Online casinos are in business and just like any other businesses they try to limit the potential liability that may accrue on account of players wagering. Most players also understand this. However, players also need to understand the different techniques that online casinos use to limit the liability and how this can impact their wagering.

The simplest and most common way of limiting the liability is by putting a ceiling on the amount that can be wagered. Since all online casino games have defined payout ratios this automatically limits the payouts to levels that are desired. In online slot games the total bet per spin is composed of parameters like number of paylines, number of coins per payline and coin size. In table games the maximum bet size is directly defined. Some players may try out some form of doubling strategy while wagering. They should factor in the maximum allowable bet size in their plans.

Some online casino games offer benefits to players by way of special kinds of wagers. There is almost always a limit on the number of times such wagers can be used. The classic example of this is free spins in online slot games. Free spins are triggered when a specified combination of symbols appear on the reels. In the free spins the players do not wager any amount but receive the payouts. If the same combination of symbols appears during the free spins, players usually are awarded a fresh set of free spins. In order to prevent a very lucky player winning a large number of free spins retriggers, there is a limit on the number of times the free spins can be retriggered.

A similar situation arises in the gamble games that are incorporated in online slots and video poker. In these games players can stake the payouts won in double or quits type wagers. While these wagers are not free, the benefit offered is that there is no house edge. Online casinos, directly or indirectly, limit the number of times the gamble game can be engaged in.

At a broader level, in some online casino games the total payout per wager is limited. Suppose in a video slot game a player gets winning combinations on all paylines, the amounts can be mind boggling. In order to protect themselves against such unlikely but possible occurrences most slot games have a limit on the total payout per spin. This limit is set so high that it rarely, if ever, comes into effect. So online slots players do not bother about this.

Not so in online keno games. Here players need to be very aware of the existence of such limits and have to factor it in their wagering pattern. The top payouts in online keno games can be very high. Typically the payout of hitting all fifteen numbers selected may be 100,000 to 1. Individual bets can go up to coin size of $10. The payout would be a million dollars. Many online keno games impose a limit on total payouts. Assume that it is $250,000. Therefore a player who wagers $10 and hits all 15 numbers will receive only $250,000 and not $1,000,000 as per the true payout ratio. Therefore players have the choice of limiting the wagers to $2.50 so that they can take full advantage of the payout ratio if they hit the big one. Or they can wager $10 so as to take advantage of the lesser paying but more likely outcomes, and saying “bad luck” if they hit the big one.