Smart Gambler’s Guide
Online casinos have blown up in the 21st century with online gaming picking up over the years, and with the popularity of online gaming nowadays, it’s important to be informed what games give you the best chances of winning in a casino.
There is no perfect strategy for gambling in online casinos, but playing casino games with the best odds gives you a better chance of coming out on top. Additionally, a key advantage to online casinos over in-person casinos is the many welcome offers and bonus codes online casinos offer new and returning customers to get them on their site and coming back. Whether you prefer table gambling games or slot machines, these incentives can help you maximize your playtime and potential winnings.
Playing games with the best odds in the casino in combination with taking advantage of bonuses is the best way to gamble online, and we will cover those games here.
Casino Games with the Best Odds
The key to online casinos is looking at RTP (return to player). This is expressed as a percentage value. For instance, slots have the worst RTP in the casino, with an average RTP of around 96%. What this number means is that, for an average slot, a player will return about $96 on every $100 wagered.
This is still an average, so not everyone will have the same experience, but with millions of dollars wagered over time, that is the typical return. While slots are the worst, let’s look at what games in the casino have the best odds.
Video Poker
While it may sound surprising, video poker can actually offer some of the best odds in the casino. While each casino and video poker variation will differ, the average RTP is around 99% and up to 99.5%.
In video poker, the player gets a set amount of cards, typically five, and must select which cards to hold and try and make the best poker hand in two tries. Payouts vary amongst versions of video poker, but Deuces Wild usually sees the best return.
Blackjack
It’s no surprise that blackjack is one of the most commonly played games in the casino with the RTP it offers. Blackjack rivals the other top games with an astounding average RTP of 99.5% when playing perfect basic strategy.
Blackjack is a simple game, but it must be played with perfect strategy to maximize the RTP, which can make it a bit more in-depth gambling option online with more brain work involved.
Most online casinos offer multiple ways of playing blackjack, with video options offered as well as live dealer blackjack. Live dealer blackjack can be more fun and a realer-feeling experience, but video blackjack can actually have a higher RTP if the casino offers single-deck video blackjack.
Live dealer blackjack is typically played with as many as eight decks, or even a continuous shuffle that lowers the RTP for the player, making single-deck video blackjack a game with the best odds in the casino.
Baccarat
Baccarat is another common casino favorite for players due to its high RTP. With an average RTP of 99%, baccarat has some of the best casino game odds. However, the odds get a bit tricky depending on your bet.
What makes baccarat unique is the payout for the banker compared to the player selection. A bet on the player pays out 1:1, but the player wins on average in 44.6% of hands dealt. The bankers win 45.8% of the time, and a tie happens in 9.6% of hands.
While the banker wins more often, the casino takes a “commission” of each banker’s win, typically set at 5%. Still, with ties voiding the bet, the banker wins 51% of the time, which is a rare >50% win rate in the casino. Even with the commission, a bet on the banker in baccarat has an average RTP of 99%.
Roulette
Roulette is the second-most common casino table game behind blackjack. However, the RTP varies slightly in the version of roulette played, and European roulette has some of the best odds in the casino.
This is because American roulette has two green spaces, both a 0 and a 00. In European roulette, there is only one green space, a single 0. In European roulette, the average RTP is 97.3%, making it lower than video poker, blackjack, and baccarat, but still much higher than other casino games.