Privacy

The short version

• Accounts are optional. Without one, we never ask for your name or email, and we never ask anyone for payment details.
• If you sign in, your progress is saved to your account so it follows you to any device. Your email stays with the sign-in service; our server keeps only your progress, and the nickname you pick for the leaderboards.
• Your chips, stats, settings and progress are saved in your own browser. Only if you accept analytics, the trainer decisions you make are also sent to us anonymously, to count the most common mistakes.
• We use Google Analytics only if you click Accept on the cookie banner. Until then it isn’t even loaded.
• You can change your answer at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of every page.

Analytics, only with your consent

When you first visit, a small banner asks whether we may use Google Analytics. The site uses Google’s Consent Mode, with every kind of consent set to “denied” from the start, and Google’s script isn’t downloaded until you accept. If you decline or ignore the banner, nothing is sent to Google.

If you accept, Google Analytics 4 is turned on for analytics only. It then:

• sets two first-party cookies on this site, _ga and _ga_…, which keep a random ID so repeat visits can be counted (they last up to two years);
• records the pages you view and a few game events: a round played, a mistake flagged by the trainer, a simulation run, a link shared. Each event says which game it came from and whether you were in play or trainer mode;
• receives the usual technical details: browser, device type, screen size, language, and the page that sent you here. Google uses your IP address to estimate your country and city; Google says Analytics 4 doesn’t log or store IP addresses.

Advertising stays off: ad storage, ad user data and ad personalization remain denied, so there’s no remarketing and nothing is used to show you ads. Analytics data is kept for 14 months. We use it only to see which games and pages people use, so we know what to improve. Google processes it under its own terms.

Your game progress stays on your device

Each game saves your virtual chip balance, statistics, chosen rules and trainer settings in your browser’s localStorage, so they’re still there next time. This data never leaves your device, even if you sign in. To erase it, use the reset buttons in each game or clear this site’s data in your browser settings.

A few other small things are stored on your device:

• your cookie choice, in localStorage (cgs_consent);
• the language you pick from the menu, in a cookie (cgs_locale) that lasts a year;
• your progress: the log of decisions the trainers judged, your practice drills and your badges (cgs.player.…), and a random ID for this browser (cgs.client.v1);
• if you open the video poker hand analyzer, a copy of it that your browser keeps so it works offline.

None of these are used for tracking, and none are shared.

Your progress page

When a trainer judges one of your decisions, it’s added to an activity log in your browser’s localStorage. TheProgress page reads that log to show your stats, skill rating, practice drills and badges. Without an account it all stays on this device, and Reset my progress on that page erases it. If you sign in, it’s also saved to your account, as described next.

Optional accounts

You can sign in from the Progress page, with a code sent to your email or with your Google account. Signing in is run for us by Microsoft Entra External ID, on Microsoft’s sign-in page (cgsplayers.ciamlogin.com). To let you sign in, it keeps your email address and the display name you enter (with Google: the name and email Google shares). Microsoft emails the sign-in codes. There’s no password.

While you’re signed in, this site’s own server stores:

• your progress log: each decision a trainer judged (the game, the pay table or rules, the situation, your choice, the best play, its cost and when it happened) and your daily challenge answers;
• your badges, with when you earned them, and your practice drills;
• your nickname, if you pick one for the leaderboards. It’s public: the leaderboards show it with your place, your daily challenge streak or your weekly skill rating in a game, and how many decisions it’s based on. Nothing else about you is shown.
• the machine reports you send for the video poker casino listings: the casino, the game, the denominations, whether it’s still there, and when. We review them; approved ones show on the casino’s page as “Confirmed by players”, without your name or nickname.

It’s filed under a code computed from your account’s ID, not under your email or name, which our server never receives. It’s used only to show you your progress on every device where you sign in, and kept until you delete it. Your browser keeps your sign-in (msal.…) and its sync state (cgs.account.…) in localStorage; Sign outremoves them. Your chips, statistics and settings in each game aren’t part of the account.

To delete your account’s data, use Delete account on the Progress page: everything our server keeps for you is erased at once, your nickname is freed and you leave the leaderboards, and you’re signed out. Reset my progress, while signed in, erases it both on the device and in your account. To have your sign-in itself (your email and name) removed too, write to us and we’ll delete it within 30 days.

Anonymous trainer decisions, only with your consent

If you accept analytics cookies, the trainer decisions you make are also sent to this site’s own server (not to Google), so we can count which mistakes are most common and explain them better. Each decision says only: the game, the pay table or rules, the situation (for example the cards dealt), what you chose, the best play, and what the difference costs on average. They go in small batches when you leave a page or switch away from it, together with the random ID your browser created for this site (cgs.client.v1), which isn’t your Google Analytics ID and isn’t linked to anything else. No times, pages, or device details are sent with them, and they’re never linked to an account, even if you’re signed in.

If you decline or never answer the cookie banner, no decisions are sent, and decisions made before you accept are never sent later. If our server can’t be reached, the batch is dropped, not retried.

Changing your choice

Click Cookie settings in the footer of any page to bring the banner back, then choose again. If you decline after accepting, Analytics stops and its cookies are deleted from this site. You can also block cookies, or clear them, in your browser at any time.

Everything else

• The site is hosted on Microsoft Azure. Like any web server, it receives your IP address and basic request details to deliver the pages.
• Fonts, images and scripts are served from our own domain. Nothing else on the site loads from third parties, apart from signing in, which happens on Microsoft’s sign-in page.
• If you email us, we use your address only to reply, and we don’t add it to any list.
• The site is for adults (18+) and isn’t directed at children.
• We don’t sell or share personal data, because we don’t collect any beyond what’s described here.

If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and the date at the top. Questions? Write to admin@casinogamessimulator.com. See also About us.