House Edge — the number every casino keeps
House edge is the built-in advantage that makes every casino game a long-run loss. Here's exactly what it means, how it's calculated, a side-by-side comparison of every game, and a calculator that turns any edge into the money you can expect to lose.
House edge by game — lower is better. Click any game for its full odds calculator.
| Game / bet | House edge | RTP |
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House edge by game
Not all casino games cost the same. The house edge ranges from around half a percent to well over ten percent depending on the game and even the specific bet. Here's how the games on this site stack up, cheapest to most expensive:
The pattern is clear: the bet you pick matters as much as the game. Baccarat's Banker is one of the best bets in the casino, but its Tie is one of the worst. European roulette costs half what American does. Use the Compare games tab above to see every edge in one place, and open any calculator for the exact odds.
What house edge actually means
The house edge is the percentage of each bet the casino keeps on average over the long run. A 1% edge means that for every $100 you wager — across all your bets, not just your first — you lose about $1 on average. It's baked into the payouts: the game pays out slightly less than the true odds would demand, and that gap is the edge.
Two things people miss. First, the edge applies to total wagered (your "action"), which grows every time you re-bet winnings — so a small edge compounds across a long session. Second, house edge is a long-run average, not a per-session promise: variance means any given night can win or lose far more than the edge suggests.
House edge vs RTP
RTP (return to player) and house edge are two sides of the same coin — they always add up to 100%:
Slots are usually quoted in RTP, table games and originals in house edge, but they describe the identical thing: how much of your wagering the game returns versus keeps. When you compare a 96% slot to a 99% original, the original is literally four times cheaper per dollar wagered. Our Fortune Tiger page shows the RTP side; the dice and mines pages show the edge side.
How to lower your house edge
You can't beat the edge, but you can choose how much you pay:
- Pick low-edge games. Provably-fair originals and Banker baccarat sit near 1%; blackjack with basic strategy is around 0.5%. Avoid high-edge bets like the baccarat Tie (14.36%) or the American roulette 00.
- Pick the right variant. European roulette (2.70%) over American (5.26%); a 99% RTP original over a 96% slot; a full-pay video poker over a short-pay one.
- Mind your total action. The edge hits every dollar wagered, so faster games and re-betting winnings increase what you lose even at the same edge.
- Ignore "systems". Martingale and friends change your variance, never the edge. No betting pattern turns a negative-EV game positive.