The Question Behind the Reddit Thread
When someone asks which casino game has the best odds, they are usually trying to find the game where their money lasts longest or where the built-in disadvantage is smallest. The honest answer is that no single game title wins this contest. The odds live in the specific bet you place, the rule set on the table in front of you, and how many decisions you make per hour. A game with a famously low edge can still drain a bankroll quickly if you play the wrong bet inside it, and a game with a higher edge can be cheaper per hour if you play slowly and choose carefully.
Reddit threads on this topic tend to name the same few games, but the reasoning behind those names matters more than the names themselves. The useful question is not "which game" but "which bet, under which rules, at what speed." That is the question this article answers.
House Edge and RTP Are the Same Relationship Seen From Two Sides
Every casino game carries a mathematical advantage for the operator. That advantage is called the house edge, and it is expressed as a percentage of each wager. The complement of that percentage is the return to player, or RTP: the theoretical portion of total wagered money a game returns to players over a very large number of spins or hands. The two figures always sum to 100% for the same bet under the same rule set.
This matters because Reddit arguments about "best odds" often mix the two numbers up. A game with a high RTP is the same thing as a game with a low house edge, but only when both figures describe the same bet. A slot machine's published RTP covers the whole game across all its spins and features. A blackjack table's edge depends on the exact rules and on how the player plays each hand. Comparing a slot RTP to a blackjack house edge is not a like-for-like comparison, even though both numbers look like percentages.
What the edge means in practice is simpler than most threads make it sound. If a bet carries a house edge of, say, one unit in every hundred wagered, that does not mean you lose exactly one unit every hundred bets. It means that over an enormous number of repetitions, the average loss per unit wagered settles toward that figure. In any single session, the result can be far better or far worse. The edge is a long-run average, not a per-session guarantee.
Where the Edge Sits in Each Game
Different games build their edge in different places. Knowing where the edge sits tells you which bets to avoid and which to prefer, without needing to memorise a single percentage.
In blackjack, the edge comes from the rule that the player acts first. If both the player and the dealer bust, the player loses. The size of the edge then shifts with the table rules: how many decks are in the shoe, whether the dealer stands or hits on a soft total, whether doubling after splitting is allowed, and what blackjack pays. Published basic-strategy charts derive from the specific rule set in use, so a chart built for one table does not transfer perfectly to another.
In roulette, the edge sits in the zero pockets. A European wheel has 37 pockets with a single zero; an American wheel has 38 with a single and double zero. The extra pocket on the American layout increases the house edge on every bet on that wheel. The bet type does not change this for the standard even-money and inside bets, but the wheel type does.
In baccarat, the edge differs by bet. The banker, player and tie bets carry different house edges, with the tie bet the highest. The game itself is a comparing card game between two hands where totals are taken modulo 10, but the player's only real decision is which of the three bets to place. That decision changes the edge materially.
In craps, the edge varies enormously from bet to bet on the same table. The game is built around the pass line and the come-out roll, but the layout carries many side bets with much higher edges. A player who sticks to the core bets faces a different game, in mathematical terms, from a player who spreads chips across the proposition bets in the centre of the table.
In slots, the edge is built into the game's programming and expressed through its RTP. Volatility describes how payouts are distributed over time: high volatility means rarer but larger payouts, low volatility means more frequent but smaller ones. Volatility does not change a game's RTP. Two slots with the same RTP can feel completely different session to session because one pays small amounts often and the other pays large amounts rarely.
| Game | Where the edge sits | What the player can change |
|---|---|---|
| Blackjack | Player acts first; busts lose even if dealer busts | Rule set, basic strategy decisions, bet sizing |
| Roulette | Zero pockets on the wheel | Wheel type (European vs American) |
| Baccarat | Built into each bet type | Which of banker, player or tie to bet |
| Craps | Varies sharply by bet type | Which bets to place or avoid |
| Slots | Programmed into the game's RTP | Game choice, stake, session length |
Decisions Per Hour Change Total Exposure
A low edge on a single bet does not tell you what a session will cost, because cost is a function of edge, stake, and speed. A game where you make many decisions per hour multiplies your total wagered amount, and the edge applies to every unit of it.
Suppose, as an example, a player wagers one unit per decision and makes sixty decisions in an hour. If the game carries a house edge of one unit in every hundred wagered, the expected loss for that hour is sixty units times the edge. If the same player makes three hundred decisions in an hour at the same stake, the expected loss is five times larger, even though the edge on each decision is identical. The game did not get worse; the player simply put more money through it.
Slots illustrate this most clearly. A slot player can spin hundreds of times in an hour without noticing the volume, because each spin resolves in seconds. A blackjack player at a full table makes far fewer decisions in the same period. The blackjack table may carry a lower edge per decision, but the comparison that matters for a bankroll is edge multiplied by stake multiplied by decisions per hour. Reddit threads that ignore speed are comparing only one third of the equation.
Why Progression Systems Do Not Remove the Edge
Many threads about "best odds" drift into betting systems: double after a loss, increase after a win, or some other pattern of stake changes. These systems feel like they should work because they change the shape of outcomes. What they do not change is the expected value of each individual bet.
A progression system redistributes outcomes. It creates many small wins and occasional large losses, or the reverse, depending on the pattern. The total amount wagered still carries the same house edge on every unit. If a bet has a negative expectation, placing more of that bet after a loss simply means wagering more money at a negative expectation. The edge does not shrink because the stake changed.
This is easiest to see with a simple example. Suppose a player doubles their stake after every loss, planning to recover all previous losses plus one unit when a win arrives. The win, when it comes, does recover those losses. But the amount wagered to get there has grown, and the house edge applied to every one of those larger wagers. The system does not create a positive expectation; it creates a pattern where most sessions end with a small gain and a minority end with a loss large enough to wipe out all the gains and more. The long-run average is unchanged.
The same logic applies to any system that changes stake size based on prior results. Prior results do not influence future outcomes in a game driven by a random number generator or shuffled cards. A machine is not "due" to pay, and a losing streak does not make the next bet more likely to win. The edge is a property of the bet, not of the sequence.
What the Player Controls
None of this means the player is helpless. The choices that genuinely matter are all available before and during play, and they are the same choices Reddit threads argue about because they are the only ones that exist.
Bet selection is the largest lever. On a craps table, the difference between the pass line and a centre proposition bet is a difference in edge, not just in style. In baccarat, choosing the tie bet changes the edge dramatically. In roulette, choosing a European wheel over an American one removes an entire pocket from the calculation.
Rule variants matter wherever they exist. A blackjack table that allows doubling after splitting and pays a full amount on a natural is a different mathematical proposition from one that does not. The player can read the table rules before sitting down and choose accordingly.
Game speed is a control that most players ignore. Slowing down does not change the edge, but it reduces the total amount wagered per hour, which reduces the expected loss for a given stake and session length. A player who wants a longer session for the same bankroll can choose a slower game, a fuller table, or a lower stake.
Session length and stopping rules are the final controls. The edge applies per unit wagered, so a shorter session at the same stake means less total exposure. A player who sets a loss limit before starting and stops when it is reached has capped the worst-case outcome for that session, even though the long-run average is unchanged.
What no player controls is the edge itself. It is built into the game, and no betting pattern, timing strategy, or stake adjustment removes it. The games with the "best odds" are the ones where the player finds the lowest edge on the specific bets they intend to make, under the rules available to them, at a speed and stake that fits their bankroll. That answer is less satisfying than a single game name, but it is the only one that survives contact with the arithmetic.
FAQ
Is blackjack always the best odds game?
Not automatically. Blackjack's edge depends on the specific table rules and on how closely the player follows basic strategy for those rules. A blackjack table with unfavourable rules can carry a higher edge than a well-chosen bet on another game. The game title alone does not determine the odds.
Do slots with high RTP have better odds than table games?
RTP and house edge are complements, so a slot with a high RTP has a low house edge for that slot. But comparing a slot's RTP to a table game's house edge only works if both figures describe the same bet under the same rule set. Slots also resolve much faster than most table games, so the total amount wagered per hour can be far higher even when the edge is similar.
Can a betting system improve my odds?
No betting system changes the house edge on the bets it places. Progression systems change the distribution of wins and losses, creating many small wins and occasional large losses, but the expected value of each wager stays negative. The only controls that change expected loss are bet selection, rule choice, game speed, stake, and session length.
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