Casino Games and Their House Edge: What Each Bet Really Costs

The house edge is the share of every bet a casino expects to keep over the long run, and it ranges from almost nothing to more than a quarter of your stake depending on the game. A well-played blackjack game with good rules costs around 0.3%, a banker bet in baccarat about 1.06% and a single-zero roulette bet 2.70%. Keno, side bets and some slot settings cost far more.

This guide gathers the published maths for each game, mostly from Michael Shackleford’s Wizard of Odds analyses, then explains slot return figures, poker rake, why betting systems fail and how to size a bankroll. Every number has a source you can open. None of it changes the basic truth: the edge is a cost of entertainment, not a puzzle to solve.

What does house edge actually mean?

House edge is the average loss expressed as a percentage of the original bet. A 2.70% edge means that across a very large number of EUR 10 bets you should expect to lose about 27 cents per bet. It says nothing about any single session, where results swing widely; it describes where the average settles as rounds pile up.

Return to player (RTP) is the same idea seen from the other side: a 96% RTP slot has a 4% edge. Two refinements matter. Some games are quoted “per bet resolved” (ignoring pushes) and some “per bet made”, and the figures differ slightly; craps tables show this most clearly. And the edge assumes correct play. In blackjack or video poker a careless decision can add several percentage points to the true cost.

The simplest way to use the numbers is to estimate what an evening costs. Multiply the stake per round by the number of rounds and by the edge. Three hundred EUR 5 spins on single-zero roulette total EUR 1,500 in stakes; at 2.70% the expected loss is about EUR 40.50. The same turnover on a 94% slot costs about EUR 90.

House edge by game: the comparison table

The table lists the main bets in each game with the edge under the stated rules. Read it as a price list: lower numbers mean your money lasts longer on average. Rules change the figures, so the column on conditions is as important as the percentage itself. Where a game has a skill element, the figure assumes the best possible play.

Slots are missing from the table on purpose: their edge is not a fixed property of the game type but a setting chosen per title and often per casino, covered in its own section below.

How much do blackjack rules change the house edge?

Blackjack has the widest spread of any table game because small rule changes move the edge a lot. With six decks, the dealer standing on soft 17, doubling after splits and late surrender allowed, basic strategy brings the edge down to 0.28%. Each worse rule adds cost, and a few rules together can make one blackjack table five or six times more expensive than another.

Wizard of Odds measures each rule against an eight-deck baseline in which the dealer stands on soft 17. The effects below are in percentage points added to, or taken from, the house edge.

The 6 to 5 payout is the one to avoid above all: it costs more than every other rule in the list combined. At the 0.28% game, Wizard of Odds puts the outcome split at about 42.43% hands won, 8.48% pushed and 49.09% lost. You lose more hands than you win, and the edge stays small only because blackjacks pay a bonus and doubles and splits win extra money in good spots.

Side bets such as perfect pairs or 21+3 sit outside these figures and usually carry much higher edges. Live blackjack follows the same maths as the software version, though tables differ in rules; our live casino guide explains what to check on a live table before sitting down.

Why is European roulette cheaper than American roulette?

Because of one pocket. A single-zero wheel has 37 pockets but pays every bet as if there were 36, so the house keeps 1/37, or 2.70%, on all bets. An American wheel adds a double zero: 38 pockets with the same payouts, which raises the edge to 1/19, or 5.26%, nearly double. On the same EUR 1,500 turnover, that is EUR 40.50 against about EUR 79.

Two wheel details are worth knowing. The bet covering 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 together, possible only on double-zero wheels, has the worst edge on the layout at 7.89%. At the other end, the French la partage rule returns half of an even-money bet when the ball lands on zero, cutting the edge on red/black, odd/even and high/low to 1.35%. Triple-zero wheels, found in some land-based casinos, cost 7.69% on every bet.

Online, the variant name is not always reliable. Check the wheel image or the game’s help screen, which should list the RTP: a single-zero game shows 97.30% and a double-zero one 94.74%.

Which baccarat bet has the lowest edge?

The banker bet, at 1.06% in eight-deck baccarat even after the usual 5% commission on wins. The player bet costs 1.24%. Both are among the cheapest bets in any casino, and the game needs no decisions beyond which side to back. The tie bet is a different story: at the common 8 to 1 payout its edge is 14.36%, more than ten times the main bets.

Some tables pay 9 to 1 on a tie, which lowers its edge to 4.84%, still far above banker or player. An illustration with our own numbers: 200 hands at EUR 15 each is EUR 3,000 in stakes. Backing banker every hand costs about EUR 32 in expectation, backing player about EUR 37, and backing the 8 to 1 tie about EUR 431. Commission-free variants change the banker maths, so read the game rules before assuming the 1.06% figure applies.

How do craps bets compare?

Craps mixes some of the cheapest bets in the casino with some of the most expensive, side by side on the same felt. The pass line costs 1.41% and don’t pass 1.36% per bet made. The odds bet, which you can add behind either once a point is set, has no house edge at all: it pays true odds. Taking odds therefore lowers the average cost of your total action.

The centre of the table is where money disappears. Any seven, a one-roll bet, carries a 16.67% edge. Hard 6 and 8 cost 9.09% per bet resolved and hard 4 and 10 cost 11.11%. The field costs 2.78% when the 2 and 12 pay differently, and doubles to 5.56% where both pay only 2 to 1. Place bets on 6 and 8, at 1.52% per bet resolved, are the cheapest of the multi-roll proposition bets.

Sic bo, a three-dice game common in live lobbies, works like a stripped-down craps table: its big and small bets cost 2.78%, and most of its combination bets cost much more.

What makes video poker different from slots?

Video poker publishes its own maths on the screen. The pay table tells you exactly what each hand returns, so you can work out the house edge before you play, which no slot allows. In Jacks or Better, the “9/6” version has a full-house line paying 9 for 1 and a flush line paying 6 for 1, and with perfect strategy it returns 99.54%, a 0.46% edge.

Cut those two payouts to 8 and 5 and the return drops to about 97.30%. The machines look identical; only the pay table differs. That makes video poker the clearest example of a rule worth checking: always read the full house and flush lines first. The quoted returns assume optimal strategy, which means holding the right cards every hand. Most players lose a little extra through mistakes, so a strategy chart or trainer is worth using before playing for money.

Slots: how RTP and volatility work

A slot’s return to player is set by its provider, tested by an independent lab and published in the game’s help screen. Popular titles sit around 96%: NetEnt lists Starburst at 96.09%, and Play’n GO gives Book of Dead 96.21% as its standard setting. Progressive jackpot slots often return less from the base game because part of each stake funds the jackpot.

The catch is that many providers now release each game in several RTP versions and let the casino choose. The same Book of Dead can run at a lower setting at one site than at another, with nothing visible on the reels. Before playing, open the game’s information or paytable page inside the casino and read the RTP shown there; that is the figure for the version in front of you.

Volatility is the second number, and providers usually rate it as low, medium or high. It describes how the return is delivered, not how big it is. A low-volatility slot pays small wins often; a high-volatility slot can go hundreds of spins with little and then pay a large amount. Two games sharing a 96% RTP can play in totally different ways, and high volatility needs a much larger bankroll to ride out the dry spells.

A published RTP is what the game pays back once spins number in the millions, not a promise for your session. With a EUR 85 budget and EUR 0.50 spins you get 170 spins, far too few for a 96% figure to show up in your own results. Our bonus maths guide uses RTP to estimate the real cost of clearing a wagering requirement.

What is the house edge in keno and bingo?

Both are draw games where the operator’s cut is built into the prize table, and both cost far more than table games. Wizard of Odds’ surveys found live keno in Las Vegas keeping 20% to 35% of stakes in 2001. Video keno did better in a 2008 San Diego survey, with returns of 84% to 95%, which still means an edge of roughly 5% to 16%.

Online keno games publish their RTP in the rules, and some crypto originals run much higher returns than land-based keno. The rule is the same as for slots: read the stated RTP for the exact game and pay table, because returns vary with how many numbers you pick.

Bingo has no single house edge. The operator sets what share of ticket sales goes back as prizes, and that share can vary by room, by game and by time of day. Where a site publishes a payout percentage per room, compare those; where it does not, assume the cost is high. Fixed jackpots on low-attendance games can occasionally pay back more than the tickets cost, but that is rare and hard to spot.

Is poker a house game?

No, and that is the key difference. In casino games you play against the house’s maths; in poker you play against other players, and the room takes a fee called rake, usually a small percentage of each pot up to a fixed cap, or an entry fee in tournaments. Skilled players can win over time; average players lose roughly the rake.

That shifts what matters. Rake schedules differ between rooms and stakes, and they are published on each room’s site, so compare them before choosing where to play. The old posts on this site covered poker strategy tips; the lasting ones are simple. Play fewer hands from early position and more from late position, because acting last gives you information. Choose tables where you have an edge over the other players rather than ones that look exciting. And keep a separate poker bankroll: many players use 20 to 30 buy-ins for cash games as a rule of thumb, more for tournaments, where results swing harder.

Dealer-banked games like Three Card Poker and Casino Hold’em are house games, with a fixed edge like any other table game, even though they use poker hands.

Who makes casino games, and why does it matter?

Online casinos rarely build their own games. Slots and RNG table games come from software providers such as NetEnt, Play’n GO, Pragmatic Play, Playtech and Games Global, and live tables are streamed from studios run by companies such as Evolution. The provider sets the maths and the RTP options; the casino chooses which version to offer and how to present it.

This matters in three ways. First, a game from a known provider at a licensed casino has been certified by a testing lab, which checks that the random number generator is fair and that the published RTP matches the code. Second, the provider’s own game page is the best place to confirm the default RTP and volatility. Third, crypto casinos often add “originals” built in-house, such as dice and crash games, that are provably fair: each result can be checked against seeds committed before the bet. Our Stake review shows how this works on a dice game with a 1% edge, and our crypto casino guide covers the wider field.

Do betting systems like Martingale beat the house edge?

No betting system changes the house edge, because each round is independent and the edge applies to every euro staked. Systems only rearrange when you win and lose. Martingale, the best known, doubles the stake after every loss so that one win recovers all losses plus the first stake. It produces many small wins and, eventually, one very large loss.

A worked example on single-zero roulette, betting red. Start at EUR 3 at a table with a EUR 400 maximum. After losses the stakes run EUR 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 192 and 384; the next step, EUR 768, is above the table limit. Losing eight spins in a row therefore costs EUR 765, and every winning run earns just EUR 3.

The last line is the point: the system wins more than 99% of sequences, yet its expected result is exactly the 2.70% house edge on everything staked. Other progressions, such as Fibonacci, d’Alembert or Labouchère, move the losses around in the same way. Beware also of the gambler’s fallacy, the belief that red is “due” after a run of black: the wheel has no memory, and the next spin is 18 in 37 for red whatever came before.

How should you manage money at the casino?

Money management cannot beat the edge either, but it decides how long your budget lasts and whether a session stays fun. Start with a budget you can afford to lose entirely, fixed ahead of the session, and count it as the price of the evening rather than a fund to grow. Then size your stakes so the budget covers enough rounds.

• Size stakes to the budget. With EUR 60 and a plan for an hour of slots, EUR 0.20 to 0.40 spins fit; EUR 2 spins will burn through it in minutes on a high-volatility game.
• Pick lower-edge bets. Banker in baccarat, pass line with odds in craps, single-zero roulette and good-rules blackjack all cost far less per euro than keno or centre-table craps bets.
• Set a loss limit and a time limit. Stop when either is reached, and let the casino’s own deposit and session tools hold you to them.
• Decide on a win point. If you double your budget, withdrawing part of it locks in the result.
• Do not chase. Bigger stakes aimed at recovering a loss are the Martingale problem in a different form.
• Read bonus terms with the edge in mind. Games with low edges often count less toward wagering, which changes the cost of a bonus.

If a session stops feeling like entertainment, take a break and look at the tools and help lines on our responsible gambling page. When choosing where to play, our casino reviews list each brand’s licence, limits and terms.

Questions readers send us about house edge

Which casino game has the lowest house edge?

Among common games, blackjack with good rules and basic strategy (about 0.28%) and 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker with perfect play (0.46%). The craps odds bet has no edge, but it can only be placed alongside a pass or don’t pass bet.

Is the house edge the same online as in a land casino?

The maths of a game with the same rules is identical. What differs is the rules and settings: online slots and keno may run several RTP versions, and blackjack and roulette variants vary, so always read the game’s help screen.

What does a 96% RTP mean for my session?

It means the game returns 96% of stakes on average over millions of rounds. In a short session your result can be far above or below that; RTP describes the long-run cost, not what you will get back tonight.

Why is American roulette worse than European roulette?

The extra double-zero pocket raises the edge from 2.70% to 5.26% while payouts stay the same, and the five-number bet on a double-zero wheel costs 7.89%.

Can a betting system turn a negative edge into a profit?

No. Systems change the pattern of wins and losses, but the expected loss on every euro staked stays at the game’s house edge, as the Martingale table on this page shows.

Does poker have a house edge?

Not in the usual sense. You play against other players, and the room charges rake or tournament fees. Casino poker variants played against the dealer do have a fixed edge.