What is the house edge?
The house edge is the percentage of each bet the casino expects to keep over the long run. It is the complement of RTP — a game with 96% RTP has a 4% house edge. On a NZD 100 bet, the casino expects to keep NZD 4 on average. This is a statistical expectation, not a guarantee on any single bet.
House edge by game
House edge varies significantly by game. Blackjack with basic strategy: 0.5% or less. Baccarat (banker bet): 1.06%. European roulette: 2.7%. American roulette: 5.26%. Pokies: typically 2%–10%. Keno: up to 30%. Choosing lower house edge games extends your bankroll and improves long-run outcomes.
How the house edge works in practice
The house edge compounds over time. The more bets you place, the closer your actual results converge toward the expected loss. A short session can produce a profit despite the house edge — but over thousands of bets, the edge asserts itself. This is why the casino always wins in aggregate, even when individual players win.
Strategy and the house edge
On skill-based games like blackjack, your decisions affect the house edge. Playing basic strategy reduces the blackjack house edge to below 0.5%. Poor decisions can push it above 2%. On pure chance games like roulette and pokies, no strategy changes the mathematical edge.
House edge vs RTP
House edge and RTP are two ways of expressing the same thing. House edge = 100% minus RTP. A 96% RTP pokie has a 4% house edge. A 99.5% RTP blackjack game has a 0.5% house edge. Both figures are useful — RTP is more commonly quoted for pokies; house edge is more commonly used for table games.