The House Edge and Its Effect

The edge is 1.06% when betting on the banker, and it's 1.24% when wagering on the player. If the tie option is chosen, the edge increases to 14.36%.

When playing with liberal Vegas rules, the house edge 0.28%. This includes the dealer standing on soft 17, late surrender, resplitting aces, doubling after splitting, and doubling down on any two cards.

The house edge on this card game is 5.22%.

The edge is 2.88% when you go to war on a tie. If you choose to surrender on a tie, the edge is 3.70%. When you bet on a tie, the edge increases to 18.65%.

This popular dice game has a wide array of bets, often with a different house edge for each. The worst bets are any seven (16.67%) and two, twelve, and all hard hops (13.89%). Pass/come has an edge of 1.41%, while don't pass/don't come is slightly better at 1.36%. Taking odds on four or ten, five or nine, or six or eight all carry a house edge of 0.00%, which makes these some of the best wagering opportunities from any casino game (although the player must also pair this with a negative expectation wager).

This lottery-style game has a terrible house edge that usually ranges from 25% to 29%, making it one of the worst casino wagers. However, the potentially large payout ensures that bettors still flock to it.

The popular Asian domino game has a house advantage of 1.50%.

The card game version of the Chinese classic carries a 1.46% edge.

The European version with the single zero has a casino advantage of 2.70%. When the 00 is added for the American version, this advantage increases to 5.26%.

Depending on which bets you're placing, Sic Bo has a house edge of 2.78% to 33.33%.

The house edge on slot machines ranges from 2% to 25%, but it's almost impossible to gauge what the house edge is on the specific machine you're playing.

The edge is 0.76% when the dealer hits on a soft 17, and this lowers to 0.40% when the dealer stands on a soft 17.

The PairPlus option carries a 7.28% edge for the casino, while choosing to ante and play results in a 3.37% edge.

The traditional Jacks of Better version of the game with full pay has a house advantage of 0.36%. In a few rare cases, some video poker machines played with perfect strategy actually give the player a slight edge over the casino.

If you stick with the banker bet, you're looking at a 1.06% house edge multiplied by an average bet of $100 and an average number of bets per hour of 80, you're looking at an expected loss per hour of 1.06% X $100 X 80, or $84.80.

Depending on how many players are at the table, blackjack plays at a similar pace to baccarat. If you're the only player at the table, you might see as many as 200 hands per hour. But with a couple of other players at the table, you're looking at more like 80 hands per hour. For this example, we'll assume 80 hands per hour at $100 per hand and a 0.28% house edge. Your expected hourly loss is $22.40. Keep in mind that you need to use perfect basic strategy to achieve this expectation.

Caribbean Stud is a slower game than blackjack. You might see 50 hands per hour. Assuming $100 bets at a 5.22% house edge, you're looking at an hourly loss of $261, even with the slower pace of the action.

You can estimate 65 hands per hour at Casino War. Given a 2.88% edge and an average bet size of $100, you're looking at an average hourly loss of $187.20.

With craps you can expect to see around 50 rolls per hour. The calculations for the hourly loss are a bit more complicated with this game though, because most of the commonly placed bets are not decided in a single roll. If you were playing the pass bet on every roll, for example, you'd expect that bet to be settled around once every 3.4 rolls. So at 50 rolls per hour, it would be settled about 15 times per hour. The house edge of this bet is 1.41%, so you'd expect to lose $1.41 per settlement over a $100 wager. With 15 settlements an hour, that equates to an expected hourly loss of $21.15.

Keno's huge house edge of between 25% and 29% makes it look like one of the worst bets in the casino, and in a sense, it is. But in terms of hourly expected loss, it's probably better than you think. That's because most people don't bet $100 on keno at a time—they usually only bet a dollar. And they might only make between 6 and 12 bets per hour. Call it 12 bets an hour at $1 each, and your expected loss is only $3 or $4.

This game has a relatively low house edge of 1.50%, but what's really attractive about it, from an expected loss per hour perspective, is how slowly it plays. Even at $100 per bet, you're only making 40 bets per hour, which is $4000 in action per hour. 1.5% of that is $60.

Like the original tile based version, we're looking at a relatively low house edge and a slow placed game. The 1.46% edge is slightly better, but the game plays just a tiny bit faster with cards instead of tiles. You're still looking at about $60 per hour if you're playing for $100 per hand.

The European version has a 2.70%. You shouldn't play any other version, because you can almost always find a single zero wheel if you're just willing to do a little bit of looking around. Like the Pai Gow games, you're only looking at 40 hands per hour or so. At $100 per bet, that's $4000 in action and $108 per hour in expected losses.

Sic Bo is a little bit faster than Pai Gow or roulette, but only just. You're talking about 45 bets per hour. If you stick with the best bets, which have a house edge of 2.78%, you're looking at an expected hourly loss of $125.

We'll assume a 10% house edge, although you might find looser games than this. But slots is a fast paced game. You're talking about 600 spins per hour. Most slots players don't bet $100 per spin, but if you did, you'd be looking at a massive hourly expected loss of $6000. Even if you only play for $10 per spin, you're looking at $600 per hour.

Like blackjack, you're looking at 80 hands per hour. Assuming $100 per bet, that's $8000 in action per hour. 0.40% of that is $32.

This game plays faster than you might think. You can assume 70 hands per hour at $100 per hand. With a 3.37% edge, you're looking at an expected loss per hour of $235.

The house edge for full pay Jacks or Better is 0.36%, but you're looking at 600 hands per hour. Chances are you won't be putting $100 into action on each hand; $5 per hand is more likely. That's $3000 in action per hour, and 0.36% of that is only $10.80, making this one of the most affordable types of casino entertainment you'll find.