What the house edge is
The house edge is the casino’s built-in mathematical advantage on a game – the percentage of each bet it expects to keep over the long run. A game with a 4% house edge is expected to keep A$4 of every A$100 wagered. It is simply the flip side of RTP: a 96% RTP game has a 4% house edge, because RTP + house edge = 100%.
This margin is not cheating or luck – it is designed into the rules of every game, from the single zero on a roulette wheel to the pay table on a pokie. It is how the casino stays in business.
House edge by game
| Game | House edge | RTP |
|---|---|---|
| 9/6 video poker | ~0.46% | 99.54% |
| Blackjack (basic strategy) | ~0.5% | 99.5% |
| Baccarat (banker) | ~1.06% | 98.94% |
| Craps (pass/don’t pass) | ~1.4% | ~98.6% |
| European roulette | 2.7% | 97.3% |
| American roulette | 5.3% | 94.7% |
| Online pokies | 3–6% | 94–97% |
The pattern is clear: skill-based table games played correctly have the lowest edge, pokies sit higher, and a few bets (American roulette, pokie side bets, prop bets) are best avoided entirely.
Why the edge always wins over time
The house edge works through repetition. On any single bet, anyone can win – that is variance, and it is why people do hit big wins. But the more bets are placed, the more tightly results cluster around the game’s RTP, and the casino’s small per-bet margin becomes a reliable profit across millions of bets.
This is also why turnover matters more than deposit size. If you deposit A$100 and bet it, win some, and re-bet, you might wager A$500 or A$1,000 in total. The edge applies to all of it, not just your original deposit – which is exactly how a bonus with high wagering can quietly cost you more than it pays.
How to keep the edge low
- Choose low-edge games: blackjack, video poker and baccarat over high-edge pokies and side bets.
- Play them correctly: blackjack’s 0.5% edge assumes perfect basic strategy; sloppy play can triple it. See our blackjack strategy guide.
- Avoid the worst bets: American roulette, most prop and side bets, and insurance.
- Bet within a budget: the edge is unavoidable, so the real control is how much you put through it.
Expected cost at different turnover levels
The quickest way to compare games is to multiply turnover by the house edge:
Expected theoretical cost = turnover × house edge
| Game or bet | Approx. edge | Cost over A$100 | Cost over A$1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/6 Jacks or Better, perfect strategy | 0.46% | A$0.46 | A$4.60 |
| Blackjack, favourable rules and basic strategy | 0.5% | A$0.50 | A$5 |
| Baccarat banker | 1.06% | A$1.06 | A$10.60 |
| French roulette even-money bet with La Partage | 1.35% | A$1.35 | A$13.50 |
| European roulette | 2.70% | A$2.70 | A$27 |
| 96% RTP pokie | 4% | A$4 | A$40 |
| American roulette | 5.26% | A$5.26 | A$52.60 |
The figures are mathematical expectations across repeated play, not guaranteed session losses. Short-term variance can overwhelm the average. Their value is comparison: putting A$1,000 through a 0.5% game carries roughly one-tenth the theoretical cost of a 5% game.
Why speed changes the real cost per hour
House edge is charged through action, not time. A slower game can cost less per hour even when its percentage is higher, simply because fewer bets are placed.
Suppose one game has a 2% edge and you wager A$5 sixty times in an hour. Turnover is A$300, producing an expected cost of A$6. Another game has a 4% edge but you make only twenty A$5 bets, creating A$100 turnover and an expected cost of A$4. The second percentage is worse, yet the slower session has the lower expected hourly cost.
Autoplay, turbo modes and rapid bonus buys increase the number of decisions without improving any probability. If controlling spend matters, reducing speed and stake can be as important as selecting the lower edge.
Rules can move the edge
The game name alone is not enough. Blackjack’s low edge assumes basic strategy and favourable rules. A 6:5 blackjack payout, restricted doubling or a dealer hitting soft 17 all increase the house advantage. In video poker, a 9/6 pay table can be substantially better than an 8/5 version that looks almost identical.
Roulette is simpler: the extra 00 on an American wheel raises the edge from 2.70% to 5.26%. French rules such as La Partage can reduce the edge on even-money bets to 1.35%. Pokies express the same idea through configurable RTP versions.
Side bets deserve extra attention. They often advertise exciting payouts but carry a much larger edge than the main game. Blackjack insurance is a separate wager, not protection for the original hand; roulette’s standard bets share the wheel edge, but unusual multipliers may use different rules.
House edge does not predict the next result
A 1% edge does not mean losing exactly A$1 from the next A$100. You may win, break even or lose the full amount. The percentage describes the average retained by the house across a very large sample.
That distinction explains why a casino can offer occasional large winners and still remain profitable. Players experience variance individually; the operator collects the edge across many players and bets. More play gives the average more opportunity to emerge, which is why no staking pattern removes a negative expectation.
A practical comparison checklist
Before choosing a game, check the exact rules, convert RTP to house edge, estimate your planned turnover and include the speed of play. Then ask whether the entertainment is worth that expected cost. If two games are equally enjoyable, the lower edge is the better-value choice.
Do not use the expected-loss calculation as a spending target. A session can lose much more than the average, so the actual limit must be an amount you can afford to lose completely.
House edge in one line
The house edge is the casino’s guaranteed long-run margin – the opposite of RTP – and it compounds with every bet you place. You cannot beat it over time, but choosing low-edge games and setting a budget keeps the cost down. If gambling stops being fun, call Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858.
