When it comes to gambling at the casino, not all games are created equal. The betting and gameplay dynamics of the different games mean that players are more likely to end up in profit when playing some games than they are playing others.
Blackjack, the most popular of all table games, offers the skilled player some of the best odds in the casino. The house advantage varies slightly depending on the rules and number of decks, but a player using basic strategy faces little or no disadvantage in a single-deck game and only a 0.5% house edge in the common six-deck game. Roulette Odds and the House Edge Due to the house paying out 35:1 when you win on a straight up bet, there is a rather distinctive house edge. This shouldn’t come as any surprise – the house has an. Casino Game Odds. This goal of this section is to educate and inform about the odds and probabilities of modern casino games. In our analyses and comparisons, you may learn which games offer the best odds for players, which ones offer the worst, and exactly how to arrive at these conclusions. Some people go to a casino to have fun, and only want to play the games they like the most. But if you want to improve your chances of walking away with more money than you went in with, you need an edge. Before you sit down at a table, know which casino games have the best odds so that you can spend your money wisely.
Those that understand the concept of house edge will avoid some games like the plague, whilst they more than happy to try their luck elsewhere in the casino. Those that don’t will often wrongly assume that they’ll play with the same odds no matter the game.
In the following article, we’ll show you three of the most potentially profitable punts at the casino, as well as those that are probably best avoided.
The Best Bets
Although they’re often a bit more intimidating to players, table games usually give the best odds at casinos. The house edge can be less than 1%! That said, some slots, particularly online ones, can be quite generous too.
Blackjack
Blackjack is absolutely synonymous with casino gambling. The card game is easy to understand, is relatively fast-paced, and requires quite a few player decisions. However, these aren’t the only reasons that blackjack is one of the most popular games at both online and real-world casinos.
Blackjack is widely regarded as the casino game with the lowest house edge at most casinos. Depending on the rules played, the player can have a near 50% chance at winning. Whilst many players know this, a lot of players don’t realise that they need to play blackjack perfectly to not surrender an additional edge to the casino.
Popular Casino Table Games
There is an optimum way to play every hand in blackjack. Deviations from this optimum strategy always increase the house edge. For example, the optimum play with a hand of 13 versus the dealer showing a 6 is to stand without drawing another card. Most inexperienced players will hit here, giving up value to the casino.
It’s also worth noting that you can additionally increase your odds by using bonus offers. Flashcasino.org has composed the ultimate list of the best blackjack bonus offers.
Standout Slots
Slots, on the whole, are usually considered worse bets than table games. However, with the arrival of the internet, these days there are some virtual fruit machines that offer incredibly low house edges to players.
Here are some of the real standout slots offered by many online casinos:
• Ugga Bugga by Playtech (99.07%).
• Rainbow Riches by Barcrest (98%).
• Mega Joker by NetEnt (99%).
• Ooh Aah Dracula by Barcrest (99%).
• 1,429 Uncharted Seas by Thunderkick (98.6%).
Online casinos can afford to offer slightly higher return-to-player ratings than their real-world counterparts. They have much lower overheads to deal with thanks to a lack of venue operating costs, lower staffing commitments, and much lower machine maintenance fees. All this means that running an online casino is a lot cheaper than running a brick-and-mortar one.
Online casinos can offer more generous games and still operate at a profit. Competition between different companies encourages them to stock the most generous games online too.
European Roulette
Another absolute classic of both real-world and online casinos is roulette. There are two main versions of roulette – US and European. Those wanting to play against the lowest house edge possible should always opt for European roulette.
Roulette gives the casino an edge by paying out less than the probability of a certain event occurring.
For example, the odds of hitting a single number are 36 to 1 but the payout is 35 to 1.Similarly, the odds on an even money bet are slightly less than 1 to 1. This is because of the Green Zero on the wheel. When the ball lands on Green Zero, all Red/Black, High/Low, and Even/Odd bets will lose. This creates an edge for the house.
American roulette includes a Green Double Zero section as well as a single Zero. This means that there are two sections of the wheel that are neither Red or Black, or High or Low. The addition of Double Zero immediately reduces the return-to-player rating on all bets.
On straight up bets with American roulette, the casino will still pay winners at 35 to 1. However, the probability of hitting your number reduces because there are actually 38 places for the ball to land (rather than the 37 in European roulette). When given the option, always choose European roulette either online or at a real-world venue.
The Worst Plays in the Casino
Some games do not offer anywhere near the same return-to-player ratings as those already mentioned. These propositions should be avoided at all costs since they really are mug bets. Casinos make extra profits whenever you play the following games.
Stingy Slots
As mentioned, real-world slots will usually offer much lower return-to-player ratings that their online counterparts. Online, many slots fall into the 95 to 97% RTP rating range. In brick-and-mortar casinos, they’re often under 90%.
It’s also worth noting that slot manufacturers create different versions of the same game with different return-to-player ratings. This means a casino operator can choose whether to load their venues with potentially lucrative games or not.
Typically, the biggest and most famous casinos around will stock low RTP rated slots. Often based in decadent hotel complexes, the likes of the Bellagio or other Vegas super casinos are not known for their loose slots.
In fact, Las Vegas itself is generally one of the worst places to play slots. People are going to gamble in Vegas regardless of pay out percentages. That’s a given. Casinos don’t need to try to lure players with very generous slot RTP ratings so they don’t try.
Keno
A game that routinely has one of the worst pay outs versus the odds of winning is keno. For those that don’t know what keno is, it’s a kind of private, small-scale lottery. Players will pay to select up to 20 numbers from a choice of 80.
Once selections have been made, a lottery-style draw takes place. Twenty numbers are drawn. The more numbers correctly guessed by the player, the larger the prize will be.
Different versions of keno offer different return-to-player ratings. However, they’re almost always very bad. In some cases, they’re much worse than even real-world slots. It’s not at all uncommon to see keno games with a house edge of between 20 and 35%! Compare that to blackjack and you can understand why so few serious gamblers find themselves taking part in a game of keno or two.
Scratch Cards
Scratch cards in the real world are much more associated with off-licences than they are with casinos. However, online, this isn’t the case. Online casinos often feature a range of scratch cards, which, despite lousy RTP ratings, are still very popular with casino members.
This popularity is certainly related to the top prizes up for grabs on online scratch cards. Just like with real-world lotteries or scratch cards, the odds a punter receives seem to go out of the window when the prizes reach six or seven figures.
Even the industry’s best scratch cards offer much lower RTP ratings than slots do. Take Microgaming’s Lucky Numbers for example. This game offers one of the lowest house edges of all online scratch cards. However, with an RTP rating of 96.57%, it’s a long way off the most generous slots listed above.
Down at the other end of the scale, the gap between slots and scratch cards is even more pronounced. Wolf Gold 1,000,000 is a scratch card with a particularly juicy top prize. Yet, its average return-to-player rating is between 67.03% and 74.48%! That makes even the very worst slots on the planet look pretty lucrative!
In fact, the gambling regulator for Nevada insists that every real-world slot in the state needs to be at least 75%.
Play Smart
As you can see, there’s quite a big difference between the house edges of casino games. With the above advice, you can avoid the worst bets at the casino and stick with those that are most likely to return a profit.
Our best advice, for those wanting to play at as close to break even as possible, is to learn perfect strategy blackjack and stick to it. This will give you the best chance of a winning session!
This is an updated and more in-depth version of an earlier post we wrote on the Top Ten Best Casino Game Odds
One of the things you’re most likely to encounter when you talk to either a professional or amateur gambler are often distorted and unreliable testaments about the ‘odds’ of any given casino game – for the most part, professionals have both a mathematical and an intuitive grasp of probabilities, regardless of what game their playing, but it can often be very confusing (and more than a little intimidating) when the issue is brought up in comparison to other games. Clearly, some casino games give you a better chance of winning, either based on the format of the game or the strategies employed.
When talking about probabilities and ‘odds of winning’, it’s most useful to refer to the house edge, which is the difference between the true odds and the odds that the casino pays you when you win. Essentially, it’s the amount the player loses relative to any bet made. For instance, if the casino only paid you 95 cents every time you won instead of a dollar the House edge would be 2.5%. This is how casinos make their money, and regardless of what casino you go to, there will always be a house edge that favors the casino over the player. Learning which games have the lowest house edge, and how to subvert this handicap, is the goal of professional and amateur alike.
Casino Games Odds Of Winning
Three of the most popular games with the highest payout to house-edge percentage are Roulette, Let Em’ Ride, and Tri Card Poker, and are considered fixed games because the house-edge doesn’t change.
1. European Roulette & 2. American Roulette
Since there is a difference between European and American Roulette (American Roulette having an extra slot), the house-edge and chances of winning vary according to the game. The general formula used to calculate the house-edge follows.
3. Tri Card Poker
This form of poker has a variable house-edge that ranges from 3.3% to 4.28%, and fluctuates according to the strategy employed.
4. Let Em’ Ride
Fans of this variation of 5 card stud will also be familiar with a reasonable house-edge coming in at 3.5% – the beauty of Let ‘Em Ride is the ability for a player to withdraw a percentage (usually 1/3) of their initial wager based on the flip. Depending on the table, the house-edge can increase – for simplicity’s sake, the graph only shows Table 1
5. Pai Gow
Known for its slow rate of play, and its incorporation of ‘pushes’ to keep the game moving, Pai Gow is a classic casino game with a relatively low risk which makes it popular both online and in real life. Every player plays against the dealer, which also makes for a very social game that is fun and comparatively easy to learn – its strategy is also straightforward as well, and once you’re familiar with the hands, overcoming the house-edge is just a manner of patience.
6 & 7. Baccarat
We’ve given baccarat two spots on this list because of the two different ways one can play which render different odds. Play as the “Player” and the house odds are 1.63%. However, if you play as the “Banker”, the house odds are decreased even further to 1.17%.Considered one of the more ‘high class’ games in a casino’s repertoire, Baccarat is also one of the more vexing games when it comes to trying to beat the house-edge. The majority of the game follows a principle of deciding whether or not to hit (H) or stand (S) – if the banker hits on a total of 5 or less, the chart below is used to indicate what move the player should draw.
If the player wins a bet on the banker, the pay is 19 to 20 (minus a 5% commission). If the bet is won on the player, then the pay is 1 to 1, and winning bets on a tie have a return of 8 to 1. The house-edge based on whether the win was on the banker, player, or a tie varies slightly according to whether or not the game is played with 8, 6, or a single deck.
8. Blackjack
As a card game that utilizes basic strategy, Blackjack is one of the cheapest card games you can play in a casino, and with a basic understanding of the game and the rules, most professional players can limit the house-edge to 0.5-1%. The house gets its advantage by being the last player to act, which gives them a slight lead, so it’s important to rely on a basic strategy to indicate whether you should hit, stand, surrender, etc. Shown is a standard strategy guide based on the flip of the dealer vs. player.
Best Casino Table Game Odds Against
S = Stand
H = Hit
Dh = Double (if not allowed, then hit)
Ds = Double (if not allowed, then stand)
SP = Split
There are a number of other things to consider in any given game, including the number of decks being used, and what probability you have of busting (when you exceed a value of 21) based on your hand – as a general rule, the fewer decks used, the lower the house-edge.
The gameplay of Blackjack, relying on the value of two cards, means that there are a number of possible outcomes, and each outcome has its own probability – below is a general Two Card Count table with the projected frequency of that outcome.
Best Casino Table Game Odds
9. Craps
As a dice game, Craps requires just as much – if not more – strategy and planning, and a keen grasp of the probabilities of a given roll of two dice, with 7 and 11 being a win and 2, 3, and 12 being a crap out. More than that, though, a professional Craps player must also be intimately acquainted with the different kinds of bets and their corresponding probabilities. The house-edge in a Craps game ultimately depends on what type of bet is being made since every roll is independent of the previous roll.
Whether you’re a seasoned Craps player or just starting, you’ll quickly learn that the most assured and reliable method of winning is to rely on the Pass Line bet. However, the ratio probability of win/loss is still stacked against you on a Pass Line wager (which is considered the safest bet) as the graph below illustrates.
The expected value of 32 straight (on average an hour of play) $5 pass line bets (with a house edge of 1.41%) is a loss of $2.26. There are exactly 16 outcomes that create a player win and 16 outcomes that create a player loss. The winning probability of the pass line (49.3%) creates the difference in the overall winning (39.89%) and losing (46.16%) outcome percentages. Enchant your skills on the Truebluecasino.org
Source: Craps House Edge Guide
10. Five Times Odds Craps
This version of Craps is similar to the classic but allows you to add extra wagers to pre-existing bets. For example, if you make a Pass Line bet, you then have the option of laying another bet which the house has no advantage over. Unlike some of their competitors, Silver Oak Casino permits a player to stack up their bets 5 times, which will pay out at their true odds. In this way the house-edge is reduced (up to 0.2%), which makes it one of the lowest risk games available.