by Steve Bourie
Walk into almost any casino and you’ll be faced with hundreds—sometimes thousands—of different ways to bet your money. Blackjack, craps, baccarat, roulette, video poker and rows of slot machines are all competing for your attention. But they aren’t all created equal.
Some casino bets give the house a substantial mathematical advantage. Others give players a surprisingly good chance of getting close to even with the casino—provided they know what they’re doing.
I’ve spent nearly 35 years studying casino gambling as the author of the American Casino Guide. During that time, I’ve visited hundreds of casinos throughout the United States and around the world, analyzed virtually every major casino game, interviewed professional gamblers and casino executives, and spent countless hours studying the mathematics behind casino gambling.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: The game you choose—and the way you play it—can make an enormous difference in how much your casino visit costs you over the long run.
So, which casino games give you the best odds?
Here are my five favorite casino bets based primarily on their mathematical advantage, along with how difficult they are to play correctly.
1. Baccarat Banker Bet — Best Combination of Good Odds and Simplicity
If someone asked me to recommend a casino bet that combines a very low house edge with almost no strategy to learn, my answer would be simple: Bet on the Banker in baccarat.
Baccarat can look intimidating when you first approach the table. But the basic game is actually remarkably simple.
You generally have three betting choices: Player, Banker or Tie. Once you place your bet, the casino’s rules determine whether additional cards are drawn. There are no strategy decisions for you to make.
Of those choices, the Banker bet is clearly the best. The house edge on the Banker bet is approximately 1.06% under standard rules. The Player bet isn’t far behind at approximately 1.24%.
Casinos generally charge a 5% commission on winning Banker bets because the Banker hand has a slight mathematical advantage. Even after accounting for that commission, however, Banker remains one of the best bets available in most casinos.
The bet I strongly recommend avoiding is the Tie. A typical Tie bet has a house edge well above 10%, depending on the payoff. That’s a huge difference.
Two bets are sitting right next to each other on the same table. One has a house advantage barely over 1%. Another can give the casino an advantage exceeding 10%.
That’s a perfect example of why understanding casino mathematics matters. For someone who wants excellent casino odds without memorizing strategy charts or making complicated decisions, the banker bet is difficult to beat.
2. Blackjack — One of the Best Games If You Know Basic Strategy
Blackjack has long been one of my favorite casino games because the decisions you make actually matter.
Unlike baccarat, where the rules determine how the cards are played, blackjack requires you to decide whether to hit, stand, double down, split or sometimes surrender.
Make the correct decisions and blackjack can offer some of the best odds in the casino. Make enough mistakes and you’ll give much of that advantage away.
Under favorable rules, a blackjack player using perfect basic strategy can often reduce the house edge to around 0.5% or less. But there’s an important catch: You have to play correctly.
Basic strategy isn’t based on hunches, streaks or guessing what card is coming next. It’s mathematically calculated to tell you the best decision for every combination of your hand and the dealer’s upcard.
Unfortunately, many players don’t follow it. They stand when they should hit. They refuse to double because they’re afraid of losing another bet. They make bad splits. Or they follow advice from other players at the table. Every one of those mistakes can cost money over time.
There’s another major issue blackjack players need to watch for: the payoff for a blackjack.
Whenever possible, look for a game that pays 3:2 for a natural blackjack. Avoid games paying 6:5 if you have a reasonable alternative. That seemingly small change dramatically increases the casino’s advantage.
So blackjack deserves a place near the top of my list—but with a qualification.
It’s one of the best games in the casino for players willing to learn how to play it correctly and find a decent set of rules.
3. Video Poker — Excellent Odds for Players Who Choose the Right Game
Video poker is another casino game where knowledge can make an enormous difference. That’s also why I’ve always preferred video poker to slot machines.
With a slot machine, you usually have no way of looking at the machine and determining its exact long-term payback percentage. Video poker is different. The pay table is displayed right on the screen. If you know what you’re looking for, you can determine the theoretical return of the game before putting a dollar into the machine.
Some of the better video poker games can return more than 99% with perfect strategy, meaning the casino’s mathematical advantage can be less than 1%.
Certain exceptional games can even approach or occasionally exceed 100% under specific pay tables and conditions, although those opportunities have become increasingly difficult to find.
But there’s a catch here too. You need to identify the correct pay table and use the correct strategy.
Take Jacks or Better as an example. Two machines can look almost identical but have different payouts for a full house or flush. Those seemingly minor differences can significantly change the overall return.
Strategy matters just as much. Video poker isn’t simply a matter of holding whatever cards “look good.” There are situations where the mathematically correct play isn’t obvious.
That’s why I put video poker in the same general category as blackjack. It’s an excellent game for knowledgeable players.
If you’re willing to learn the proper strategy and search for good games, blackjack and video poker can provide some of the best gambling opportunities you’ll find in a casino.
4. Craps Pass Line With Odds — One of the Best Bets on the Craps Table
Craps may have the most intimidating layout in the casino. There are numbers, boxes and betting areas everywhere, and the table can be loud and fast-moving. But here’s something every craps player should understand: Some of the bets on that complicated layout are excellent. Others are terrible.
One of the best places to start is the Pass Line. The standard Pass Line bet carries a house edge of approximately 1.41%. That’s already quite reasonable compared with many other casino wagers. But craps offers something even better.
Once a point has been established, casinos generally allow you to make an additional bet called odds behind your Pass Line wager. The odds bet has no house edge at all. The casino pays the bet at its true mathematical odds. That’s extremely unusual in casino gambling.
Of course, the casino still has an advantage on your original Pass Line bet, so taking odds doesn’t suddenly make the entire wager a zero-house-edge proposition. What it does is lower the casino’s overall percentage advantage on the total amount of money you have in action.
The more odds you’re permitted—and comfortable—taking, the lower the combined house edge becomes as a percentage of your total wager. The Don’t Pass side is mathematically even slightly better, with a house edge of roughly 1.36%, and you can also lay odds after a point is established.
Some players don’t like betting Don’t Pass because they’re essentially betting against the shooter. That’s a personal choice. Mathematically, however, both approaches can be excellent.
So if you’re going to play craps, don’t assume all those bets in the center of the table are equally good. They’re not.
Pass Line or Don’t Pass combined with odds is one of the smartest ways to approach the game.
5. Single-Zero Roulette — If You’re Going to Play Roulette, Choose Carefully
Roulette doesn’t offer odds as favorable as the first four choices on this list, but I’m including it for an important reason. The roulette wheel you choose can make an enormous difference.
American casinos traditionally offered double-zero roulette wheels containing 0 and 00. On a standard double-zero game, most bets carry a house edge of approximately 5.26%. That’s considerably higher than the house edge on Banker in baccarat, properly played blackjack or many good video poker games.
Single-zero roulette is much better. A wheel containing numbers 1 through 36 plus only a single zero has a house edge of approximately 2.70% on most wagers. You’re essentially cutting the casino’s percentage advantage almost in half simply by choosing the better wheel.
And, there’s now another roulette game that I like even less: triple-zero roulette. Adding a third zero increases the house advantage on most bets to approximately 7.69%.
That’s why roulette provides such a useful lesson. The games may look nearly identical. The betting layout may look similar. The experience may feel the same. But mathematically they’re very different.
If you enjoy roulette, look for single-zero roulette whenever possible.
And don’t fall into the trap of believing that betting red or black somehow eliminates the house advantage. Those bets may look close to 50/50, but the zero—or zeros—are what give the casino its edge.
So, What Is the Best Casino Game to Play?
There isn’t one answer that’s right for everyone. It depends partly on how much effort you’re willing to put into learning the game.
If you want the best combination of good odds and simplicity, my choice is: Baccarat Banker. You don’t need to memorize a strategy. You don’t need to decide whether to hit, stand or double. You simply make the Banker bet and let the game play out.
Now, if you’re willing to study and become a knowledgeable player, my choices are: Blackjack and video poker. Both can offer extremely low house edges under favorable conditions, but both require you to know what you’re doing. With blackjack, that means learning basic strategy and finding favorable rules. With video poker, it means identifying good pay tables and learning the correct strategy for the particular game you’re playing.
For craps players, my preferred approach is: Pass Line or Don’t Pass with odds. The basic wagers already have relatively low house edges, and the additional odds wager carries no house advantage.
And if roulette is your game: Look for single-zero roulette and, especially, stay away from triple-zero wheels whenever you can.
One Final Rule: Don’t Confuse Good Odds With Guaranteed Wins
There’s one final point that’s important to understand. A low house edge doesn’t mean you’re likely to win during any particular casino visit.
You could play a game with a 0.5% house advantage and lose badly in an hour. You could play a terrible bet with a 10% or 15% house advantage and walk away a winner. That’s gambling.
The house edge describes what happens mathematically over a very large number of wagers. In the short run, luck can dominate the results. But you can’t control luck. You can only control which games you play and which bets you make.
That’s why I’ve always encouraged casino players to understand the mathematics before they gamble.
If two games are equally entertaining to you, why choose the one that gives the casino a 7% advantage when you could play one where the casino’s advantage is closer to 1%?
Over nearly 35 years of studying casinos, that’s one principle that hasn’t changed. You can’t control the cards you’re dealt, where the roulette ball lands or what number comes up on the dice. But you can choose where you put your money.
And choosing the casino games and bets with the best odds gives you a better chance of making that money last—and hopefully walking away from the casino with more of it still in your pocket!
Steve Bourie is a casino industry author, publisher, and gambling expert with more than 35 years of experience covering U.S. casinos. He is best known as the author of the American Casino Guide book, a long-running resource used by casino players seeking information on casino games, player rewards programs, casino promotions, slot machines, video poker, blackjack, craps, and gambling strategy.
As the founder of AmericanCasinoGuideBook.com, Steve regularly publishes casino news, casino reviews, strategy articles, and player education content designed to help gamblers make informed decisions. His work has been featured by national media outlets, and he is frequently sought out for commentary on casino trends, player behavior, and the evolving gaming industry.
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