Baccarat, Blackjack and Roulette – Payout Odds and House Edges

It’s always a good idea gather as much information as you can when playing classic online casino games. Familiarising yourself with the odds is especially helpful and can help you decide which games offer the best bang for your buck. There are basically two statistics to look out for: payout odds and the house edge.

Payout Odds and the House Edge

Payout odds are percentages that are adjusted by the casinos to give them a slight edge over their customers. If a casino was to observe true odds for say, a game of roulette, it would end up losing money. So to make a profit and remain in operation they apply lower payout rates. For example, the true odds of the ball landing on a specific number during a game of European Roulette stand at one in 37 – however the casino only payouts at a rate of 35 to 1.

House Edge

The house edge describes a casino’s advantage as a percentage which is the average profit that an establishment will make from a player’s bet over the long term (usually one hundred bets). For instance, games of American roulette offer a 5.26% house edge meaning that for every dollar bet, the casino keeps 5¢ and returns 95c to the player.

The house edge is an excellent starting point when you’re looking for a casino game that offers better value for money. With this in mind, here are three classic casino games featuring low house edges together with pay-out rates.

Baccarat (Punto Banco)

Punto Banco is the simplest and most widely played baccarat variant and allows for just three bets: banker, player and tie. Although a banker bet is subject to 5% commission, it’s still the wisest bet to place because it wins 45.8% of the time in comparison to a player’s hand which has a 44.6% success rate.

• Banker Bet – Payout: 1:1 – House Edge: 1.06%
• Player Bet – Payout: 1:1 – House Edge: 1.24%
• Tie Bet – Payout:  8:1 – House Edge: 14.36%

Classic Blackjack

Despite the many variants available, online blackjack offers some of the lowest house edges of all. However, keep in mind that the more decks used, the higher the house advantage. So it’s well worth familiarising yourself with the rules of a specific game before committing your cash.

• Win – Payout: 1:1
• Blackjack – Payout: 3:2
• House Edge – 0.13%

European Roulette

European Roulette offers a far more favourable house edge than its American counterpart because the latter version includes an extra 00 pocket. As mentioned above, this means that American versions feature a 5.26% edge compared to the 2.70% edge offered by European variants. This rate remains the same irrespective of the bet being placed. With that said, the pay-out rates differ significantly:

• Straight-up Bet – Payout: 35: 1
• Split Bet – Payout: 17: 1
• Street Bet – Payout: 11: 1
• Corner Bet – Payout: 8: 1
• Six Line Bet – Payout: 5:1
• Column Bet – Payout: 2:1
• Odd/Even/Red/Black/1-18/19-36 – Payout: 1:1