Josh,
I think that what you've done at StrikeSapphire is unique and interesting. I think that your work, both previous and ongoing, and
your real-world experience with the results allows you to introduce a valuable perspective into this discussion.
For those who don't know, Josh is actually a 73-year old retired truck driver, living somewhere in Eastern Europe, sitting around all day in his living room wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a really nasty old t-shirt, drinking cheap beer and watching dubbed Law & Order reruns. He literally shanghaied about a half dozen programmers from China about 4 years ago, and has them shackled to benches in his basement churning out computer code, feeding them nothing but stale Cheerios that he hijacked from a truck that overturned down his street.
Just kidding. Just kidding.
Josh is who he appears to be - an intelligent, creative, honest, hard working, opinionated, (strongly opinionated), independent and nice guy.
I think it’s worth mapping where this thread has traveled since it started.
I asked for a critique of a "Casino Terminology 101" article that Galewind wrote for our Help file system. It is a long article, a depressingly long article (some pointed out that it is just way too long), but, for those who find themselves frustrated and/or confused by all of this "casino metadata", we wanted to provide a clear, technically accurate, relatively easy to understand page that would address some common terms:
- Return to Player = RTP
- Reported (or Actual) RTP, and how it is calculated.
- What variance means.
- Theoretical RTP (versus Reported RTP)
- House Edge, and how it relates to Theoretical RTP
- Statistical game play (aka, "Optimal Strategy")
- Law of Large Numbers (we added that because of Jufo)
- Theoretical Maximum RTP
- Element of Risk
- Etc., etc., etc.
And we also wanted our article to bring home for the reader the significant point: "What does all of this mean relative to money in my pocket?"
The thread segued a bit into how variance/volatility (and standard deviation) should be included in our article, and included to the same or greater length as RTP.
The thread touched on why, although of some value, our article does not address the critical issues affecting the online gambling industry.
I threw in a somewhat "pissy" shredding of another organization's article on RTP (again,
my public apology to jetset), and expressed my personal dissatisfaction (disgust may be a more accurate word) at the state of online casino documentation in general.
The thread detailed exactly what is involved in Galewind's monthly RTP audit with Certified Fair Gambling. It also discussed audits performed by other organizations, for other casinos, and the concerns about whether these audits are truly of any value to the player.
The thread touched on the two different types of audits which Casinos go through (Monthly RTP Audits and System Audits), and the differences between them.
There was discussion on how some of the companies that are involved in accrediting or certifying online Casinos (and their software providers) may not have a very good grasp of some of the areas of operation and/or technology that are specific to online casinos.
There was a bit of a sidetrack into the old English Harbour mess, but on target as to pointing out the limitations of Monthly audits.
I then brought up the T word, which I discovered was pretty much like ripping a band-aid off a scab.
We then got into a (speculative) discussion about how online casinos can operate without having to rely on "the T word".
We took a couple of (admittedly justified) shots at BetFair because they really blew it in their game documentation.
I then threw in a complete derail with my link to Galewind's article on Game Malfunctions. (I'd like to point out that there hasn't been anything said about this one.)
By the way, I really like my analogy about published RTPs, sale prices and comparison shopping, even if I do say so myself.
So ... wow. What a thread.
The original objective was accomplished by the way (thank you very much), and the article has been put live. The last modification was to include Jufo's Law of Large Numbers.
In addition, I'd estimate that there are at least 6 other major topic points which have been touched on that would be worthy of their own dedicated threads (or maybe even more that just one dedicated thread).
If I were Josh, and had just picked up on this, I think I would also be "... scared to wade into this thread ..." I mean, given all of the options, where the heck do you start?
If you've read this far then once again you have been treated to (or subjected to) one of my (patent pending) "more words than you ever want to read" articles. But, I'm old enough to know that no one was ultimately confused as a result of having too many words available.
I also like "summing up", because without it I personally don't know (or remember) where we were, where we are, and/or where we might be going.
Josh has raised some good points. I have an opinion about some of them. I'll let it percolate a bit and get back in soon.
Chris