Which casino game has the best odds?
Played well, video poker (0.46% house edge on a 9/6 Jacks or Better machine) and blackjack (0.53%) cost you the least, but both need a strategy. If you’d rather not learn one, the baccarat banker bet (1.06%) and the craps don’t pass line (1.36%) are the best bets that take no decisions. No game here beats the house over time, but all of them keep far less than a lottery: Powerball keeps 50% of ticket sales.
Every game at its best, ranked
| Game | Best way to play it | House edge | Average loss per 1,000 chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Video poker | Jacks or Better 9/6, betting 5 creditsNeeds a strategy | 0.46% | 4.6 |
| 2. Blackjack | 6 decks, 3:2, dealer hits soft 17, late surrender, basic strategyNeeds a strategy | 0.53% | 5.3 |
| 3. Baccarat | Bet on the banker, 8 decks, 5% commissionNo strategy needed | 1.06% | 10.6 |
| 4. Craps | Don’t pass lineNo strategy needed | 1.36% | 13.6 |
| 5. Hold’em vs. dealer | Perfect strategy, per anteNeeds a strategy | 2.18% | 21.8 |
| 6. Roulette, single zero | Any standard betNo strategy needed | 2.70% | 27.0 |
| 7. Pai gow poker | Set your hand the house wayNo strategy needed | 2.72% | 27.2 |
| 8. 3-card vs. dealer | Play Q-6-4 or better, per anteNeeds a strategy | 3.37% | 33.7 |
| 9. Roulette, double zero | Any standard bet except the five-number betNo strategy needed | 5.26% | 52.6 |
Hold’em vs. dealer and 3-card vs. dealer quote the edge per ante, as casinos do. Those games also take raises, so over every chip wagered the house keeps less: 0.53% and 2.01%. Video poker doesn’t pay the same everywhere and blackjack depends on the table’s rules, so check before you play.
What the house edge means
The house edge is the share of each bet the casino keeps on average in the long run. Single-zero roulette’s is 2.70%, so if you bet 1,000 chips in total, you lose 27.0 of them on average.
It’s an average, not a prediction. In one session you can win or lose far more than that. The edge is what’s left once enough bets have been made, and it applies to every chip you bet, not only to the chips you bring: replaying your winnings costs you the edge again.
If you don’t want to learn a strategy
These bets involve no decisions after you place them, so nothing you do can make them worse.
- Baccarat: bet on the banker (1.06%). It wins often enough to more than make up for the commission.
- Craps: the pass line (1.41%) or the don’t pass line (1.36%). Pass is the bet most of the table makes.
- Roulette: choose a single-zero wheel (2.70%) over a double-zero one (5.26%) whenever you have the choice. Which number or color you bet makes almost no difference.
Where strategy changes the numbers
The low edges in video poker and blackjack assume you make the right play every time. Mistakes cost more than the edge itself, so a player guessing can lose several times as much as the table above shows.
The machine or table matters too. A 9/6 Jacks or Better machine has a 0.46% house edge, and the 8/5 version of the same game, which looks almost identical, has 2.70%.
The bets to avoid
Each of these sits in a game with a much better bet right next to it.
| Bet | House edge | Average loss per 1,000 chips |
|---|---|---|
| Craps: any 7 | 16.67% | 166.7 |
| Baccarat: tie paying 8 to 1 | 14.36% | 143.6 |
| Craps: 2 or 12 | 13.89% | 138.9 |
| Craps: hard 4 or hard 10 | 11.11% | 111.1 |
| Roulette: five-number bet (double zero) | 7.89% | 78.9 |
| 3-card vs. dealer: pair plus (1-3-6-30-40) | 7.28% | 72.8 |
| Blackjack: tables that pay 6:5 | 1.89% | 18.9 |
How do the lottery, sports betting and slots compare?
A sports bet at −110 keeps 4.55%, less than double-zero roulette (5.26%). Slots, keno and lotteries keep more than any casino game in the ranking above: slot machines on the Las Vegas Strip kept 7.83% of everything played in 2025, a 1-spot keno ticket keeps 25%, and lotteries keep the most, 30% for Spain’s Christmas lottery, 50% for Powerball and 56.21% for Brazil’s Mega-Sena.
| Bet | Best way to play it | House edge | Average loss per 1,000 chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports betting | A point spread or total at −110 (decimal 1.91), each side a 50% chance | 4.55% | 45.5 |
| Slot machines | Every slot machine on the Las Vegas Strip, 2025 | 7.83% | 78.3 |
| Keno | A 1-spot ticket paying 3 for 1 (20 of 80 numbers are drawn) | 25% | 250.0 |
| Spain’s Christmas lottery (Lotería de Navidad) | 70% of the tickets issued go to prizes | 30% | 300.0 |
| Powerball | Half of ticket sales go to prizes | 50% | 500.0 |
| Mega-Sena (Brazil) | 43.79% of sales go to prizes | 56.21% | 562.1 |
At −110 you have to pick winners 52.38% of the time just to break even.
The slot figure is the average of every machine; penny slots kept 10.79%. A machine never shows its own figure, and two that look the same can be set differently. Other keno tickets depend on the casino’s pay table.
Lottery figures are averages before taxes. The chance of the top prize: Powerball 1 in 292,201,338, Mega-Sena 1 in 50,063,860, and El Gordo of the Christmas lottery 1 in 100,000 per ticket.
Try your own odds and win rate in the sports betting simulator
The house edge of every sports bet, parlays included
Sources: Nevada Gaming Control Board, December 2025 revenue report · Loterías y Apuestas del Estado · Powerball prize pool rule (Oregon, OAR 177-085-0025) · Caixa, Mega-Sena
Can you beat the house?
Not with these bets. A betting system changes when you win and lose, but not the edge, and no number or pattern is “due”. Nearly all of them leave the casino ahead in the long run, which is what keeps it open.
Everything on this site uses virtual chips, so you can try all of this at no cost. If you do play for real money, treat what you lose as the price of the fun, and set a limit first.