Casino Table Games With the Largest House Advantages

Sic Bo table game at Wind Creek in PennsylvaniaSic Bo table game at Wind Creek in Pennsylvania

Table games can offer some of the best paybacks in a casino. A craps game with 10 times odds or a blackjack game with great rules can return nearly 100% to the player. Unfortunately, there are many terrible table games. Here are the ones that you should avoid.

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Big wheel

Big Wheel, sometimes called Big 6, Money Wheel, or Wheel of Fortune, is usually the worst table game in a casino that deals it. This game involves a big wheel as the name implies, with numbers or cash denominations on it. The player wins the bet and multiplier if they correctly guess where the wheel stops. 

The house edge on the bets on the wheel is usually over 10%. The Wizard of Odds determined that it can be as high as 24%, depending on the wager. Big Wheel is rarely an option these days. We only found two live installations of it left in our Las Vegas Table Game Survey. 

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Sic bo

Sic bo is another dying table game with terrible odds. It has not been dealt at a Las Vegas casino in five years. We found a couple of installations of it at Pennsylvania casinos. Sic bo involves betting on the outcome of three rolled dice. Some of the better bets have a house edge a little lower than Big Wheel. However, some can go as high as 30%.

Blackjack with an ante

Many Oklahoma casinos charge an ante to play blackjack. This is not for a side bet. The house takes it as a fee. The ante can be $0.50 or $1. A $5 blackjack game with a $0.50 ante, or a $10 game with a $1 ante, has a house edge of about 10%. It goes to around 11.5% if blackjack pays 6/5.

Lucky Cat Blackjack with a mandatory side bet

Lucky Cat Blackjack at Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, Nevada
Lucky Cat Blackjack at Golden Nugget in Las Vegas Nevada

Golden Nugget in Las Vegas invented the worst blackjack game without an ante that I have seen. It uses the Lucky Cat variant, meaning when the dealer makes 22, there is a shake of the dice to determine the outcome of the hand.

To make matters worse, it pays 6/5, and has a mandatory $2 Bonus Spin side bet, which triggers when the player is dealt a blackjack. The main bet has a $5 minimum. Based on my estimation of a 23% house edge for the side bet, this game holds 8.95% at the $7 minimum. It is over 1% worse than triple zero roulette. 

Triple zero roulette

000 roulette table game at Strat in Las Vegas, Nevada
000 roulette table

Speaking of triple zero roulette, it is bad enough to make this list. Venetian and Palazzo introduced the game in 2016. Today, every Las Vegas Strip casino with table games deals it. The house edge is 7.69%. 

Crapless craps pass line and come bet

Crapless craps has been growing in numbers over the last few years. It is dealt by most Las Vegas Strip casinos. We also found it in Ohio. The pass line and come bets have a house edge of 5.38% when no odds are taken. Taking the maximum odds does not usually make it a better bet than a flat one made at a regular craps table. If you must play the game, read our articles on the best crapless craps bets, and the worst ones

Double zero roulette

00 roulette table game at Strat in Las Vegas, Nevada
00 roulette table at The Strat in Las Vegas

Double zero roulette is only a little better than triple zero roulette. It has the largest house edge of all traditional table games. The house holds 5.26% on most bets. The basket, which consists of 0, 00, 1, 2, and 3, has a house advantage of 7.89%. 

Asia Poker

Asia Poker is based on pai gow poker. Players set their seven cards into a four-card, two-card and one-card hand. The four-card hand must beat the two-card hand, and the two-card hand must be higher than the one-card hand in the front. The dealer wins all ties. The player must have a better hand than the dealer at two or three of the set hands to win. The house wins by tying or winning at least two hands.

Players may not bank at Asia Poker. There is no commission. The game is no longer available in Las Vegas. We found it at Philadelphia and Atlantic City casinos.

Side bets

Nearly all side bets at table games have a house edge that is much worse than the standard bets. For example, the fire bet at craps holds over 20%, while the pass line with no odds is only 1.41%. Blackjack side bets often have 10 or more times the house advantage than the hand wager has. While side bets offer the promise of a larger payout, it is a way to lose faster, while adding substantially more variance to the game.