Gambling

''This article is about "legitimate" gambling. For information on gambling in scams, see Cheats and scams.''

Gambling is the action or game of a person betting money on the occurrence of a particular outcome or event, and should the event go in their favour, win a specified reward. In RuneScape, gambling has become increasingly prevalent due to the Reintroduction of Free Trade, which allowed players to transfer large sums of money to other players.

As a general rule, there are two types of players when gambling occurs: the "hoster", or player that offers a deal, takes the bet, and makes the event occur, and the "player" or "gamer", who places the bet. Odds almost always favour the hoster, who can make millions off of lost bets. The hoster is at risk to lose more than the gamer should they win, although the player/gamer is often put at risk more through the dangers of a scam.

The vast majority of gambling takes place either at the Duel Arena or Grand Exchange. On worlds 2 and 6, it is not uncommon to see the entire south of the G.E. flooded with "Flower Gaming", and vice versa on staking worlds at the Duel Arena. The south entrance of the Grand Exchange on worlds 2 and 6 is unofficially known as the "Gambling Grounds".

'''Players should be warned: gambling is a risky activity that will almost always end up costing a player money. '''In addition, gambling is often an easy way for hosts to scam players. Should you decide to take a host up on their offer, consult this guide and take certain precautions to avoid being scammed or tricked. It is always best not to risk your money at all.

Staking
Members can stake an unlimited amount of wealth, while free players can stake up to 40,000 GP worth. Between two equally skilled players, the odds of winning are 1:1. Free players who want to stake more often resort to "trust staking"; however, this is not sanctioned by Jagex and may result in getting scammed.

Rat Pits
Players can place bets in the Rat Pits activity.

Conquest
Players can stake money on the strategy based game against one another.

Falador Party Room
Main Article: Falador Party Room

The Falador Party Room is the official "Try Your Luck" game of RuneScape. In the Party Room, players donate items or money to a "pot", which is then released in large numbers of balloons. Players may pop the balloons, and find items inside. While arguably the most foolproof way to gamble, it is rare to find a drop party even happening, let alone involving valuables. Some players debate as to whether or not the Party Room is actually gambling, since players do not have to contribute to the pot. However, obtaining a good item or cash stack in a drop party is considered luck, and thus may be categorized as gambling.

Note that frequently, inexperienced, low-level gambling players are often scammed into thinking they must donate a certain amount of cash to the Pot in order to have a chance at receiving a good drop. This is not true; the Falador Party Room drops its wealth purely on donations and no "bets" are required. Anyone can have a shot at getting a good prize.

Flower Game
"The Flower Game" is a player-made game on Runescape which involves gambling. The player hosting the game will determine how much a winning bet will be multiplied.

Because this game can be used as a method of scamming, players should be wary of any deals that seem too good to be true, and must understand that they are playing the game at their own risk, as is the case with any gambling game. If a so-called "dealer" is legitimate, ask him / her to trust you (exactly the same way he / she is asking you to trust him / her) and take your bet after the winner is determined, much the same way that he / she is asking you to trust him / her to give you your winnings after the flower grows. For example, if the dealer is asking for 500k, ask to trade 500k and offer your own 500k, to make sure he has 500k. Also ask him to show you the prize. Now, you both have 500k. If you win, trade back his 500k for the prize. If you lose, do nothing. If he / she is unwilling to do this, it is a more likely to be a scam. Don't be fooled - avoid being scammed.

Another method to verify a host is their general appearance. High level (110+) players with large amounts of gold are unlikely to scam a small bet, and are more likely to give up their own cash than low-levelled, poor players. Always ask to see the hosts' cash and rewards to make sure they are a trustworthy host.

Scamming is often conducted in the Flower Game through partners. A player will fake-win a prize, making observers falsely believe the host is legitimate.

How the game is played:

The gambling player will trade the host any number of coins and bet on which colour flower the host will plant. If they guess correctly, the host will award them with a prize (usually 3 or 4 times higher than the original bet). This is advertised in the following format, as an example: "Flower Game 4x", meaning the payout is 4 times the bet.

Sometimes hosts will claim that they are offering extremely high priced prizes with a low gambling price. Many of these are scams, so it is important to play at one's own risk.

The chances of winning a game are roughly 1/7, so you are likely to lose money betting on any payouts less than 7:1. See flowers for more information. Red, Yellow, Blue, and Orange flowers are the best choices, with roughly a 15 percent chance at each. Purple and multicoloured flowers are less common, while white and black are extremely rare. The full odds of each flower may be seen in the flowers page.

Staking
Staking is considered the safest way of gambling, and the best odds. The downside of staking is that it requires a high combat ability, and leaves less to chance as it does combat.

In staking, players meet at the Duel Arena to challenge each other to a one-on-one fight. They bet money, which is held in a "pot" for the winner. The first person to kill the other wins the entire pot. Assuming all combat advantages are taken out of the equation, staking puts on odds of about 50-50, although these can be raised depending on combat levels, weapons, etc.

However, there are several glitches involved in staking, with new ones always coming out. In addition to this, players can DDoS players making them disconnect and losing. Due to this, players are advised to keep auto-retaliate set to ON. Players may also manipulate the rules to their advantage by changing them last minute to give them a huge advantage.

Egg Game
A new type of gambling involving the Easter ring. Players will trade their cash to the host, and then choose one of six colours, and the host will then use the Easter ring and transform into an egg. The egg game has slightly better odds than the flower game with a 1/6 chance. Benefits of the Egg Game are the speed and ease of which the game flows in F2P, not requiring players to join Clan Chats.

Horse Game
"The Horse Game" is a player-made game on Runescape which involves gambling. The player hosting the game will determine how much a winning bet will be multiplied, though the standard amount is a 3x multiplier. (if you win, you get triple your bet)

Because this game can be used as a method of scamming, players should be wary of any deals that seem too good to be true, and must understand that they are playing the game at their own risk, as is the case with any gambling game. A method used to verify a host is their general appearance. High level (110+) players with large amounts of gold are unlikely to scam a small bet, and are more likely to give up their own cash than low-levelled, poor players. Always ask to see the hosts' cash and rewards to make sure they are a trustworthy host.

Scamming is often conducted in the Horse Game through partners. A player will fake-win a prize, making observers falsely believe the host is legitimate.

How the game is played:

The game involes the hosting player using the toy horsey purchased from Diango in Draynor Village. Upon activating the "play-with" option in your inventory, your character will say 1 of the 3 possible statements:

i) Hi-ho Silver, and away!

ii) Neaahhhyyy! Giddy-up horsey!

iii) Come-on Dobbin, we can win the race!

As a result, many players who host the game will proclaim that they are hosting the horsey game, state their multiplier, and type in the phrase H/N/C. What the player in this game is betteing on is what letter the statement will begin with; the letter H, N, or C.

The gambling player will trade the host any number of coins and bet on which letter the host's statement will start with. If they guess correctly, the host will award them with a prize (usually 3 times higher than the original bet). This is advertised in the following format, as an example: "Horsey Game 3x [H/N/C]", meaning the payout is 3 times the bet.

Sometimes hosts will claim that they are offering extremely high priced prizes with a low gambling price. Many of these are scams, so it is important to play at one's own risk.

The chances of winning a game are roughly 1/3, so you are likely to lose money betting on any payouts less than 3:1.

Guess Emote
A new found type of gambling, using the classic cape emote is used. A host wearing the classic cape would preform the emote 3 times (depending on rules put forth) and give pay out, or take payment depending on the guessed emote the player put forth and the number of times correct. Possible answers include three different items, sometimes associated with a skill. Possible answers and other names are: 1: Fletching, F, or arrow 2: Smithing, S, or bar 3: Wood cutting, W, wc, or axe How the game is played:

1: beting price is established 2: Player guess the emote that will happen 3: host will preform the emote 4: repeat steps 2 and 3 another two times 5: if player correctly guesses the emote 2/3 ( again depending on rules put forth) times the prize established will be given

Dice Game
"Dice Clans" were often used as a trustworthy form of dice gambling through the form of impartial hosts. In this case, two players wagered against each other money, and the player with the higher number wins the others. A host kept the bets (usually the owner of the clan), and payed the winner.

The way it worked was it involved using Percentile dice. You would simply place your bet and wait for the host/you to clan-roll the dice. If the host rolled over the limit, you win. If the host rolled under the limit, you lose. If the host rolled the number, he/she would either roll the dice again or say you won. To make sure a Percentile dice was being used, you could check the rolls to see if it says "percentile dice".

On 14 November 2011, dice could no longer be rolled, and the following week dice bags were removed from the game.

Reaction by Community
Critics claim that it is making RuneScape an "online casino" instead of a fun RPG. Others accuse hosts of unfairly tricking low-levelled players into betting their entire fortune on a game, unaware of the odds.

Hosts are frequently reprimanded for using autotypers to spam gambling areas, contributing to the large amounts of Lag players experience south of the Grand Exchange. Because of this, some players have launched a campaign to outlaw gambling on the forums, gathering support from both J-Mods and P-Mods.

However, some players argue that gambling is a free activity players do at their own risk. Even player moderators are sometimes seen hosting flower games, drawing criticism that they are unfairly using their credibility to make money.

With the exception of posting anti-scam notices in RuneScape and on their site, Jagex has not announced any sort of crackdown on gambling or hosting. Player moderators frequently storm the Gambling Grounds, muting players that have been scamming or are using autotalkers. However, because of Jagex's new scrutiny of mutes, moderators are reluctant to mute players simply for gambling- technically, there is no rule in RuneScape against gambling, and an official response from Jagex is yet to be heard. There has been one instance in which a Jagex Moderator (Mod Emilee) entered the Gambling Grounds, and is said to have remarked at how pathetic the sight was, although no evidence on this has been gathered. Mod Mark was also asked about the gambling problem on his clan chat; according to witnesses, his response was that while Jagex had yet to take a position on gambling, they would always stand strong against scamming.

Despite general disapproval of gambling, staking is a recognised way to make money, while flower-gaming and dice-gaming are considered "black market" illegitimate means. Players cannot be reported for gambling, although players that witness a scam may do so. Regardless of what the general opinion is, gambling in RuneScape has become a method to make and lose millions.