You don’t have to play casino games for very long to realise that the house edge is the elephant in the room. Online casino forums are bursting with talk about lowering the house edge, or just steering clear from games with a high house edge altogether. If you’re a stickler for a low house edge, you’ll want to read this post, where we’ll have a quick glance at the best casino games you could play with a low house edge.
WHAT IS THE HOUSE EDGE?
Also known as the house advantage, the house edge is the casino’s advantage over the player expressed as a percentage of the player’s bet. In plain terms, this mechanic is an online casino’s way of making money in the long term. For instance, the house edge of American roulette is clocked at 5.26%, making it one of the highest among online casino games.
In certain games, the house edge isn’t fixed — meaning that a player’s gameplay decisions will affect that percentage. One such game is blackjack, where knowledgeable players can use specific strategies to lower the house edge.
BEST CASINO GAMES WITH A LOW HOUSE EDGE
Without further ado, let’s have a look at which online casino games you should look out for if you want to play games with a low house edge.
BLACKJACK
If you’re a blackjack connoisseur who makes the correct decision every time, you can reduce the house edge of this card game to 0.5% — quite an impressive feat, right? Well, that percentage is only achievable if you employ a basic strategy that dictates when you should hit, stand, double down, split, and so on. In contrast, new players will be up against a higher house edge — around 2% — seeing as their gameplay decisions won’t be spotless most of the time.
ROULETTE
As we’ve mentioned earlier, American roulette has one of the highest house edges out there, owing to its double-zero roulette wheel. European roulette, on the other hand, only features one zero, which sees the house edge plummet to around 2.70%. This is precisely why new players are always recommended to play European roulette before dabbling in its American counterpart. Moreover, roulette has many even-money bets, including bets on Odd, Even, Red, Black, 1 to 18 and 19 to 36. Although such bets don’t make for hefty payouts, they significantly reduce the house edge.
CRAPS
The reputation that craps has some of the best odds in table games isn’t unfounded. However, this isn’t to say that some even-money bets aren’t available in this popular table game. In fact, bets like Pass Line/Come and Don’t Pass/Don’t Come pay 1:1, which places the house edge at a lowly 1.41% and 1.36%, respectively.
POKER
If you’re looking for a specific house edge for poker games, you should know that it depends on which variant you’re interested in playing. Caribbean Stud Poker has one of the highest house edges in poker games, standing at 3.70%. Pai Gow Poker’s house edge is around 2.84% (depending on table rules, and can usually be lowered through strategy), while Evolution’s Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker’s house edge stands at around 2.04% on the Ante bet. Since poker heavily relies on skill as well as luck, veterans of this card game will see a lower house edge than new players.
BACCARAT
We simply had to save the best for last! Baccarat’s house edge stands at just 1.06% for those betting on the Banker and 1.24% for those who do so on the Player. Betting on a Tie substantially elevates the house edge, however, since the odds of it happening are quite slim. All in all, if you’re looking for the lowest house edge, you should check out baccarat.
MEGA JOKER SLOT
If we were to mention just one slot game that boasts an extremely low house edge, it would have to be Mega Joker. This NetEnt classic fruit slot has an RTP (Return to Player) of 99% in the bonus round, making it one of the best slots to play if you’re after a low house edge.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
To sum everything up, almost any game that offers an even-money bet will have a low house edge. The riskier bets you try, the higher the house edge will soar. Also, just because a game might have a low house edge doesn’t mean that you’ll see wins more frequently. It simply means that the casino will trim off less of your bets in the long run.
You can find all the games we mentioned in this post at EnergyCasino, so feel free to browse our game portfolio!