Raking It In: How Online Poker Rooms Make Money

When you’re playing the tables at an actual “brick and mortar” casino, it’s no secret how the house makes its money.

People from all walks of life spend hours at the tables hoping to win big. Most of them don’t, and there’s no shortage of well-guarded boxes of cash making their way to the cage. Online poker flies a little lower under the radar, so how do the biggest rooms make enough money to stay in business? How can you be sure that the faceless computer isn’t trying to cheat you?

They really don’t have anything to gain by cheating. When you’re playing poker online, you’re not playing against the house. You’re playing against real people with their own money on the line, just like you. No matter who wins the pot, the house is going to make money.

It’s all in “the rake,” a small percentage of each pot taken off the top. Say you win a $100 pot with a five percent rake. Five dollars goes straight to the house leaving you with the rest. Most online poker rooms have a set percentage, around five percent, or scale their rake depending on the size of the pot. Some offer lower rakes to attract poker players, so it pays to shop around.

As another incentive, several sites offer a “rakeback.” The principle is similar to getting cash back on a credit card account; players get a certain portion of the house’s earnings back after they’ve contributed enough to the rake over time. Every poker room is different, but new sites are popping up all the time offering a similar arrangement.

As long as people are willing to play poker online, online poker rooms will continue to make money. It’s an industry that has rapidly grown into a multi-million dollar enterprise, and if the game’s current popularity is any indicator, shows no signs of slowing down.

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