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Gambling On Horseback Or With Horsepower!

Gambling in games is nothing new, with a huge number of games offering ways to gamble for in-game items and that’s not counting the recent trend of loot boxes. Below are a few games that let you gamble responsibly, while enjoying actual casino games CBL offers this guide on on house edge and why you most likely will lose your money. Don't gamble for money you can not afford to lose.

Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online

Rockstar’s Wild West flavoured open world gem, Red Dead Redemption 2, features a more directed online affair than its more popular sibling Grand Theft Auto: Online. With a more clearly defined focus on progressing various roles as you complete a variety of quests.

Like its offline mode, it also allows you to play rounds of Texas Hold ‘em except against other players instead of the games nefarious roster of characters. It’s a no-frills version of the famous card game although it looks stunning much like the rest of the game.

There are a number of locations in the regular game where you can play poker, with each of the major towns and cities; Valentine, Tumbleweed, Saint Denis, Flatneck Station and Blackwater each having poker tables. As well as these fixed locations you can also occasionally have the option to play against your fellow gang members at your camps.

The buy-in cost for a game ramps up depending where you decide to play. Valentine and Tumbleweed for example start at $2.50 with Blackwater doubling that to $5.00. Likewise the blind cost also escalates based on location.

With poker being the only game simulated, Red Dead Redemption 2 does a pretty respectable job of having a fun take on it although it unfortunately does away with the ability to cheat like in the original Red Dead Redemption.

Grand Theft Auto: Online

Like Red Dead Online, it’s modern car stealing cousin’s popular online mode recently got a gambing update. Finally allowing you to access the casino that had been teased on the map since launch. The casino itself got a total redesign and allows you to partake in a number of activities, from playing a variety of Fruit Machines and placing bets on Inside Track horse races to more traditional table games like three-card poker, roulette and blackjack.

Each of these activities are well fleshed out although the Fruit Machines are relatively basic affairs with no features like holds and nudges to add a bit of skill. They are simple affairs but the theming of each and the voicework associated with them make them fun for a few spins.

Horse racing sees the return of the Inside Track brand from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This time taking the form of computerised betting where you place bets on humorously named horses either on a one-off bet or against other players in frequent timed events. The presentation for this is superb and is far more detailed than it needs to be, with multiple camera options as you watch the race unfold in front of you.

The table games also have nice presentation with multiple camera options and easy to control interfaces. The dealers have some fun dialogue as you wipe the floor with them at blackjack and roulette, the opposite also being true with them often asking you to calm down and walk it off if you get up after losing a few rounds.

Similarly to Red Dead Online, these are relatively no-frills affairs but the visuals and context for it all makes it stand out. It helps that you can win some rather nice cars by taking part in the daily wheel spin too.

Test Drive Unlimited 2

Test Drive Unlimited 2 was an underrated racing game that mixed the club and party atmosphere of Ibiza and Hawaii with some great racing. It also got a rather unexpected Casino DLC that is sadly unavailable to play now due to it being an online only feature and the servers are no longer active.

Similarly to Grand Theft Auto: Online’s take on casinos, it had a variety of activities you could pursue ranging from fruit machines and video poker to roulette and Texas Hold’em. It also had a similar feature in that a special car would be up for grabs as a prize.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 made how your character looked play a big part in all of the activities with nearly everything having unique clothing and home rewards for you to unlock and the casino was no different. It’s a shame that TDU2 can’t be played in its original form any longer but there is hope for the future since Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown has been announced albeit with an unspecified release date.