3 Myths About Card Games Inherited From Land-Based Casinos Era

The land-based gambling halls in fabulous Las Vegas are where the casino scene, as we know it, emerged from. Those spaces, filled with mechanical slots sitting alongside table games, grew the city and the popularity of the activity. The world of gambling has come a long way since smoke-filled Vegas casino floors, as the technological marvel of high-stream live dealer games has become all the rage.

Nowadays players can enjoy a taste of Vegas from their own home on any legal casino platform with a local license and a solid rating from trusted operator review sites. On top gambling platforms, there’s usually a live casino section featuring real dealers running table games like blackjack, poker, and baccarat. The dealer shuffles and deals the cards on camera in a full casino setup, while virtual players place their bets in real time.

Modern gamblers don’t get the tactical experience of handling cards and touching the felt of game tables through their digital interface. Still, it’s remarkable to think that table games have largely remained the same throughout history, and that players sitting with a dealer in a modern casino will get much the same experience as someone sitting at home on their couch with a casino app. But with that same atmosphere comes something else: the old myths that once lived in brick-and-mortar casinos have found a new home online. Let’s look at three of the most common ones that have made the jump from Vegas to the web, and break them down.

Myth 1: Live Dealers Manipulate Cards

This myth about casino dealers has persisted about land-based casino operators and has crept into online gaming as well. This is about the belief that the dealer is manipulating the cards on the table through sleight of hand. The common misconception is that they are using false shuffles and other techniques to help give the house a helping hand in a game.

This obviously comes from the historical issue of cheating dealers, which has, unfortunately, happened. Whether it was working in a conspiracy with players to cheat the casino, or doing it under orders of the house, some “mechanics”, as cheaters are called, have been caught. Although this is a very small minority, it’s something that has stuck, and myths persist that all dealers do it, even those who now work on live dealer streams.

The truth is, live dealer games are heavily scrutinised and regulated. There are multiple cameras in the studio, and all game interactions are recorded. Strict huffling procedures (which happen on camera) are followed, and dealers are rotated to help with randomness. Should a casino get caught rigging anything, its license would be stripped, and it would rapidly get shut down.

Myth 2: Hot and Cold Streaks are Premeditated

This one taps into the same theme as above in that dealers control any streaks that happen. There’s a false belief that a dealer will put out a string of winning or losing hands to encourage players to keep betting for longer periods. The idea behind this is that players like patterns, and they will be, for example, more inclined to chase losses if they are on a losing streak.

But dealers don’t create this, and actually can’t in a live studio. This myth comes from the Gambler’s Fallacy, which makes players forget that all actions are independent of each other. The previous hand of blackjack has nothing to do with the next one, for example. Streaks do happen, but that’s just the random nature of gambling, and the dealer isn’t executing it.

Myth 3: Dealers Target Players

This is actually irrelevant in live dealer rooms, but that doesn’t mean that people still don’t believe in the myth. This is the belief that a casino dealer will recognise a player that’s won before, and will do nefarious handling techniques with the cards, to make that player lose. In the past, regular gamblers may have been recognised by dealers and pit bosses.

But live dealers don’t know who is who, and the chances of getting the same player twice from a base of thousands are extremely small. A dealer may know nothing about you, or perhaps only your nickname or account name, depending on the game type, and has no ability to manipulate the cards against you, as explained in the debunked myths above. A player’s history is securely logged and stored in a database, not in a dealer’s brain. Part of this myth also comes from the fact that simply engaging in human interaction in a land-based casino makes players feel “watched”.

Why Myths Persist

Players engaging with casino games like to have an element of control over outcomes. This is quite the irony, because the house odds, combined with the randomness of games, mean that players have very little of it, if any at all. Every spin on a slot machine, for example, produces a completely random output that a player has zero control over.

In some card games, players do have to make decisions, like whether to draw another card in blackjack, and use guile and skill to outplay other players at the poker table. But at the other end of the scale, there’s baccarat, which requires no input from the player.

While all those card games are different, they have something in common, and that is, a dealer handles those cards, but they don’t influence the game; they make it run smoothly. Players just like to find someone or something to blame when results don’t go their way, leading to myths and misconceptions.