Which Online Casino Game Has The Lowest House Edge?

In this day and age, you can find a huge variety of online casino games and it can often be difficult to decide which one to play. If you’re not deciding which game to play purely based on which is your favorite, then it’s a good idea to consider which games actually give you the best probability of winning.

Firstly, it’s important to note that some casino games involve an element of skill, such as poker, whereas others are purely luck based. Therefore, with skill based games, it is entirely possible to skew the odds in your favor if you are an above-average player. Equally, however, many players achieve a far worse return compared to if they were to play a luck based game as they just get outplayed.

Which Online Casino Game Has The Lowest House Edge?

Therefore, if you truly want to give yourself the best odds at winning a casino game, your best chance is to try to master one of the skill based games, with Poker being the best example. Skill based slots are also slowly being introduced. However, if we put the element of skill aside and look at each game based on the actual overall RTP (return to player), we can see which one is least rigged in the casino’s favour.

It’s no secret that the house always has an edge as this is how they make their money, but what a lot of players don’t know is that the size of this edge varies considerably across different types of games. Here is a short list of the casino games with the smallest house edge:

1) Video Poker: Jacks or Better (Full Pay)

A type of video poker called ‘Jacks or Better’ (Full Pay) has a very low house edge of 0.46% if played using basic strategy, which you will have to learn. As far as house edges go, you will struggle to find one smaller than this on any other type of regular game.

2) Blackjack

Blackjack has the lowest average house edge out of all casino games, with the edge usually only being around 1-2%. However, if you learn and implement basic strategy, you can reduce this edge to about 0.5%, which is a big difference and can even be applied to online blackjack. Basic strategy is essentially a methodology for sizing your bets and for making betting decisions which gives you the statistically best chance of winning.

While the concept of ‘counting cards’ is a known method players can use in land-based casinos to even give them a slight edge over the casino, this isn’t really possible when playing online as most online casinos shuffle the cards after every hand. Even without learning basic strategy the house edge is relatively small, but it is certainly worth learning if you want to give yourself the best winning chance. It’s as simple as following a chart if you’re playing from home.

3) Craps

Craps is a significantly more complicated game, with a wide variety of bet types. However, unlike other types of casino games, there is a huge variance in the house edge across the different bet types. This is why it is difficult to determine the ‘house edge’, because it varies on each different bet type. This is why having a basic strategy is critically important for craps, as certain bets can give the house an edge of 0%, whereas others can exceed 10%!

When using a basic strategy properly, you can reduce the house edge to about 0.8%, but it can be significantly higher if you don’t know what you’re doing. Video or Poker or Blackjack is much easier to learn for beginners, and it is possible to give yourself a great chance of winning as well!

4) Baccarat: 1.06% on the Banker and 1.24% on the Player

Baccarat is a simple yet popular game, whereby players are able to bet on the player, the banker, or a draw, and the hand which is closest to 9 wins. You have a marginally better chance of winning by betting on the banker compared to the player, with the house edge being 1.06% and 1.24% respectively.

5) Certain online slot games

Slots can vary hugely in terms of the return they give to players. The return of each slot game is determined by the developers of the game and will therefore be the same across all casinos so that they can’t be rigged by the casinos themselves. While slots typically have an RTP around 94-96% (giving the house an edge of 4-6%, although this can be even higher), there are slot games which provide an RTP as high as 98%, such as Blood Suckers.

Many online casinos offer sign up bonuses such as free spins or deposit match offers, which increase your odds of winning even more. Therefore it’s a great idea to try to find the ​best slot bonus​ possible in order to give yourself an even higher chance of winning, as these often allow you to play with ‘free money’.

5) European roulette: 2.7%, American roulette 5.26%.

Roulette is one of the most popular roulette games, yet few people know the distinction between European and American roulette. If you want to give yourself the best chance of winning, then you should always choose to play the European version of the game, as there is one less zero.

Overall, however, the casino will always have a slight advantage regardless of what game you decide to play online, but there is nothing wrong with doing everything in your power to tilt the odds as far in your favour as possible. Pick a game, learn the basic strategy if necessary, and enjoy!