Tool up your igaming

For as long as there were casino games and gambling, players have been wondering which one to play, where and when the odds will be better; what bonus to use, whether to play with a strategy or not and, in the case of it’s-written-in-the-stars believers, how to beat or cheat the house and win. Before online gaming players mostly resorted to speculations and handwritten calculations, but with the ever-evolving online world, more and more tools of all shapes and sizes are appearing to help players either plan or execute their betting strategy. The upside of these tools is that some can actually help a player at least understand what they are doing and what their odds are. The downside is that most of these tools are developed by other players who have a touch for programming languages and some spare time, and often lack good user experience, design and a certain impression of being trustworthy.

BONUS AND WAGERING CALCULATORS
Perhaps the least controversial of all are the casino bonus calculators and casino comparators. They both rely on the information gained straight from casinos and use that information to help players choose what fits them most, considering what they’re after. There is quite a large number of casino bonus or wagering calculators online, although compared to how many casinos and affiliates are out there, still only a handful offer them on their websites. Most of these calculators are wagering calculators, providing you only with the amount that needs to be wagered by multiplying the wagering requirement and the bonus amount which you enter yourself. Then there are only a couple who also estimate the expected value of the bonus, or how much you will end up with after wagering your money on a game with a chosen RTP. And finally, only one or two that give you estimated wins and losses according to various info you input about your deposit, bonus and games played.

CASINO COMPARATORS
Like bonus calculators, casino comparators are another tool offered only by online casino affiliates, since they are the ones with all the information about different casinos. You can only find a handful of websites with a casino comparator, where the tool reminds of the product comparison you might be used to from online electronics stores. Casino comparators vary, but most of them compare casinos’ welcome bonus offer, game providers and payment methods. However, some more detailed ones can be found as well, stretching their comparator to include almost an entire review.

PROVABLY FAIR CALCULATORS
The most recent of online casino tools are the provably fair calculators, developed as a tool to verify randomness of games based on blockchain technologies. While you can find a few affiliates who offer such calculators, most are offered by the blockchain casinos themselves, so the players have everything at hand. Since most blockchain games and the belonging provably fair calculators are developed independently by each blockchain casino, they can vary tremendously. On top of that, the blockchain technology isn’t the simplest thing to understand for a player, so using such a calculator can be a nightmare. Some calculators require players to use a third party ‘hash calculator’ to encrypt data, to be able to use it in the casino’s calculator, which doesn’t make the player’s job any easier.

GAME CALCULATORS AND STRATEGY CALCULATORS
The idea behind game and strategy calculators probably goes back the furthest. These calculators are mostly designed for table games, such as poker and blackjack. They calculate odds and returns for your hand at card games, house edge and strategies when to raise/hit or fold/stand, depending on the game. Apart from calculators designed for a particular game type, some are used to determine your odds when using some of the most reputable betting strategies: such as the Martingale, Fibonacci and others.

GAME SIMULATORS
There are quite a few table game simulators to be found online, some owned by affiliates and some developed by random table game lovers. In principle, they are similar to demo games offered by most casinos where you can play for fun, but they usually allow you to set more game options and variants.

BOTS
And finally, probably the most controversial of all tools, but on the other hand quite sought after by a part of the gaming community, are the betting bots. It’s basically software designed to automate a player’s betting process and help them use some of the reputable strategies mentioned before; however, you can find some that will attempt to cheat the game as well by trying to predict outcomes of games, mostly wheel-based like roulette.

AFFILIATES TO STEP UP
The affiliate market has become one of the most competitive ones because the requirements to become an affiliate are not very high and casinos are eager to work with anyone. However, offering additional tools and services to players to make their experience better, and to help them understand their games and betting, requires a lot more work; and can set apart one affiliate from all the others. There are countless more tools that can be developed either to help players choose their games and casinos or to help them play better. This is a chance for all affiliates who want to delve into the market more professionally and really leave a mark with something of their own. The race is on!