The house edge is the percentage of every peso wagered that a casino expects to keep over the long run. A 2% house edge means that across millions of bets the game returns ₱98 for every ₱100 staked. It is not a fee taken from your bet — it is a small tilt built into the payouts.
Every casino game pays out slightly less than the true odds of the event you bet on. That gap is the house edge, and it is the entire commercial model of the industry. Understanding it changes how you choose games, because the difference between a good bet and a bad one is often larger than most players assume.
How is the house edge actually calculated?
Take a single number on a European roulette wheel. There are 37 pockets, so the chance of hitting your number is 1 in 37. Fair odds would pay 36 to 1. The table pays 35 to 1.
That one-unit shortfall, spread across 37 spins, is the edge: 1 ÷ 37 = 2.70%. Nothing is deducted from your stake, and no commission is charged. The number is simply smaller than it should be, and that is enough.
The house edge is a long-run average, not a schedule. It does not mean you lose 2.70% of each spin. You either win 35 units or lose 1. The percentage only emerges over a very large number of trials.
What is the house edge on the main casino games?
The spread is wider than most players expect. These figures assume standard rules and correct play where a decision is involved.
| Game / bet | House edge |
|---|---|
| Blackjack, basic strategy | about 0.5% |
| Baccarat, banker | 1.06% |
| Baccarat, player | 1.24% |
| Craps, pass line | 1.41% |
| Roulette, European single zero | 2.70% |
| Sic bo, small or big | 2.78% |
| Dragon Tiger, dragon or tiger | about 3.7% |
| Roulette, American double zero | 5.26% |
| Online slots, typical | 2% to 8% |
| Baccarat, tie | 14.36% |
| Sic bo, specific double | 18.52% |
The bottom of that table is worth staring at. The tie bet costs more than thirteen times what the banker bet costs at the same table, dealt from the same shoe, in the same round. Choosing between them is a bigger decision than choosing between games.
Is the house edge the same thing as RTP?
They are two ways of writing one number. Return to player is what the game gives back; the house edge is what it keeps. They always sum to 100%.
A slot advertised at 96% RTP has a 4% house edge. A blackjack table with a 0.5% edge has an RTP of 99.5%. Slots tend to be quoted as RTP because a large percentage sounds appealing, while table games are traditionally described by their edge. For how to find that figure on a specific game, see slot RTP explained.
Why does the house edge not predict my session?
Because variance dominates short runs. The house edge is the average of a distribution, and individual sessions scatter widely around that average — often far enough that the edge is invisible.
Play 100 spins of European roulette on a single number and the most likely outcome is that you hit twice or three times. Hit four times and you are well ahead despite the 2.70% edge. Hit none and you are down 100 units. Neither result tells you anything about whether the game is fair.
This is why the house edge is a tool for choosing games rather than predicting outcomes. It tells you which bets treat you better over time. It says nothing about tonight.
How much does the house edge cost per hour?
Multiply the edge by how much you stake, not by how much you deposit. This is the calculation most players skip, and it is the one that matters.
A player betting ₱100 per hand at 60 hands an hour stakes ₱6,000 per hour. At a 1.06% edge that is an expected cost of about ₱64 an hour. At a 14.36% edge on tie bets, the same activity costs about ₱862 an hour.
Note that the stake figure counts re-wagered winnings too. A ₱1,000 balance played through twenty times has staked ₱20,000, and the house edge applies to all of it. Two players who deposit the same amount can face very different expected costs depending purely on how fast and how long they play.
Can the house edge ever be zero or negative?
In a well-run casino, no. Games are designed and independently tested to hold a positive margin, and the testing houses that certify them verify the payout tables produce the stated figure. Gaming Laboratories International publishes the standards this testing works against.
What does exist is promotional value that temporarily offsets the edge — a rebate or a bonus can, on paper, push the expected return above 100% for the duration of the offer. That is a marketing cost, not a flaw in the game, and it comes with wagering conditions that usually reclaim it.
The other thing that does not change it is a betting system. Doubling after a loss, following streaks, or waiting for a pattern all reshape the distribution of your results without touching the underlying maths. We looked at why in whether slots are due to hit.
What should you do with this number?
Use it to pick bets, and to set expectations. Two habits follow naturally from understanding the house edge.
- Prefer the low-edge bet at whatever table you are at. Banker over tie in baccarat, small or big over triples in sic bo, outside bets over long-shot inside bets in roulette.
- Treat the expected hourly cost as the price of the entertainment. If that number is comfortable, the session is affordable. If it is not, lower the stake rather than chasing it back.
One more comparison makes the point concrete. A player who moves from American roulette at 5.26% to the European wheel at 2.70% has halved the long-run cost of the same game, with no change to how it is played and no skill required. Very few decisions in gambling are that cheap or that effective.
This is honest arithmetic, published and independently testable. Knowing it is the difference between playing a game and guessing at one.