Casino games for real money: what each one costs you
Every casino game pays real money, and every one of them charges for it. The charge is the house edge, and it runs from under half a percent to over 14 percent depending on what you play and how. Pick the game first, then the casino.
A price on every game
People ask which casino games pay real money. All of them do, at a real-money casino; the better question is what each one costs. A casino doesn't win by luck. It wins because every bet on the floor pays a little less than the true odds, and the gap is the house edge. Seen from your side it's the RTP: a game with a 2.70% edge returns 97.30% of what you put through it, on average, over a long run.
The edge is per bet, which is why it sounds small. Put $1,000 through a game at 2.70% over an evening and the expected cost is $27. Put the same $1,000 through at 5.26% and it's about $53. Same game, same table, double the price, and that's the whole reason I'd read the rules before I sat down.
The games, cheapest first
These are the standard versions, worked out in our casino guides. Where the rules change, so does the edge.
| Game and bet | House edge | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Video poker, 9/6 Jacks or Better, perfect play | 0.46% | Video poker |
| Blackjack, good rules, correct play | about 0.5% | Blackjack |
| Baccarat, banker (5% commission) | 1.06% | Baccarat |
| Baccarat, player | 1.24% | Baccarat |
| Craps, pass line | 1.41% | Craps |
| Roulette, single zero | 2.70% | Roulette |
| Video poker, 8/5 Jacks or Better | 2.70% | Video poker |
| Roulette, double zero | 5.26% | Roulette |
| Baccarat, tie at 8 to 1 | 14.36% | Baccarat |
Blackjack is the one where you change the price yourself. Play it well at a table paying 3 to 2 and the house keeps about half a percent. Sit at a 6 to 5 table and you hand back three-tenths of your bet on every natural, about 1.4% of everything you bet on top of the rest. I wouldn't play 6 to 5 at all.
Craps gets cheaper the more you know. The pass line costs 1.41%, and taking odds behind it, which pay at true odds, brings the whole bet down to about 0.61% at 2x odds and about 0.37% at 3x, 4x and 5x. The proposition bets in the middle of the layout are where the house makes its money (any seven is 16.67%).
Video poker is a game you read before you play. The pay table on the machine tells you the price: a 9/6 Jacks or Better machine returns 99.54% with perfect play, an 8/5 one 97.30%. They look the same from across the room.
Slots don't print their price at all, except in the help screen of the game, where a decent studio puts the RTP. A slot set at 92% keeps 8% of everything you spin through it, and because a slot spins fast, that's the game where a small edge turns into a big bill in an hour. The slots guide works out what that means in dollars, and the jackpots guide explains who really pays for a progressive's meter (the players who don't hit it).
Live dealers
A live dealer table is the same game dealt by a person on a camera, so the edge is whatever the rules make it: 2.70% on a single-zero wheel, 5.26% on a double-zero one. What changes is the pace, which is slower than a computer table, and that's in your favour, because you put less through the edge per hour. The live dealers guide covers how the tables work.
Eight of our nine casino reviews found live dealer games. Bovada Casino runs blackjack, roulette and game shows, with European roulette limits from $1-$300 to $10-$3,000. BetNow Casino says "100 live games" of blackjack, roulette and baccarat, at $1 to $2,500. Bookie.ag Casino streams VIG Live Dealer blackjack and baccarat from an 8-deck shoe. MyBookie Casino and Xbet Casino list blackjack, roulette and baccarat, and YouWager Casino adds Lightning roulette and casino poker. BookMaker Casino and JustBet Casino have a live dealer room without saying much about it. Everygame Casino didn't describe one on any page we read. The live dealer casinos list keeps them together.
Slots at our casinos
All nine carry slots, and none of them publishes its slots' returns in one place, so the help screen of each game is where you'll find the price. Counts vary, and not always between casinos: Bovada's own pages give over 1,000, over 470 and over 300. Bookie.ag is the one that names its studios (Betsoft, Amatic, Play'n GO and Pragmatic Play among them), and Everygame runs a single studio's catalogue. The slots list has the rest.
What I'd play
If I wanted the cheapest game in the house I'd play 9/6 video poker or good-rules blackjack, and learn the strategy first. If I wanted a slow night I'd pick a live single-zero roulette table at a low limit. Whatever you choose, the edge is the rent, and you pay it every hand. Decide the night's number before you start, and see responsible gambling if you need help keeping to it.