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Oct 23, 2009 The vast majority of roulette wheels in Las Vegas are have 38 numbers: all the numbers from 1 to 36, a zero, and a double-zero. If it were not for the zero and double-zero numbers, the game would have no house edge. It is the two zeros that give the house a 2/38 edge, or 5.26%.

Introduction

The following table shows the house edge of most casino games. For games partially of skill perfect play is assumed. See below the table for a definition of the house edge.

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Las Vegas wizard deck rules are dealer hits on soft 17, player may double on any two cards, player may not double after splitting, one card to split deviation, no standard. Assuming player plays the house way, playing one on one against dealer, and half of bets odds are as banker.

Casino Game House Edge

Game	Bet/Rules	House Edge	Standard Deviation
Baccarat	Banker	1.06%	0.93
	Player	1.24%	0.95
	Tie	14.36%	2.64
Big Six	$1	11.11%	0.99
	$2	16.67%	1.34
	$5	22.22%	2.02
	$10	18.52%	2.88
	$20	22.22%	3.97
	Joker/Logo	24.07%	5.35
Bonus Six	No insurance	10.42%	5.79
Bonus Six	With insurance	23.83%	6.51
Blackjack^a	Liberal Vegas rules	0.28%	1.15
Caribbean Stud Poker	5.22%	2.24
Casino War	Go to war on ties	2.88%	1.05
	Surrender on ties	3.70%	0.94
	Bet on tie	18.65%	8.32
Catch a Wave	0.50%	d
Craps	Pass/Come	1.41%	1.00
	Don't pass/don't come	1.36%	0.99
	Odds — 4 or 10	0.00%	1.41
	Odds — 5 or 9	0.00%	1.22
	Odds — 6 or 8	0.00%	1.10
	Field (2:1 on 12)	5.56%	1.08
	Field (3:1 on 12)	2.78%	1.14
	Any craps	11.11%	2.51
	Big 6,8	9.09%	1.00
	Hard 4,10	11.11%	2.51
	Hard 6,8	9.09%	2.87
	Place 6,8	1.52%	1.08
	Place 5,9	4.00%	1.18
	Place 4,10	6.67%	1.32
	Place (to lose) 4,10	3.03%	0.69
	2, 12, & all hard hops	13.89%	5.09
	3, 11, & all easy hops	11.11%	3.66
	Any seven	16.67%	1.86
Double Down Stud	2.67%	2.97
Heads Up Hold 'Em	Blind pay table #1 (500-50-10-8-5)	2.36%	4.56
Keno	25%-29%	1.30-46.04
Let it Ride	3.51%	5.17
Pai Gow^c	1.50%	0.75
Pai Gow Poker^c	1.46%	0.75
Pick ’em Poker	0% - 10%	3.87
Red Dog	Six decks	2.80%	1.60
Roulette	Single Zero	2.70%	e
Roulette	Double Zero	5.26%	e
Sic-Bo	2.78%-33.33%	e
Slot Machines	2%-15%^f	8.74^g
Spanish 21	Dealer hits soft 17	0.76%	d
Spanish 21	Dealer stands on soft 17	0.40%	d
Super Fun 21	0.94%	d
Three Card Poker	Pairplus	7.28%	2.85
Three Card Poker	Ante & play	3.37%	1.64
Video Poker	Jacks or Better (Full Pay)	0.46%	4.42
Wild Hold ’em Fold ’em	6.86%	d

Notes

a	Liberal Vegas Strip rules: Dealer stands on soft 17, player may double on any two cards, player may double after splitting, resplit aces, late surrender.
b	Las Vegas single deck rules are dealer hits on soft 17, player may double on any two cards, player may not double after splitting, one card to split aces, no surrender.
c	Assuming player plays the house way, playing one on one against dealer, and half of bets made are as banker.
d	Yet to be determined.
e	Standard deviation depends on bet made.
f	Slot machine range is based on available returns from a major manufacturer
g	Slot machine standard deviation based on just one machine. While this can vary, the standard deviation on slot machines are very high.

House Edge

The house edge is defined as the ratio of the average loss to the initial bet. The house edge is not the ratio of money lost to total money wagered. In some games the beginning wager is not necessarily the ending wager. For example in blackjack, let it ride, and Caribbean stud poker, the player may increase their bet when the odds favor doing so. In these cases the additional money wagered is not figured into the denominator for the purpose of determining the house edge, thus increasing the measure of risk.

The reason that the house edge is relative to the original wager, not the average wager, is that it makes it easier for the player to estimate how much they will lose. For example if a player knows the house edge in blackjack is 0.6% he can assume that for every $10 wager original wager he makes he will lose 6 cents on the average. Most players are not going to know how much their average wager will be in games like blackjack relative to the original wager, thus any statistic based on the average wager would be difficult to apply to real life questions.

The conventional definition can be helpful for players determine how much it will cost them to play, given the information they already know. However the statistic is very biased as a measure of risk. In Caribbean stud poker, for example, the house edge is 5.22%, which is close to that of double zero roulette at 5.26%. However the ratio of average money lost to average money wagered in Caribbean stud is only 2.56%. The player only looking at the house edge may be indifferent between roulette and Caribbean stud poker, based only the house edge. If one wants to compare one game against another I believe it is better to look at the ratio of money lost to money wagered, which would show Caribbean stud poker to be a much better gamble than roulette.

Many other sources do not count ties in the house edge calculation, especially for the Don’t Pass bet in craps and the banker and player bets in baccarat. The rationale is that if a bet isn’t resolved then it should be ignored. I personally opt to include ties although I respect the other definition.

Element of Risk

For purposes of comparing one game to another I would like to propose a different measurement of risk, which I call the 'element of risk.' This measurement is defined as the average loss divided by total money bet. For bets in which the initial bet is always the final bet there would be no difference between this statistic and the house edge. Bets in which there is a difference are listed below.

Element of Risk

Game	Bet	House Edge	Element of Risk
Blackjack	Atlantic City rules	0.43%	0.38%
Bonus 6	No insurance	10.42%	5.41%</

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