House Edge

When I first boarded a bus to an Atlantic City Casino, I overheard conversations about the "house edge." Since this was my first time at a casino, I didn't understand what the term meant, so I inquired. I was told that the house edge means it is the money a casino (the house) expects to make from a specific game (the edge). Then I was told that land-based casinos have the biggest "house edge" when it comes to slot games (the game I was most interested in playing). I was a bit disappointed to learn there was such a thing, so I researched this topic further.

To my dismay, I found that indeed land-based casinos make most of their income from slot machines. Thus, slots are the main house edge by more than 15%. I subsequently learned that roulette, another favorite game of mine, has also been given a house edge factor. I knew that the payout on a roulette number is 35-1. But what I didn't know is that casinos introduced two features that reduced my chances of winning, thus increasing their house edge. First, they added a zero and made it the color green. Second, they have 37 numbers, not 35. The result is, if you bet on black or red and the zero comes up, you lose. If you bet on a number, the payout is less because there are 37 numbers instead of 35. Get it? 35-1!

I discovered, however, that blackjack has a very small house edge. The only problem with that is that all too often, you can't find a table with a minimum limit. So you wind up playing at a $25 minimum bet table and lose anyway!

I realized after all my research that it was better for me to play at online casino for several reasons. First, there wasn't a house edge because there was no house. Second, I could play whatever games I wanted to, whenever I wanted to. Third, I had the same chances of winning as the millions of other players had. Finally, and statistically speaking, online casinos had higher percentage payouts than land-based casinos. So, to heck with the house edge at land-based casinos! I could play in the comfort of my own house with no edge to speak of!