The stats behind casino games and why you will always lose gambling.

Whether you’ve never entered the casino, or are an experienced or avid gambler. You have likely heard the term “The house always wins”. In my interest of casino games after winning a whopping $35 playing blackjack, I got curious to know how lucky I truly got in order to turn a profit whilst gambling in a casino. Today we will be exploring the statistics behind the most popular casino games and why the catch phrase “The house always wins” holds true.

Slot Machines

Possibly one of the most pocket draining games you can find yourself playing in any casino, the slot machine. Slap a button, get flashed with bright lights, and receive a wave of dopamine when you win!!! Only to then realise that you really only got back 50% of what you started with. Slots are designed to slowly take your money. With an RTP (Return to player) of 90-95% (giving the house a 5-10% edge), Over a period of playing, once finished you will likely end up with only 90-95% of your wagered money. For example if you started with $100, on a machine that has an RTP of 90%, after 1 hour of playing you would be at $90. Now you might be thinking, but what if I hit the jackpot and win big??? While that is definitely a possibility, it is highly unlikely. With the jackpot of slot machines ranging from 1 in 5000 chance of winning, all the way up to 1 in 34 million chance of winning. you are more likely to lose all your money first, or if you do hit it, you may have already wagered more than you have won from the jackpot.

Roulette

Roulette is one of the more appealing games to gamblers. Being much more difficult to “rig” the game, gamblers can pray on the good luck that the shiny metal ball lands on their number. Similar to slot machines the RTP of American roulette is 94.74% (regardless of what numbers or conditions you bet on), giving the house an edge of 5.26%. Meaning that for every 1,000,000 that’s bet on a roulette table, the casino expects to profit more roughly $52,600. Roulette is one of the most played casino games, due to its lack of player input and skill. While also allowing people to cheer each other on to win. In terms of the odds of actually hitting your number (in this case we will use a bet on a singular number for a simple example). The odds are 1/38 since there are 38 numbers, However the house only pays up to 35 to 1 on winning bets.

Blackjack

If you ever end up in a casino with hopes of making money your best odds will be at the blackjack table. With an RTP of up to 98.5% given that you play perfect blackjack, you can find yourself occasionally making money (if you’re lucky and don’t double tens against an ace). Blackjack immediately becomes one of the more appealing casino games due to its ongoing engagement with the player, and their ability to have control over their hand. Coupled with betting strategy and techniques such as card counting, the RTP can increase by 1-2%, actually giving you the edge over the house. Meaning that if you play through a long enough run card counting you can actually make money. So that’s it then, go to blackjack, learn to count cards and win eventually. While that can be done, it is very likely that the casinos will catch on to your card counting strategy and can and will kick or ban you from their casino.

TLDR: Unless you are a professional card counter, you will lose your money, gamble responsibly.