Low House Edge Games: Best Odds Guide
Which games give you the best odds? We rank every major casino game by house edge, from blackjack at 0.5% to slots at 15%. Data-driven guide for smart bettors.
Quick Summary
The house edge is the percentage of every bet a casino expects to keep over time. It ranges from 0.5% in blackjack with perfect strategy to 15% or more in slot machines. Knowing which games give you the lowest house edge means you can make your money last longer and lose less when recreational play is part of your strategy. This guide breaks down the exact house edge for every major game, explains what affects it, and tells you which bets to avoid entirely.
What Is House Edge?
Definition
House edge is the percentage of each bet that the casino expects to keep over the long run. A 2% house edge means that for every €100 wagered, the casino expects to retain €2 on average. The inverse of house edge is RTP (return to player): a 2% house edge equals 98% RTP. Both numbers describe the same thing from opposite perspectives.
The lowest house edge games give you the best statistical chance of getting your money back. These are also the casino games with best odds for the player in a mathematical sense. This does not mean you will win. It means the casino takes less of your money over time compared to higher-edge games. If you are going to play anyway, you want the lowest possible edge working against you.
House edge is calculated across thousands of bets, not individual sessions. In any single session, variance determines the result. Over time, the math converges. A 0.5% edge means the casino keeps €0.50 per €100 wagered on average. A 10% edge means they keep €10 per €100. That difference is enormous over a year of play.
Two terms appear throughout this guide: house edge (what the casino takes) and RTP (what returns to the player). They always add up to 100%. A game with 98.5% RTP has a 1.5% house edge. When comparing games, lower house edge is always better for the player.
House Edge by Game: Full Comparison
The table below ranks the major casino and betting games from lowest to highest house edge, giving you the best odds casino games ranked in one place. RTP is the complement: subtract the house edge from 100 to get RTP. All figures assume optimal or standard betting conditions, as noted.
Blackjack: The Smartest Game in the Casino
Blackjack offers the lowest house edge of any standard table game at approximately 0.5%, but only if you play with perfect basic strategy on every hand. Basic strategy is a mathematically optimized decision chart covering every possible hand combination. It tells you whether to hit, stand, double down, or split, based on your cards and the dealer's upcard.
The house edge in blackjack also depends on the specific rules of the variant you play. The following factors each change the edge by a fraction of a percent, but combined they matter significantly.
Rules that reduce the house edge include: fewer decks (single deck is best), dealer standing on soft 17, being allowed to double on any two cards, and blackjack paying 3:2 rather than 6:5. If a casino pays 6:5 on blackjack, walk away. That single rule change adds roughly 1.4% to the house edge on its own.
Always look for 3:2 blackjack payout tables. A 6:5 payout nearly triples the house edge even if you play perfect strategy. It is the single worst rule change a casino can make to blackjack.
Baccarat and Craps: Simple and Low Edge
Baccarat is popular partly because it requires no skill or strategy decisions. You bet on either the Banker or the Player hand, and the cards are dealt automatically. The Banker bet carries a 1.06% house edge and the Player bet is 1.24%. Both are reasonable choices.
The Tie bet in baccarat, however, has a house edge of around 14.4%. This is one of the worst bets in any standard casino game. Never place the Tie bet regardless of what patterns you think you see on the scoreboard. Past results in baccarat have no predictive value whatsoever.
Craps offers more complexity but also a path to one of the best bets in any casino. The pass line bet has a 1.41% house edge. Once a point is established, most casinos allow you to place additional "free odds" bets behind the pass line. These odds bets have zero house edge. The casino pays exact true odds with no margin. By taking maximum free odds (typically 3x, 4x, or 5x the pass line bet), you reduce the overall combined edge to well under 1%.
Roulette: European vs American
European roulette has 37 pockets (numbers 1 to 36 plus a single zero). The house edge on any standard bet is 2.7%. American roulette adds a second zero pocket, giving 38 pockets total and pushing the house edge to 5.26%. That extra zero nearly doubles the edge with no added benefit to the player.
American roulette pays the same odds as European roulette but has one additional zero pocket that doubles the house edge. There is no situation where American roulette is a better choice. If only American roulette is available, skip roulette entirely and play baccarat or blackjack instead.
French roulette, when offered with the La Partage rule, reduces the edge further to 1.35% on even-money bets (red/black, odd/even, high/low). Under La Partage, if the ball lands on zero you recover half your even-money bet. This makes French roulette the best version of roulette available, approaching baccarat levels of efficiency.
Video Poker and Slots
Full-pay Jacks or Better video poker is one of the best bets in any casino. With optimal strategy, the house edge is approximately 0.46%, comparable to blackjack. The key word is "full pay": the payout table must show 9 coins for a full house and 6 coins for a flush per coin wagered. This is called the 9/6 Jacks or Better paytable.
Many video poker machines use reduced pay tables (8/5 or 7/5) that increase the house edge to 2% to 5%. Always check the paytable before playing. The difference between a 9/6 and an 8/5 machine is worth more than any casino bonus.
Slots sit at the opposite end of the spectrum. RTP on slots varies enormously, from around 85% to 98%, meaning house edges from 2% to 15%. Online slots typically have higher RTPs than land-based ones. However, the actual RTP of any specific machine is usually not displayed, which makes it impossible to compare games accurately before playing. Slots also have high variance, meaning your session results can swing far from the RTP in either direction.
The bottom line on slots: they are the worst-value games in the casino. If your goal is to minimize house edge, avoid them. If you genuinely enjoy slot play, choose online slots with published RTPs above 96% and set strict session limits.
Sports Betting Overround: The Hidden Cost
Sports betting overround works the same way as house edge. Bookmakers set prices so that the implied probabilities across all outcomes add up to more than 100%. The excess is the overround, which is their built-in margin. Removing the vig from a set of odds gives you the true implied probability the bookmaker is using for each outcome. Our guide on how bookmakers make money explains the overround, customer segmentation, and line movement in full detail.
An NFL point spread at 1.91 on both sides (the European decimal equivalent of -110) creates an overround of about 4.5%. To break even, you need to win 52.4% of your spread bets. Most recreational bettors do not achieve this, meaning sports betting has a higher effective cost than blackjack or baccarat for the average player.
However, sports betting is the only category where a skilled bettor can gain a positive edge. Casino games have a fixed mathematical edge that cannot be overcome without card counting (which casinos counter). In sports betting, if you identify mispriced lines, you can bet with an edge. Volume betting strategies built around finding value are one practical approach. Check our bookies list for platforms with the lowest margins on sports markets.
Betting Exchanges vs Bookmakers
Betting exchanges such as Betfair do not set prices. Instead, bettors set prices for each other and the exchange earns a commission on net winnings from each market. Commission is typically 2% to 5%, but only on your winnings, not on every bet placed. Exchanges also offer spread-style markets on some sports: see our guide on what spread betting is for a comparison with standard fixed-odds markets.
This structure is significantly more efficient than standard bookmaker overround for bettors who win more than they lose. A bookmaker builds their margin into every price you see, whether you win or lose. An exchange charges you nothing if you lose a bet, only taking commission when you profit. For a profitable bettor running mug betting or value betting strategies, exchanges are almost always the cheaper option over time.
Why Game Choice Matters for Mug Betting
When you place recreational bets to maintain bookmaker account health, you are voluntarily accepting a loss. The size of that loss depends entirely on which game you play. Choosing a low house edge game drastically reduces the cost of staying active as a customer.
Consider two approaches to a single session of casino play at a bookmaker's casino:
- Slots at 10% house edge: €200 wagered, expected loss of €20.
- Blackjack at 0.5% house edge: €200 wagered, expected loss of €1.
Over 12 sessions per year, the slot player loses €240 in expected value from recreational play alone. The blackjack player loses €12. That €228 difference goes directly into their matched betting or value betting profit. For anyone running a mug betting program, game selection is not a minor detail. It is a meaningful part of the overall profitability calculation.
The practical rule is: always choose the lowest edge game available when doing obligatory recreational play. Blackjack or baccarat at the bookmaker's live casino is far preferable to any slot session, even with auto-spin at low stakes. If you use a casino platform for recreational turnover, reviewing a platform's VIP rakeback structure can partially offset the house edge cost over time.
House edge determines how much the casino takes from every bet over time. Blackjack with basic strategy (0.5%), full-pay video poker (0.46%), and craps pass line with free odds (under 0.3%) are the best bets in any standard casino. Baccarat banker at 1.06% is the best option if you want zero strategy decisions.
European roulette at 2.7% is acceptable. American roulette at 5.26% should be avoided entirely. Slots are the worst-value games available and should be a last resort. If recreational play is part of your betting strategy, the game you choose determines how much that play costs you over the year.
Find Your Next Edge
Sharkbetting's Oddsmatcher compares thousands of odds lines in real time and surfaces the best opportunities across European bookmakers.
