Online casino games involve placing a wager. If the outcome is favorable the wager wins and the player gets back a multiple of the amount staked. If the outcome is not favorable the wager loses and the player forfeits the amount staked. The software providers build in minimum and maximum limits for the amount that can be staked and this is known as the bet range.

In online slots the bet range is very easy to control. The slots game requires the player to select the coin size, the number of coins per payline and the number of paylines. The product of the three is the total amount wagered. If the player selects the lowest option in each of the three he automatically chooses the minimum bet. There is no way that he can try to wager an amount less than this. The same applies for the maximum bet. Hence the player does not have to be informed about the minimum and maximum bets. These can be inferred from the options available.

In table games the situation is different. The player places the wager by selecting chip sizes and then clicking the betting area the appropriate number of times. If a player wants to place a wager of $25 then he would have to select a $10 chip and click the betting area twice and then select a $5 chip and click the betting area once. In table games the minimum and maximum bets are specified and prominently displayed. Suppose that the allowed bet range is from $5 to $500. If the player selects a $1 chip and clicks the betting area and then activates the game it will not work. There will be a message stating that the bet is less than the minimum bet. The player would then have to add chips. Also if the player selects a $100 chip and clicks the betting area six times he will be informed that he has exceeded the maximum bet.

The imposition of the bet range is not an arbitrary decision but has some basis. When a player opens a casino account and wagers at the casino, the online casino operator incurs a cost of maintaining that account. Since all operations are computerized the costs are largely associated with the computer memory space occupied. In order to meet these costs the online casino operators expect that the players engage in minimum wagering. Online casino games have a house edge and the casino operators’ income is therefore linked to the amount of wagering. Hence it is not desirable from the operator’s viewpoint that players wager minuscule amounts. Therefore a minimum bet limit is imposed.

The maximum bet limit is imposed because online casino operators do not like to be faced with sudden large liabilities. A player may wager $100,000 on the number 7 in roulette and if he wins the payout would be $3,500,000. Though in the long run the operators will not make losses even with large wagers they do not like unexpected cash payouts. Hence they impose a maximum limit on wagers. For wagers with high payouts like the single number bet in roulette the maximum bet limit would be lower than that for even money paying bets.