House Edge & Hold

The house edge is the percentage of each bet the operator expects to keep over the long run — the inverse of RTP. It is fixed in the game's rules and maths and applies to every wager, regardless of luck (and, except in strategy games like blackjack and video poker, regardless of skill). 'Hold' is the related operator metric: the share of the money brought to a game that the house actually keeps once winnings are recycled back into play.

House edge is the expected loss per bet resolved. Hold (or 'win percentage') is actual money kept divided by money bought in — and it is higher than the edge, because players re-bet their winnings many times and each re-bet meets the edge again. Theoretical hold is roughly the edge multiplied by the average number of bets per unit bought in.

Because the edge applies to every wager, the more you bet — and the more you re-stake your winnings — the more total money passes through it. Two players with the same bankroll but different bet counts face very different expected losses. Time and volume, not the size of any single bet, are what the edge feeds on.

European roulette 2.70%; American roulette 5.26%; blackjack ~0.5% with good rules and optimal strategy; baccarat banker 1.06%, player 1.24%, tie ~14.4%; craps pass line 1.41%. Single-zero games beat their double-zero cousins every time — the second zero on American roulette almost doubles the edge.

The same-named game can carry very different maths. 6:5 blackjack raises the edge by roughly 1.4 percentage points versus 3:2; 'multiplier' roulette variants and most side bets carry 5–15% edges. Always read the pay rule, not just the game name.