What Casino Games Have the Best Odds?

Casino games are primarily designed as a form of entertainment with the added element of chance, making them more exciting. Of course, experienced gamblers know that, in the long run, losing is a far greater reality than winning. Largely successful gamblers know how to pick games based on odds rather than just the entertainment factor alone. 

So, what casino game has the best odds, and what games should you spend your money on? Our guide explores and analyses different casino games, including classics like roulette and blackjack, to find which ones offer the best gambling odds.

Knowing the odds of different games will help you to identify the casino game with the best odds at every casino and could help improve your gaming knowledge of which games to invest in and which ones to avoid. 

Odds are the chances of you winning a given hand or round in a casino game. Some casino games, like most pokies, are purely based on luck and the randomness of every spin. Roulette also relies on the randomness of a wheel, but players can still decide where to place their bets based on the odds of that bet actually winning. 

Blackjack and poker are more skill-based, and players can use various strategies to help increase their chances of winning, thereby slightly reducing the odds against them.

What casino game pays out the most? There are essentially two sides to identifying the best casino game odds:

• House edge
• Return to Player (RTP)

House advantage, or house edge, is a mathematical certainty calculated in every casino game. This is the percentage of how much the casino expects to win from your bet. The higher the house edge, the worse your chances of winning. RTP is the percentage of how much you can expect to win back based on every 100 you spend. The higher the RTP percentage, the better the odds.

Knowing the odds will help you zero in on the best online casino games that give you the best casino payouts:

Casino Game	RTP
Pokies	95% (Avg) – 98/99%
Roulette	French – 98.65% European – 97.4% American – 94.74%
Baccarat	Banker bet – 98.94% Player bet – 98.76% Tie bet – 85.64%
Craps	98.59% (pass/don’t pass  bet)
Video Poker	up to 94.54%
Blackjack	99.69% (playing single-deck games and using basic blackjack strategy)
Keno	71% – 98.75%

Let’s dig a little deeper into what the best games in a casino are and how you can find the best odds casino game that suits your playing budget and your gaming preferences in general. 

For example, everyone loves a good pokie; they’re fun and easy to learn to play, but is it the game with the best odds in a casino? What about roulette? It’s a little more complicated to learn, but can it deliver better odds in the long run?

Most would probably say the game with the best odds in casino gaming is blackjack. To answer these questions, work your way through our list of top five casino games based on odds:

Odds of Winning Pokies

Online poker is arguably the most popular of all casino games but can vary quite widely in odds. Knowing how to choose great online pokies based on odds (RTP%) can save you time by narrowing down the field and only playing pokies with the best odds. 

Generally, pokies odds range from around 85% to over 96%, depending on various game features, bonus features, jackpot rounds, etc. Choosing pokies with higher RTPs means that, for every AU$100 that you put into a machine rated at 96%, you can expect to get back AU$96, but keep in mind that the odds will begin to count against you the longer you play.

Odds of Winning Roulette

It’s important to know that there are three main variations of roulette:

• French roulette
• European roulette
• American roulette

Which one you choose to play will certainly strongly influence your odds of success, particularly over the shorter term. American roulette offers the worst odds out of all three, with a house edge of 5.26%, thanks to adding the infamous ‘00’ position on the wheel and the standard 0 position. This effectively puts your RTP at 94.74%, considerably lower than the French and European versions of roulette. 

French roulette is often favoured as it features the highest RTP of 98.65% thanks to great game features like La Partage, which gives you 50% back if your ball lands in the zero pocket. European roulette is an adaptation of French roulette without the La Partage rule and some other rules. This puts it behind French roulette and has a house edge of 2.70%, yielding an RTP of 97.4%.

Odds of Winning Baccarat 

The best online casinos will always feature several great baccarat variations, one of the most popular being Punto Banco. In Punto Banco baccarat, you have three betting options to choose from:

1. Bet on the Player position
2. Bet on the Banker position
3. Bet on a Tie

Statistically speaking, the best of the three betting options is to bet on the banker position as it comes in more often than the other two. When betting on the banker, you’ll need to pay a commission of 5% on a winning bet. This effectively takes the house edge down to 1.06% but still gives you a very high RTP of 98.94%.

On the other hand, betting on the player position will yield an RTP of 98.76%, slightly lower than the banker bet but still a good bet. The Tie bet is the bet to avoid if you’re looking for good odds betting. This bet offers a very low RTP of just 85.64%, so it’s a bet best avoided. 

Odds of Winning Craps 

Despite its rather complex-looking table, craps is a pretty easy game to play. The name of the game in craps is to bet on the dice roll of other players, and there are many betting options available. However, the real trick to successful craps betting is knowing which bet or bets yields the lowest house edge and higher RTP. 

You’re looking for either the Don’t Pass or the Don’t Come bet, which carries a low house edge of just 1.402% and a desirable RTP of 98.59%. Making this bet regularly gives you the best odds of winning craps. At the same time, it’s best to avoid other craps bets such as betting on Field bets, specific number bets, Big bets and Hardways bets. These all come with a much higher house edge of 5% or more and, consequently, a much lower RTP. 

Odds of Winning Blackjack

Arguably the star of the show at any casino, the blackjack table is always popular for many reasons. You’ll find plenty of interesting and challenging blackjack variations, but playing the single deck game will give you the best odds of winning. Almost all forms of blackjack will offer a very low house edge of around 2% or less, depending on the version you’re playing. 

Of all versions, single-deck blackjack has an RTP of around 99.69%, making it one of the most popular versions of blackjack to play online. Blackjack Surrender, popular at live dealer casinos, offers a slightly higher RTP of 99.82%. Of course, blackjack requires a fair amount of skill for best results. That means learning and implementing basic blackjack strategies and practising various card deals in a demo mode of the game you intend to play for real money.