What Casino Games Offer the Best House Edge Online?

Posted by Harry Kane on Tuesday, August 11, 2020

If you’re a seasoned casino goer (either on or offline), you’ll undoubtedly have heard of the term ‘house edge’. This refers to a casino’s profit expressed as the percentage of a player’s original bet, and it varies wildly from one game and iteration to another.

Of course, the house edge can also be used interchangeably with the so-called ‘return-to-player’ (RTP) rate, which refers to the average amount of cash that a player can expect to recoup from every £1 spent when playing a particular game (we’ll have a little more on this later).

In this post, we’ll look at the various house edges offered by specific games, while asking which ones can deliver the highest rewards over an extended period of time.

1. Slots – Do They Rule the Roost?

In many ways, slot games continue to dominate the iGaming market in the UK. This is borne out by the numbers, with the figures from 2017 suggesting that slots generated a staggering 64.5% of the UK’s total iGaming GGY.

To put this into context, table games contribute just 15.8% to the UK’s cumulative online GGY, despite the fact that this is the second most lucrative vertical for operators.

Interestingly, top slots are also marketed on the basis of their unique RTP rate, with certified, low variance slots offering returns in excess of 97% for every pound wagered in some instances.

A select few slots also offer an RTP rate in excess of 99%, while medium and high variance titles tend to offer variable returns between 90% and 96% respectively.

Now, to calculate each unique slot’s house edge, we need to subtract its RTP rate from a value of 100%. This raises some stark observations about the average house edge for slot games, which are often considered to be amongst the most competitive in the iGaming space.

However, even if we consider certified, low variance slots with an RTP rate of 97%, this creates a house edge of 3%. Now, while this may not seem particularly high, it does not compare favourably with basic iterations of blackjack or even European Roulette (2.7%).

Of course, the same rule doesn’t apply for slots with an RTP rate of 99%, but such games are few and far between online.

In the case of high-variance slots (which can feature RTP rates as low as 90% and tend to prioritise the size of individual wins over their frequency), the house edge can increase as high as 10%.

This broad range of house edges is far from ideal from the perspective of value and optimising returns, particularly when compared with some of the alternative operations on the iGaming market.

2. Craps and Baccarat – Offering Surprisingly Competitive House Edges

We touched earlier on table games such as roulette, with the European and American iterations of this game offering respective house edges of 2.7% and 5.2% on average.

However, it’s interesting to note that the older table game classics are often the ones that offer the best possible value, with craps and baccarat providing relevant cases in point.

Craps is arguably the ultimate game of chance, and one that combines relatively complex rules with a surprisingly competitive house edge.

While the large number of rules and potential betting options available to players can be off-putting for some, however, it’s possible to simplify the proposition by committing almost exclusively to the universally popular ‘don’t pass’ or ‘don’t come’ wagers.

This also maintains a noticeably low house edge of 1.4%, which makes the game one of the most rewarding and player-friendly options available online.

In the case of baccarat, players can enjoy far more simplistic basic gameplay, despite the presence of several optional side bets. More specifically, players are able to focus primarily on either backing the player or betting on the banker at the beginning of each hand, creating a variable house edge that fluctuates between 1.2% and 1%.

These also represent genuinely low and competitive house edges, which can drive sustained returns over an extended period of time.

3. Blackjack and Video Poker – Exploring the Negative Edge

Given that the house edge exists to guarantee a profit for online casinos, it would seem counterintuitive for some games to offer a so-called ‘negative edge’.

While this is indeed incredibly rare, however, there are specific instances and game iterations that can deliver a negative edge to players and help them to recoup more than the amount that they commit as a portion of their bankroll.

This phenomenon can be found in various iterations of online blackjack, for example, particularly those with specific rules.

For example, let’s say that you find a two-deck version of blackjack that features the so-called ‘Early Surrender’ rule. Usually, a two-deck blackjack game features a house edge of 0.46%, based on the concept of the player adopting the perfect iteration of basic strategy.

However, the optional ‘Early Surrender’ rule enables players to exit a particular hand and forfeit the right to continue in exchange for half of their initial stake.

This can curb losses by as much as 50% and is thought to trigger a 0.6% reduction in an operator’s edge overall, which in the case of a game with a starting edge of 0.46% actually turns the odds in the player’s favour.

Even eight-deck iterations feature an average house edge of 0.68%, this type of rule could reduce the edge to 0.08% and dramatically change the experience available to players.

A similar principle can also be applied to online video poker, with games such as Deuces Wild offering an in-built advantage to players.

In most cases, the RTP rate associated with this game is estimated at 100.76%, which enables those who play well and regularly to beat the house and boost their bankroll considerably over time!

Obviously, you should strive to practice and prioritise these games as a player, while creating a viable strategy that can help you to minimise losses further.