Published on February 22, 2026 | 3 min read
Every casino game has a published price, and it is the only number that decides what a session costs over time. The house edge ranges from nothing at all to more than five per cent — and the cheapest games in the building are almost never the ones on the front page of a lobby.
That is not a conspiracy. A cheap game needs a decision from the player and returns less per hour to the operator, which is reason enough for it to sit further down the list.
What each game actually costs
The figures below are long-run averages at standard rules, and they are published rather than secret. The cheapest bet on a casino floor is the odds bet behind a pass line in craps, which carries no house edge at all — it is paid at true odds. Full-pay video poker returns about 99.54 % to perfect play, which is an edge of under half a per cent, and the paytable differs from machine to machine.
Blackjack played from a basic-strategy chart runs around 0.5 % under common rules. Baccarat on the banker is 1.06 %; the tie bet on the same table costs more than 14 % and exists to be avoided. French roulette with the la partage rule, which returns half an even-money stake when zero lands, is 1.35 % — against 2.70 % for single-zero European and 5.26 % for the double-zero American wheel.
The rules matter more than the name. A blackjack table that pays 6:5 on a natural instead of 3:2 adds roughly 1.4 % to the edge, which turns the cheapest game in the house into a mediocre one regardless of how few decks it uses.
| Game | House edge | Why it is rarely promoted |
|---|---|---|
| Craps, odds bet behind the line | 0 % | Pays true odds; needs the pass line first |
| Video poker, full-pay | ~0.46 % | Requires correct holds and the right paytable |
| Blackjack, basic strategy | ~0.5 % | Requires a chart |
| Baccarat, banker | 1.06 % | Slow, and the commission looks off-putting |
| French roulette, la partage | 1.35 % | Fewer tables than the single-zero wheel |
| Craps, pass line | 1.41 % | The table looks complicated |
| European roulette | 2.70 % | Widely promoted — and twice the price of la partage |
| Sic bo | 2.78 % | Unfamiliar outside Asia |
| American roulette | 5.26 % | Promoted as heavily as the European wheel |
| Baccarat, tie | over 14 % | The 8:1 payout does the promoting |
How to use the table
Read it as a price list and nothing more. A low edge is not a way to win — it is a slower rate of loss, which buys more entertainment for the same money. The three entries where a decision actually changes the number are blackjack, video poker and the odds bet in craps; everywhere else no choice a player makes moves it at all.
Two checks take seconds and are worth more than any strategy article. Look at the blackjack felt for what a natural pays, and look at the paytable of the video poker machine in front of you rather than at the name on the cabinet. The biases that make a bad price feel acceptable are the other half of this, the mechanics of odds and certified randomness explain where the number comes from, live betting adds a wider margin on top, and the operator’s own withdrawal terms decide what you can do with a balance once you have one.
Common questions about game selection
Which casino bet has no house edge?
The odds bet placed behind a pass line in craps is paid at true odds and carries no edge. It can only be made alongside the pass line itself, which costs 1.41 %.
Does a low house edge mean I will win?
No. It means a slower average rate of loss. Over any single session the variance decides the outcome; the edge decides the cost of playing for a long time.
Is a single-deck blackjack table better?
Only if it pays 3:2 on a natural. A single-deck table paying 6:5 is worse than an eight-deck table paying 3:2, by roughly a percentage point.