OK, real talk / disclaimer time before anything else happens here.
The casino industry has, since the very beginnings of organized gambling, made their money in one of two fundamental ways:
1) They only operate games that they know they have a long-term mathematical edge at. Some players will win in the short run, but the house will always profit off the greater number of losses in the long run.
2) In the case of games of skill conducted between players, like poker, the house takes a “rake” (or “vig”, or “juice”, or “gabagool“, or “uomo con palle favolose”) from each winning hand. So you not only have to win consistently, but win enough to beat that over time.
You’ll see a lot of hoopla about “skill-based games” being introduced to both online and offline casinos in a bid to woo Millennials and Generation Fortnite Dance or whatever they are. Keep in mind that this does not mean that casinos are giving up their core profit model. If you’re playing the house, they have a long-term edge of some sort baked into the game. If you’re playing other people, they’re taking juice from somewhere.
That said, casinos don’t always get their edge right – exploitable slots, video poker and blackjack pay tables that favor skilled players who always make the right play, and so on. That’s especially true in emerging markets like this one. This page is about exploring that potential, plus covering head-to-head gambling games of skill that it’s possible to consistently make money at if you’re a high-level player.
The following is an overview of the currently-available options for skill-based gambling. Esports (and general sports) betting is excepted, because that’s slated to be covered in depth on its own page.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Skill-Based Slot Bonus Rounds
Competitive Multi-Player Games
Poker
Pachinko
Ticket Redemption and Claw Games
Single-Player Skill-Based Games