House Edge

House edge is the percentage of every dollar wagered that the casino expects to keep, on average, over the long run. A 0.5% house edge means the casino wins $0.50 of every $100 you bet — eventually, with enough hands.

House edge is calculated from the rules of a game and the player's strategy. It's a long-run average — over a single session, a player can be far ahead or far behind by random luck. Over thousands of hands, results converge toward the house edge.

Different games have wildly different house edges. Slot machines often run at 5–15%. Roulette is 2.7% (single-zero) or 5.26% (double-zero). Blackjack with basic strategy is among the lowest-edge casino games available, often under 1%.

• Blackjack payout: 6:5 instead of 3:2 adds ~1.4% to the house edge. The single worst rule change in modern blackjack.
• H17 vs S17: Dealer hits soft 17 instead of standing — adds ~0.2%.
• DAS (Double After Split): Adds ~0.13% in the player's favor.
• Late surrender: Player can give up half a bet on certain hands — ~0.07% in the player's favor.
• Deck count: Fewer decks slightly favors the player (single-deck S17 is ~0.17% better than 8-deck S17).

Every blackjack side bet has a higher house edge than the main game. Lucky Lucky is the lowest-edge side bet at ~2.66%. Queens Reward / Lucky Ladies is the highest at ~24%. See all seven side bets ranked by edge →

Blackjack Navigator Pro shows the live house edge for any rule preset you select. The 7 built-in presets cover the most common rule combinations on real casino floors, with their published WoO house edges visible at all times.

• Basic Strategy — the player approach that minimizes house edge
• Expected Value — per-decision math that aggregates into house edge
• Payout — how 3:2 vs 6:5 changes house edge
• H17 — the rule that adds ~0.2% to the edge
• Full glossary