Gambling is all about luck and chance. While luck is an abstract thing, chance is a value you can calculate. Using math to determine just how big of a chance you have at winning a certain game is simple, yet way too many gamblers forget about it and just focus on luck. Which leads to them overspending on games that literally are offering less chances of winning than they think. This is where house edge, one of the most important numbers in the gambling industry, comes into the spotlight.

Before diving into the term and talking about its features, remember this: no matter how low or how big the house edge is on a certain game, the luck aspect of things cannot be influenced by the house edge. Luck is something you grasp once in a while. In the meantime, it all comes down to responsible gambling, knowing the house edge of the game and how much of a difference a good house edge can make for your gambling experience.

What is house edge

House edge is a percent. It is calculated by how many chances the house has against you in a certain game of blackjack, roulette and so on. When you say house edge, the best numbers to look after are the small ones. The smaller the house edge, the better the chances for you to win at a certain game. Some games have different house edges overall, while others differ according to what you’re betting on.

Let’s take blackjack as an example, which is one of the most popular casino games in the online and in the traditional brick and mortar casinos. Blackjack can have two possible outcomes: either you win the hand and therefore are closer to 21 than the house or you lose and are further from 21 than the house’s hand. Whatever the case, the house edge, the advantage the house has over you just by organising the game is extremely low.

That is why blackjack is so popular. By having a house edge of between 0.4% and 2.5% gamblers see it as a great opportunity not just for fun but also for making some real money. By comparison, the house edge at roulette is over 5%, while betting on a few items on the reel can bump the edge of the particular bet up to 14% or even more.

House edge on provably fair vs. traditional casinos

There’s a big discrepancy between house edges on regular vs. provably fair casinos. While the house edge on a normal casino does vary from game to game, and also from bet to bet on provably fair casinos the house edge is usually lower than 1% regardless of platform, game or any bet you might go for.

This is one of the most important incentives provably fair casinos offer to new players who want to earn as much money as possible. House edge on a game of dice is between 0.4% and 1% on the blockchain game. On a traditional casino, the house edge of a dice game can go up to 3.5% depending on the platform you’re about to play on.

House edge based on popular games

Slots are some of the games you can find on both the traditional and the provably fair casinos. While you can find house edges ranging from 3% to 10% on traditional casinos, on provably fair ones there’s no house edge higher than 1% even with slots. This means 99% of the money players are putting into a slot go back to the players. Not to the same players, of course, but to all players who are playing the game in a certain time frame.

Blackjack has one of the lowest house edges in the industry, ranging from 0.4% to 2.5%. This means you have a great chance at winning at least theoretically. Practically, the chance of you winning is 50% at all time because the chances you’ve had on a previous hand are nullified the moment the hand is over. Roulette offers a house edge of 5.25%, while one of the highest house edges in the business is found at Big Six, at 15.54%.

How to beat the house end its edge

House edges cannot be beaten. The more you try, the more you’ll see the truth. And the truth is, regardless of how amazing of a gambler you are, the house edge is there for a reason, and that is for the casino to never lose money. If you were to play a $100 bill and win 100.000 from it, if you were to continue to play you will always end up losing everything because of the house edge, which means it doesn’t matter how big or small it is.

The thing to keep in mind is this: no matter what strategies you use for trying to beat the house, you will never be able to win it over. The percentage is not that important. Which is why the only strategy that works for beating the house at blackjack, baccarat or slots is the “less is more” strategy. This works by setting up a budget beforehand and stick to it regardless if you win or lose money.

If you say you’ll play blackjack for $100 and step out of the game when you double your money, the moment you hit $200 you have to leave the table for the strategy to be considered successful. In that moment you’ve somewhat beaten the house edge because the percentage of winnings the house is taking from players hasn’t affected you that much, although you probably lost some hands in the process.

If you continue to play and break your own rules, chances are you’ll end up with zero dollars. Not only that but you’ll also eventually end up overspending on gambling, which can lead to serious financial problems and addiction to poker games of all sorts.