Every casino bet has a price, and the house edge is it: the share of each stake the game is built to keep over the long run. Some bets cost you less than half a percent. Others cost more than a quarter of everything you wager. Choosing the game is the biggest decision you make at a casino, bigger than any betting system or hunch.
This is every major casino game ranked by house edge, from best to worst odds for the player, with the bets that move the numbers.
How to read a house edge
A house edge of 2 percent means that, averaged over a very large number of bets, the game keeps about 2 units of every 100 wagered. Its mirror image is return to player, or RTP: a 2 percent edge is a 98 percent RTP. It describes the design of the game, not any single session.
What the edge costs you depends on how much you wager in total, and that depends on the speed of the game as much as the stake. Rough examples:
Blackjack at 10 units a hand, around 60 hands an hour, 0.5 percent edge: an expected cost of about 3 units an hour.
European roulette at 10 units a spin, around 40 spins an hour, 2.7 percent edge: about 11 units an hour.
A slot at 1 unit a spin, around 600 spins an hour, 5 percent edge: about 30 units an hour.
The slot player stakes the least per bet and pays the most per hour. Speed multiplies the edge.
Every casino game ranked by house edge
The figures below are the standard published values for common rules. Individual casinos can change rules and paytables, which moves the numbers, so treat them as a guide to the best version of each bet.
Game | Bet | House edge |
|---|---|---|
Video poker | Full-pay Deuces Wild | -0.76% (rare) |
Craps | Odds bet | 0% |
Stack.bet | Perfect placement | 0% |
Video poker | 9/6 Jacks or Better | 0.46% |
Blackjack | Basic strategy, 3:2 | 0.5% |
Baccarat | Banker | 1.06% |
Baccarat | Player | 1.24% |
Roulette | French, la partage | 1.35% |
Craps | Don't pass | 1.36% |
Craps | Pass line | 1.41% |
Crypto originals | Dice, crash, plinko | 1% to 3% |
Roulette | European | 2.70% |
Casino War | Go to war on ties | 2.88% |
Three Card Poker | Ante and play | 3.37% |
Let It Ride | Standard game | 3.51% |
Sports betting | Lines at -110 | 4.5% |
Caribbean Stud | Standard game | 5.22% |
Roulette | American | 5.26% |
Slots | Typical machine | 3% to 10% |
Baccarat | Tie at 8 to 1 | 14.4% |
Craps | Any seven | 16.7% |
Keno | Most tickets | 20% to 35% |
The bets that change the numbers
Blackjack: the rules and your decisions
The 0.5 percent figure assumes you play basic strategy and the table pays 3 to 2 on a blackjack. A table paying 6 to 5 adds roughly 1.4 percentage points, which nearly quadruples the edge. Playing by instinct instead of strategy can cost several times the published edge.
Craps: the only zero-edge bet on the floor
Craps hides the best bet in any casino. After a point is set, you can back a pass or come bet with an odds bet that is paid at true odds, so it carries no house edge at all. The catch is that you have to make the pass or come bet first, at about 1.41 percent, and the odds bet can only be placed alongside it. The more odds you are allowed to take, the lower the combined edge.
Baccarat: never back the tie
Banker and player are two of the cheapest bets in the building. The tie looks tempting at 8 to 1 and costs over ten times as much.
Roulette: one zero or two
The second zero on an American wheel almost doubles the edge, from 2.70 to 5.26 percent. French tables that return half of an even-money stake when the ball lands on zero, a rule called la partage, halve it again to about 1.35 percent on those bets.
Video poker and slots: read the paytable
Two video poker machines that look identical can differ by several percent, entirely because of the paytable. Slots are the opposite: the return is set inside the machine, many titles are released in several RTP versions, and the operator chooses which one to run. Check the game's information screen for the stated RTP.
Why no betting system changes the edge
Doubling after a loss, raising after a win, flat betting, following patterns on the scoreboard: each changes how wins and losses are spread out, never the average cost per unit wagered. A system can make a session feel smoother or more dramatic. The edge on every individual bet is still the same number from the table above.
Where Stack.bet sits
Stack.bet is a skill gambling game with a different model. Its live configuration sets the base house edge to zero on all 30 tiles: each tile's bust chance is paired against its growth multiplier with nothing removed, and the full risk table is published before you stake. Why Stack.bet has zero percent house edge shows the arithmetic.
The number that decides your long-run return is your own placement accuracy. Every tap is graded, and each grade below Perfect adds to the bust chance, as the placement grades guide explains. Modelled on the live configuration, a player who always cashes out at tile 10 gets back 100 percent with perfect placement and about 36 percent tapping Good every time. So a zero base edge rewards precision more than any game in the table, and punishes carelessness more too.
Common questions about casino house edge
Which casino game has the best odds?
For a bet anyone can make, the craps odds bet has no house edge, though it has to sit on top of a pass or come bet. Among whole games, blackjack with basic strategy and full-pay video poker come closest to break-even. Stack.bet sets its base edge to zero.
Which casino game has the lowest house edge?
Full-pay Deuces Wild video poker can return slightly more than 100 percent with perfect strategy, but those machines are rare. Otherwise it is blackjack with basic strategy, baccarat on banker, and the craps line and odds bets.
What is the house edge on slots?
It depends on the machine. Online slots commonly return 94 to 97 percent, an edge of 3 to 6 percent, and some land-based machines keep more. The stated RTP in the game's information screen is the number to check.
Is there a casino game with no house edge?
The craps odds bet is one. Stack.bet sets the base edge of its whole game to zero in its live configuration. Some operators also run zero-edge promotions on single games for a limited time.
Does a low house edge mean I will win?
No. The edge describes the average over a very large number of bets. Any single session can finish well ahead or well behind, and a low edge only means the long-run cost is small.
Playing responsibly
A lower house edge makes gambling cheaper, not safe. Decide what you are willing to spend before you start, treat that money as the price of the entertainment, and use the limits, cooldowns and self-exclusion controls if you need them.