The cheapest bets in a casino are rarely at the busiest tables. Pai gow poker, sic bo, casino war and the odds bet behind a craps pass line sit in the quiet corners of the lobby, and several of them cost a fraction of what the headline games charge. This guide walks through the ones worth knowing and gives the house edge for each, so the comparison is a number rather than a mood.
Published: April 17, 2026 | Reading time: 4 minutes
Where the house edge is actually lowest
A casino floor is arranged by attention, not by price. The loudest games are the most expensive to play, and several of the cheapest sit at tables people walk past. The figures below are the commonly published ones and they depend on the exact rules of the table — the point is not the third decimal but the size of the gaps.
| Bet | Typical house edge | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Craps odds bet, behind the pass line | 0 % | The only bet on a casino floor with no edge at all — but it can only be placed alongside a pass line bet, which carries 1.41 % |
| Blackjack, basic strategy | around 0.5 % | Only with basic strategy and favourable rules; 6:5 blackjack payouts push it past 2 % |
| Baccarat, banker | 1.06 % | Commission on banker wins is already included; the tie bet is a different game at roughly 14 % |
| French roulette, even money with la partage | 1.35 % | Half the stake returns on zero; without la partage the same wheel costs 2.70 %, and the American wheel 5.26 % |
| Pai gow poker | around 1.46 % | Slow game with frequent pushes, which stretches a bankroll further than the percentage alone suggests |
| Sic bo, big or small | 2.78 % | Only these two bets; the specific-triple bets on the same table run past 30 % |
| Casino war | around 2.88 % | Only when you go to war on a tie; surrendering instead roughly doubles the cost |
Read the first and last rows together and the spread is the whole argument: within the same building, at the same stake, an hour can cost nothing or it can cost thirty per cent of every bet, depending only on which bet you place. Published house-edge tables for these and most other casino bets are maintained at Wizard of Odds.
Why the quiet tables are quiet
Cheap games tend to be slow, undramatic and hard to explain in one sentence. Pai gow poker pushes constantly and rarely produces a story. Baccarat on banker is a coin flip with a commission. The craps odds bet is not even marked on the felt, because the house has no reason to advertise the one wager it makes nothing on. Expensive games are the reverse: fast, colourful, easy to grasp and built around the near miss. That contrast is a design decision, not an accident.
What to check before you sit down
Three things, and all three are published. The rule variant, because blackjack paying 6:5 instead of 3:2 costs more than any strategy can recover and French roulette without la partage doubles the price of an even-money bet. The bet within the game, because sic bo big and sic bo triple sit at the same table with a tenfold difference in cost. And the speed, because a house edge is charged per bet, not per hour — a game at half the edge and triple the pace is the more expensive one. The same arithmetic governs the machines along the wall, and it is the reason a published RTP is worth reading before a lobby tile.
Frequently asked questions
Which casino game has the lowest house edge?
The odds bet behind a craps pass line, at zero. It cannot be placed on its own — it accompanies a pass line bet at 1.41 % — so in practice the cheapest standalone bets are blackjack with basic strategy at around 0.5 % and baccarat on banker at 1.06 %.
Is baccarat really cheaper than roulette?
On the banker bet, yes: 1.06 % against 2.70 % on a single-zero wheel and 5.26 % on a double-zero one. French roulette with la partage closes most of that gap on even-money bets, at 1.35 %.
Are these games only available on certain platforms?
No. Pai gow poker, sic bo, casino war and craps are standard casino games carried by most operators and by most live-dealer studios, and increasingly by the handful of VR casino platforms that exist. Anyone presenting them as exclusive to one brand is describing marketing rather than availability.
Does a low house edge mean I will win?
No. It means you lose more slowly on average. Every bet in the table above returns less than it costs over time; the difference between them is how fast, which decides how long an evening lasts rather than how it ends.