Understanding the House Edge in Casino Games
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the casino always has the edge. Casinos are in the business of making money, just like grocery stores and restaurants are. However, as you can learn using these helpful resources, the casino’s edge varies depending on what games you’re playing. That means you can increase your odds of winning by changing the games that you play.
Disclaimer:
Before we go into detail about the house edge for games, all of this assumes that you’re an experienced player or, at the very least, have an understanding of how the game works. If you don’t have a complete understanding of how the game works, you automatically increase the house’s odds way beyond what the casino can do on its own.
Blackjack
If you play at even a marginal level, the house edge for blackjack is 0.5% to 1%. You can lower that even further if you’re playing your very best. That’s why blackjack is such a popular game. Also, many casinos offer cashback and other perks that you can use to lower the house’s edge even further.
If you’ve never played blackjack, don’t expect to get these odds overnight. It will take you learning how to play the game and also learning how to play under stress. You will need to be able to make the best decisions possible, and if you’re under stress from a string of bad beats, you might find yourself making decisions that are questionable at best.
Roulette
Roulette is a fun game, even for beginners, because there’s not much skill involved. Some would say there’s no skill at all involved when you’re playing roulette. The house edge for roulette is between 2.7% and 5.26%. Why the difference? The only difference with the house edge depends on if the wheel has a double zero. If the wheel doesn’t have a double zero, it lowers the house edge quite a bit.
Many people will stick to the basic bets like red or black or odd or even, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Those have the best odds. The payouts are a lot higher if you bet on the numbers, but you need to realize that if you make these wagers, winning is going to happen a lot less often.
Baccarat
Baccarat used to be the go-to game for the wealthy. Thanks to the internet, you don’t need to be well off to play a few hands. The house edge is 1.06% for the banker bet, 1.24% for the player bet, and 14.36% for the tie bet. As you can probably deduce, it’s a stupid move to wager on the tie bet.
Most experienced baccarat players stick with the banker bet, and that’s it. The nice thing about baccarat is that you don’t have to make any decisions. You only have to place your bet, and that’s it. You can’t mess up when playing baccarat unless you place the wrong bet. So, it doesn’t matter if you have any gambling skills or not; you can still walk out as a winner playing baccarat.
Video poker
You might be surprised to learn that you can get the house edge all the way down to .5% when playing video poker. You’ll need to make sure that you know how to play video poker. You’ll need to know all the hand possibilities and all that stuff.
The great thing about video poker is that you’re not playing against a person. That means there’s no bluffing and you can’t lose because of something someone else does. You will need to know exactly how to play the game and that can take some time to learn. If you’re willing to put in the hard work, video poker can be very rewarding and the house edge is meniscal.
Slots
The last thing we’re going to talk about are the slots. Online slots are a favorite among online casino gamblers and it’s easy to understand why. You don’t need any real skills to play slots and you can win a ton of money.
The house edge depends on the casino that you’re playing at, but generally speaking, they’re between 2% and 10%. Yes, that is the biggest house edge of all the games other than the tie bet in baccarat. Though let’s be honest, there’s nothing more exciting than playing the slots. The sounds, lights, and excitement are something that no other casino game offers.
How will this information change your gameplay?
Well, for some of you, it won’t change how you approach online casino games in the least. If you’re a die-hard slots player, it’s understandable that you’re not going to give them up. However, many of you who want to make the highest profit possible might spend some time learning the ins and outs of these games so that you can increase your odds of winning. Remember, you can’t win if you’re not playing, so the longer you can make your money stretch, the better.
The published material expresses the position of the author, which may not coincide with the opinion of the editor.