Blackjack Versus Roulette – Which Has Better Odds?

November 9, 2022

Blackjack and Roulette are two of the most popular table games at any casino. Both games offer odds of winning more than 50/50. You win the amount that you wager if you beat the blackjack dealer. This is also true for even-money wagers at the Roulette table. Which game offers better odds?

Roulette or blackjack?

How do you measure the odds of a casino game’s success?

“Odds”, a term often used to denote probability, is another. It’s true that this is true to a certain extent. But it’s much more complex than that.

An event’s probability can be expressed in odds format. The odds format is used to express the probability of an event having 2 to 1 odds. This means that there are two ways for an event to lose and one way to win. It is easy to convert this into 1/3 or 33.33%.

You can also use odds to express the payout of a bet. This is also easy to understand. You will understand that $2 is the payout for each $1 that you place on winning.

You’ll lose if you bet on something with a 2 to 1 probability and a 2 to 1 payout, in the end.

This is not how casinos work .

By placing bets with odds lower than the chances of winning, the casino ensures a profit. The house edge is the difference between these odds and the winning chances. It’s often expressed in percentage.

Casino games with a lower house advantage are generally better than those with a higher one. However, this is not always the case.

What are the odds of winning in Blackjack?

Every casino game has its own gimmick that gives it an edge. Real money blackjack requires that you play your hand before the dealer does. You lose your bet immediately if you bust. Even if the dealer fails to act when it is her turn, your bet will be lost immediately. In a fair game, this would still be considered a tie.

Even if you play well, the probability of winning a blackjack hand is only 42%.

Your chance of winning in a fair game would be 50%.

If you play with the right strategy, however, the house edge is only 0.5%.

Why is the house edge so low, when there are such low odds of winning a hand?

This is because every once in awhile you can get a natural, or blackjack – a 2 card hand that totals 21. You get paid at three to two odds.

Although you only get this hand about 5% of time, it is enough to reduce the house edge.

What are the odds of winning in Roulette?

Roulette offers a variety of betting options. However, most real-money roulette players that I know place even money bets. A bet on odd or even in roulette is an even-money wager. It could also be a wager on red or black.

This would make it seem that almost half of the numbers on this wheel are red, and nearly half are black. Same for odd/even.

This is the gimmick: 2 additional numbers are added to the wheel that are not even or odds, red or black.

American roulette has two green numbers: a green zero and a green 00.

There are 38 numbers total on the wheel. 18 of these numbers are red, 18 black, and 2 are green.

You don’t have a chance of winning if you bet on red or black. It is 47.37%.

It doesn’t take a math teacher to see that winning a bet 47.37% while you get paid even money doesn’t make it a break-even wager.

It actually gives the house a edge of 5.26%.

What does this mean for the house edge of 0.5% when playing blackjack?

Poorly, obviously.

You’ll lose $5.26 every time you place a $100 bet on a game with a 5.26% edge.

You’ll lose $100 every time you bet on a game with 0.5% edge.

Let’s ask the question:

Would you prefer to lose $5.26 or 50 cents in such a situation?

Although the answer may seem obvious, there are more aspects to this math problem than you might realize.

The concept of average hourly losses in casino gambling

To estimate the profitability of a game, casinos use a simple formula. The average bet size is multiplied by the average number of bets made per hour. This is the average hourly game action.

The hourly loss is calculated by multiplying the hourly average action by the house advantage.

An average blackjack player places 100 bets an hour. This varies depending on the number of players at the table, the speed of the dealer, and the speed with which the player makes their decisions.

Assuming a $5 hand, the average hourly action of that player is $500.

This is a loss per hour of $2.50 with a house edge 0.5%

Assuming a $5 per spin, $250 is the average hourly action of that player.

The average hourly loss of roulette is $13.15, with a house edge at 5.26%.

Because the house edge is 10x higher, you would expect that the average loss will be 10x as high.

It’s still not 10x higher, because the average hourly activity is lower. It isn’t so low that it makes the games equal in value.

Blackjack has still better odds than Roulette, even if you account for the slower pace.

What about different roulette variations?

For my example, I used American Roulette.

You can also find roulette games – sometimes called “European” or “European” roulette. These games only have one 0 on their wheels.

This decreases the house edge by 2.7%

Average hourly losses are $6.75

It’s not quite the same as the $2.50 expected loss at the blackjack table. But it’s close.

There are many other variations. You can find more variations in European roulette games.

You don’t lose your wager if you place a bet on black but the ball hits red or green. It is sent to prison until it loses the next bet. It loses the second bet and you lose your bet. If it loses on the 2nd bet, your bet is canceled.

This reduces the house edge to 1.35%.

The hourly average loss falls in half to $3.38.

This is still close to $2.50, but blackjack has better odds.

What about Blackjack Rules Variations

The hold percentage, which is the actual amount that the casino makes on blackjack, is significantly higher than 0.5%. Some casinos have it closer to 2.5%, while others may be closer to 4%.

Blackjack’s house edge assumes you make the mathematically optimal decision for every hand.

Some blackjack tables pay out at 6 to 5 for a Natural.

The casino will add more than 1.5% to their edge in this case.

While you should not play 6/5 blackjack, it is worth trying. However, if you do play them, it might be worth learning how to play roulette.

Remember that you don’t have to make smart decisions in order to win at roulette. It’s easy to just gamble your money and take your chance.

Conclusion

Blackjack is the best game for you if you want to have better odds than roulette.

You shouldn’t play roulette. There might be reasons you prefer roulette to blackjack.

This simply means that you need to consider the odds of winning in each game.

Blackjack Versus Roulette – Which Has Better Odds?￼