House Edge

The house edge is the built-in mathematical advantage the casino has on every bet you place. It's expressed as a percentage. A game with a 2% house edge means the casino expects to keep $2 of every $100 wagered, on average, over time.

Every casino game has a house edge and it varies dramatically. Blackjack with basic strategy sits around 0.5%. European roulette is 2.7%. American roulette (the one with the double zero) jumps to 5.26%. Slots range from 2% to 15% depending on the game. Those seemingly small differences compound fast when you're playing hundreds of rounds.

The house edge is a long-term average, not a per-session guarantee. In any individual session, you might win or lose much more than the edge suggests. But across thousands of bets, the casino's edge works like gravity. It always pulls things in their direction. Understanding this number is the single most useful thing you can do as a casino player.