How do online casinos handle players affected by packet loss?

But latency and dropped packets make for a horrible experience. Online casinos can monitor latency in real time and are quick to notice when things go awry. If the connection is unreliable, most platforms will freeze your game so that it cannot unfairly be altered by the network. Others will “reconnect” you to a saved version of your game, allowing you to return to play later.

You’ll receive reminders to reconnect if you disconnect briefly. For longer periods, the casino will restart your session to continue or replay the game. There have been a few threads from people who were in the middle of a spin when they disconnected, but the biggest loss was a hand/spin and not any money. If you’re playing for higher stakes, do a quick network test first.

Online casinos rely on duplicate servers and automatic reconnections to deal with dropped packets. True session timeouts are uncommon (but lags can cause a problem in card games with live dealers). And I have seen some players get booted from big hands (almost always because their connection failed, not the casino). But most sites will allow you to rejoin (though sometimes it means you miss a game or hand). Just make sure you have good Internet service, and connect via your mobile phone or data plan as your secondary connection if you’re using Wi-Fi – good luck!