Table Games: The Arithmetic Behind Roulette, Blackjack and Baccarat

Slots hide their maths in a rules screen; table games put it on the felt. That makes them a good place to understand house edge, the built-in advantage that every casino game has. This page covers the three classics in their software (RNG) and live forms. It does not describe any operator's tables; read the rules panel of the specific table you open, because small rule changes move the numbers.

Roulette: count the zeros

A European wheel has 37 pockets, numbers 1 to 36 plus a single zero. A straight bet pays 35 to 1, but the true odds are 36 to 1, and that gap is the house edge: 1 in 37, about 2.7%. An American wheel adds a double zero, making 38 pockets, and the edge rises to about 5.26%. Same game, almost twice the cost per spin. On a C$10 bet, the long-run average cost is about 27 cents on the single-zero wheel and about 53 cents on the double-zero one. Some single-zero tables also return half of an even-money bet when zero lands, which lowers the edge on those bets further; the rules panel says whether that applies.

Blackjack: the one where decisions matter

In blackjack your choices change the return. Basic strategy, a chart of the mathematically best play for every hand against every dealer card, brings the house edge down to a small fraction of a percent under common rules. Rule variations shift it: a table paying 6 to 5 on blackjack instead of 3 to 2 costs the player noticeably more, and whether the dealer stands or hits on soft 17 matters too. Read the table's rules line before your first hand. Card counting is not useful in online RNG blackjack, where the deck is effectively reshuffled every hand.

Baccarat: three bets, one commission

You choose between Banker, Player and Tie. The Banker hand wins slightly more often, so winning Banker bets usually pay even money minus a 5% commission. With that commission, Banker and Player both carry a low house edge, close to one percent. The Tie bet pays more but has a far higher edge, and it is the bet the maths argues against. "No commission" tables change how a Banker win is paid on certain totals; read the payout table to see how.

RNG tables versus live tables

A software table uses a random number generator, plays at your pace and often offers a demo mode, which makes it the right place to learn a game. A live table uses physical cards or a wheel and runs on a timer. The rules can be identical, but the speed differs: an RNG table can deal far more hands per hour, which multiplies the house edge by more rounds. Our live casino explainer covers the live format in more detail.

Bankroll arithmetic

Multiply your stake by the house edge and by the number of rounds to estimate the average cost of a session. Two hundred C$5 spins of single-zero roulette is C$1,000 wagered and about C$27 of expected cost; the actual result will vary a lot around that figure. Doing this sum before you sit down is the simplest form of budgeting there is.

Where this fits on the site

Our main subject is the slot catalogue; see the games hub and the slots guide. The provincial rules that decide which sites are regulated for you are summarised on the home page.

Frequently asked questions