House edge explained: how every casino game pays short of the odds
Every casino bet pays slightly less than its true odds, and that small gap is the house edge. Here is where it comes from, how to work it out, what it costs per hour and how big it is on each game.
What the house edge is
The house edge is the average share of each stake that a bet keeps for the casino. It is not a fee or a cut of your winnings but part of the payout itself: each winning bet is paid a little less than the risk justifies, and over thousands of bets that shortfall settles into a steady percentage.
A figure of 2.70% on European roulette means that, across a very long run of spins, the wheel returns about 97.3p of every pound staked on it. Any single spin can win or lose. The figure is the same at £1 or £1,000 a spin.
How the house edge is calculated
Every figure on this site comes from one short sum: multiply the probability of each result by what it pays (a loss counts as minus the stake) and add them up. That is the expected return per pound staked, and when it is negative, its size is the house edge.
Roulette: one number on a European wheel
A straight-up bet covers one of 37 pockets and pays 35 to 1. The expected return is 1/37 × 35 − 36/37 × 1 = −1/37, so the bet loses 2.70p per pound on average, a house edge of 2.70%. A fair payout would be 36 to 1; the green zero is the whole margin. On the roulette odds page the same sum runs for every bet on all three wheels.
Craps: the pass line
Two dice give 36 equally likely combinations. The pass line wins at once on 7 or 11 (8 combinations) and loses on 2, 3 or 12 (4 combinations). Any other total becomes the point, and the bet then wins only if the point is rolled again before a 7. Adding each point's chance of appearing times its chance of repeating first gives a win probability of 244/495, or 49.29%. The bet pays even money, so the edge is 1 − 2 × 244/495 = 7/495, which is 1.41%. Every other bet is on the craps odds page.
Baccarat: the banker bet
Counting every deal from an eight-deck shoe, banker wins 45.86% of hands, player 44.62% and the tie 9.52%. A winning banker bet pays even money less a 5% commission, and a tie hands the stake back. That gives 0.4586 × 0.95 − 0.4462 = -0.0106, a house edge of 1.06%. The player and tie bets are on the baccarat odds page.
House edge, RTP and hold
Return to player (RTP) is the mirror image of the house edge: the share of stakes a game pays back over the long run. The two always add to 100%. A 96% slot and a bet with a 4% edge are priced the same. Most UK online slots sit between 94% and 97% RTP; the slot machine odds page explains volatility and hit rate.
Hold is not the edge. It is the share of the money players bring to a table that the casino ends up keeping, and it is usually much larger, because winnings get staked again. Bring £100 to a European wheel, bet £10 a spin for 40 spins and you have staked £400. The expected cost is 2.70% of £400, or £10.80, which is 10.8% of the £100 you brought. The same money was simply bet four times.
Edge × speed × stake: what an hour costs
The edge is a price per pound staked, so what a session costs depends on how many pounds cross the table: stake, speed and edge together.
The speeds below are our assumptions for a typical session, not measurements of any venue; real paces vary with the players, the dealer and automation. Doubles and splits at blackjack are left out.
| Game and bet | Stake | Bets an hour (assumed) | Staked | House edge | Average cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack, best play (3:2) | £10.00 | 60 | £600.00 | 0.57% | £3.42 |
| Baccarat, banker | £10.00 | 70 | £700.00 | 1.06% | £7.42 |
| Craps, pass line | £10.00 | 30 | £300.00 | 1.41% | £4.23 |
| European roulette, live table | £10.00 | 40 | £400.00 | 2.70% | £10.80 |
| European roulette, automated | £10.00 | 100 | £1,000.00 | 2.70% | £27.00 |
| American roulette, live table | £10.00 | 40 | £400.00 | 5.26% | £21.04 |
| A slot with 96% RTP | £1.00 | 600 | £600.00 | 4% | £24.00 |
| Baccarat, tie | £10.00 | 70 | £700.00 | 14.36% | £100.52 |
Look at two rows. The automated European wheel has the same 2.70% edge as the live table, but at 100 spins an hour instead of 40 it costs £27.00 rather than £10.80. And the slot, at just £1 a spin, costs £24.00 an hour because 600 spins add up to £600.00 staked. The RTP calculator and the roulette odds calculator let you put in your own stake and pace.
Games of skill and games of chance
On roulette, craps, baccarat and slots you can only choose which bet to make. Blackjack is different, because you decide after seeing cards. Play every hand the mathematically best way and the edge on a standard table falls to about 0.57%. The rules move it too: a dealer who hits soft 17 takes it to 0.79%, and a table paying 6 to 5 for a blackjack pushes it to 1.92%. The blackjack odds page and the blackjack calculator show the best move for each hand.
Poker has no house edge at all. You play the other players, and the room charges a fee: a small cut of each pot, or a charge per hour or per tournament. What stays fixed is the probability of the cards, which the poker odds page and our hand-versus-hand calculator set out.
Why the house edge exists
A casino has staff, premises, licences and taxes to pay for, and cannot choose who wins any round. The dependable way to cover those costs is to price every bet so that, across all players and rounds, a small share of stakes stays behind. At true odds its expected result would be zero.
The law of large numbers does the rest: over a few bets results swing widely; over millions, the share kept settles very close to the edge. That is why the edge matters to you mainly as a price, not as a prediction of what happens next.
Every bet we cover, from the lowest edge to the highest
RTP is 100% minus the edge. Chance to win counts a push or tie as not winning.
| Game and bet | House edge | RTP | Chance to win |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack: Best play, 3:2, dealer stands on soft 17 (infinite deck; moves with the table rules) | 0.57% | 99.43% | 43.3% |
| Baccarat: Banker (5% commission) | 1.06% | 98.94% | 45.9% |
| Baccarat: Player | 1.24% | 98.76% | 44.6% |
| Roulette: French, even money with La Partage | 1.35% | 98.65% | 48.6% |
| Craps: Don't pass | 1.36% | 98.64% | varies |
| Craps: Pass line | 1.41% | 98.59% | 49.3% |
| Craps: Place 6 or 8 | 1.52% | 98.48% | 45.5% |
| Blackjack: The same table paying 6:5 | 1.92% | 98.08% | 43.3% |
| Roulette: European, red or black | 2.70% | 97.30% | 48.6% |
| Roulette: European, single number | 2.70% | 97.30% | 2.7% |
| Slots: A slot with 96% RTP (set by each game; UK slots mostly 94% to 97%) | 4% | 96.00% | varies |
| Roulette: American, red or black | 5.26% | 94.74% | 47.4% |
| Roulette: American, top line (0, 00, 1, 2, 3) | 7.89% | 92.11% | 13.2% |
| Craps: Hard 6 or 8 | 9.09% | 90.91% | 9.1% |
| Baccarat: Tie (pays 8 to 1) | 14.36% | 85.64% | 9.5% |
| Craps: Any seven | 16.67% | 83.33% | 16.7% |
Knowing the edge makes gambling a known price rather than a hidden one, but it is still a price you pay. If you are staking more than you meant to, or chasing money back, our responsible gambling page lists free, confidential help in the UK.
Where to go next
House edge: questions people ask
What does house edge mean?
The house edge is the share of every stake that a casino bet keeps on average over a very long run. On a European wheel it is 2.70%, so about £97.30 of every £100 staked comes back on average.
Which casino game has the lowest house edge?
Blackjack played by the book, at about 0.57% on a table that pays 3 to 2 and lets the dealer stand on soft 17. Close behind are the baccarat banker bet (1.06%), the craps don't pass and pass lines (1.36% and 1.41%) and even-money bets on French roulette with La Partage (1.35%).
Is the house edge the same as RTP?
RTP is the share of stakes paid back and the house edge the share kept, so the two always add up to 100%, so a slot with 96% RTP has a 4% house edge.
Why is the hold bigger than the house edge?
Hold measures what the casino keeps out of the money players bring, not out of the money they stake. Because winnings are staked again, £100 brought to a table can easily become £400 staked, and 2.70% of £400 is 10.8% of the £100.
Can you beat the house edge?
Not on a game of pure chance: no system or timing changes what a bet pays against its true chance. Good blackjack decisions lower the edge to about 0.57%, and poker has no house edge because you play the other players.
Does the house edge apply to every bet or only to losses?
To every bet, win or lose. The edge is an average across all the results a bet can have, so it is a charge on the total you stake, not on the money in your pocket.
Why do some bets on the same table have different house edges?
Each bet has its own payout and its own chance. On an American wheel almost every bet keeps 5.26%, but the top line (0, 00, 1, 2 and 3) keeps 7.89%. At craps the pass line keeps 1.41% while any seven keeps 16.67%, on the same dice.
How are the house edge figures on this site worked out?
From the rules of each game: the true probability of every result against what the bet pays. Pockets and dice are counted, baccarat comes from the full eight-deck shoe and blackjack from an exact calculation of every hand. The how we calculate page sets out each method.