblers luck.
Some are good, some are bad, but most replicate real life experiences in one way or another. But when it comes to online casinos the choice of movies isn’t very big. This is probably due to the fact that this is a relatively new online business and not everyone really knows what happens when gambling online. The only online casino movie we can think of is really Runner Runner from 2013 starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck. Some people liked it, some didn’t, but the point is how truly does this movie capture the operation of online casinos?
The movie starts with Justin Timberlake being a college student who can’t afford his intuition so sets up a side business of being an affiliate for online casinos. He takes a cut of all players who lose money in the casinos and this part is true. This is a form of marketing for online casinos and many people do it around the world. The plot starts when Justin is cheated on a poker gaming website. He goes to Costa Rica and meets the head of the casino who then offers him a job. Things get complicated; he is involved in blackmailing affiliates, bribing gaming authorities and so on. Well for this part of the movie, we can say it’s definitely not true and hurts the online casino’s reputation big time. Why?
Well, first the casinos themselves don’t have any control over the online casino games. They are supplied by the provider, which are multi-billion companies and have rigorous monthly testing by independent agencies like eCOGRA and TST. Therefore, there is absolutely no way you can get cheated while playing in online casinos. You can only lose due to your gaming strategy, RTP value of the game at a given time and simply luck.
Also, the gaming officials’ bribery part. Most online casinos have licenses from several authorities. If a player feels cheated in any way, he can file a formal complaint to the gambling authority and submit evidence, for example, the reason for voided payout of winnings. If the casino is found guilty, they can have their license revoked and their operations terminated. So in the end it doesn’t payout to cheat players from their winnings.