Baccarat vs Roulette vs Craps: Which Game Has Better Odds?
Baccarat vs roulette — and, a step further, baccarat vs craps — is really one question: which table takes the smallest share of every bet? The answer depends far more on which bet you make than on which game you sit at. Baccarat's Banker bet keeps the house edge at 1.06%, the craps pass line sits just behind at 1.41%, and every even-money bet in roulette costs 2.70% on a single-zero wheel or 5.26% on a double-zero wheel. This page puts the three games side by side with exact fractions we calculated ourselves, then turns the percentages into money and into the chance of still being ahead after a long session.
Baccarat odds vs roulette and craps at a glance
| Game and bet | Win chance | Pays | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baccarat — Banker | 45.86% (ties push) | 0.95 to 1 | 1.06% |
| Baccarat — Player | 44.62% (ties push) | 1 to 1 | 1.24% |
| Craps — Don't Pass | 47.93% (12 pushes) | 1 to 1 | 1.36% |
| Craps — Pass Line | 49.29% | 1 to 1 | 1.41% |
| Roulette — even money, single zero with la partage | 48.65% | 1 to 1 (half back on 0) | 1.35% |
| Roulette — any bet, European single zero | 48.65% on red | 1 to 1 on red | 2.70% |
| Roulette — any bet, American double zero | 47.37% on red | 1 to 1 on red | 5.26% |
| Baccarat — Tie at 8 to 1 | 9.52% | 8 to 1 | 14.36% |
The winner on paper is baccarat's Banker bet. The gap to the craps line bets is small — about a third of a percentage point — while American roulette's edge is about five times the Banker edge. The worst bet in the table is not a roulette bet at all: it is the baccarat Tie at 8 to 1.
Roulette: one edge for almost every bet
Roulette is unusual because nearly every bet on the layout carries the same house edge. On a European wheel there are 37 pockets; a straight-up number pays 35 to 1, so you get back 36 units in 37 spins on average and lose 1/37 = 2.70%. Red, odd, a dozen or a split all work out to the same 2.70%. On an American wheel the extra double zero makes it 2/38 = 5.26%, and the five-number "top line" bet (0, 00, 1, 2, 3 at 6 to 1) is worse still at 7.89%.
Two rules change that picture. Under la partage (and the similar en prison rule), an even-money bet loses only half when the ball lands on zero, which halves the edge to 1.35% — close to a Player bet in baccarat (1.24%). If you play roulette, the wheel and the zero rule matter more than anything you do at the layout.
Craps: from 0% to 16.7% on the same table
Craps is the opposite of roulette: the edge swings wildly from bet to bet. The pass line wins 244 times in 495 (49.29%) for an edge of 1.41%. Don't Pass is slightly better at 1.36% per bet because the 12 is a push rather than a win. Taking free odds behind a line bet adds money with no house edge at all, which is how experienced craps players bring the average edge on their total stake below baccarat's. The center of the table is a different story:
| Craps bet | Pays | House edge |
|---|---|---|
| Free odds (behind pass/don't pass) | true odds | 0% |
| Don't Pass / Don't Come | 1 to 1 | 1.36% |
| Pass Line / Come | 1 to 1 | 1.41% |
| Place 6 or 8 | 7 to 6 | 1.52% |
| Field (12 pays 3 to 1) | 1 to 1, 2 and 12 pay more | 2.78% |
| Place 5 or 9 | 7 to 5 | 4.00% |
| Field (12 pays 2 to 1) | 1 to 1, 2 and 12 pay 2 to 1 | 5.56% |
| Place 4 or 10 | 9 to 5 | 6.67% |
| Big 6 / Big 8, Hard 6 / Hard 8 (9 to 1) | — | 9.09% |
| Any Craps, Hard 4 / Hard 10 (7 to 1) | — | 11.11% |
| Any Seven | 4 to 1 | 16.67% |
So "baccarat vs craps" has two honest answers. Against the bets most visitors actually make — place bets, field, hardways — baccarat's Banker is several times cheaper. Against a disciplined line bettor with odds, craps can be cheaper. Baccarat's advantage is that it has no expensive "center bets" hidden among the good ones, except the Tie and the side bets (see baccarat side bets).
What the edge costs per $1,000 wagered
A house edge is easiest to feel as money. This is the average loss for every $1,000 you push across the table, whatever the bet size:
| Bet | Average loss per $1,000 wagered |
|---|---|
| Baccarat Banker | $10.58 |
| Baccarat Player | $12.35 |
| Roulette even money with la partage | $13.51 |
| Craps Don't Pass | $13.64 |
| Craps Pass Line | $14.14 |
| European roulette | $27.03 |
| American roulette | $52.63 |
| Baccarat Tie (8 to 1) | $143.60 |
| Craps Any Seven | $166.67 |
Moving from American roulette to Banker cuts the cost to about a fifth. Moving from Banker to Tie multiplies it by almost fourteen. Inside each game, bet choice is a bigger lever than the choice of game.
Chance of being ahead after 1,000 and 10,000 bets
A low edge does not mean you will win; it means you lose more slowly. Here is the chance of being strictly ahead after betting the same even-money amount every time (Banker figures include the 5% commission and ties as pushes):
| Bet | After 1,000 bets | After 10,000 bets |
|---|---|---|
| Baccarat Banker | 35.9% | 12.7% |
| Craps Pass Line | 31.6% | 7.7% |
| European roulette, red | 18.8% | 0.3% |
| American roulette, red | 4.5% | under 0.1% |
After a thousand bets more than a third of Banker bettors are still ahead, but fewer than one in twenty American-roulette red bettors are. After ten thousand bets the edge has taken over in every game; it has only taken over more slowly at the baccarat table. Why the total keeps drifting even as the percentages settle is covered in baccarat strategy under variance.
Speed: the hidden multiplier
Cost per hour is edge × amount wagered per hour. A standard baccarat table deals 60–80 rounds an hour and a speed table 120 or more, so a Banker bettor at $10 a hand loses on average about $6.35 to $8.46 an hour at a normal table and $12.69 at a speed table. In craps the pass line is settled on average every 3.4 rolls (557/165), so the number of decisions per hour depends on how fast the dice move — count your decisions, not your rolls. Roulette speed varies too much between live, electronic and online wheels to give one number; check how many spins you actually play before comparing.
Which game should you choose?
- If you want the lowest edge without decisions: baccarat, Banker or Player, no Tie, no side bets.
- If you enjoy dice and will stick to line bets with odds: craps can match or beat baccarat; the center of the table cannot.
- If you like roulette: look for a single-zero wheel, ideally with la partage. Avoid double-zero wheels and the top-line bet.
- In all three: no betting system changes these edges. A Martingale on red is still 2.70% on every euro wagered — see our Martingale calculation.
If you play baccarat and want to see how a real shoe behaves, the free Baccarat Scoreboard app keeps your own record offline, and our baccarat analyzer summarises live tables. Neither predicts the next hand; they show what normal variance looks like.
Baccarat vs roulette FAQ
Is baccarat better than roulette? On house edge, yes: Banker 1.06% and Player 1.24% against 2.70% on European and 5.26% on American roulette. Only even-money bets with la partage (1.35%) come close.
Is baccarat or craps better odds? Banker (1.06%) beats the pass line (1.41%) and Don't Pass (1.36%). Line bets with free odds can bring the average lower, while most other craps bets are far worse.
What is the house edge on red in roulette? 2.70% on a single-zero wheel and 5.26% on a double-zero wheel — the same as almost every other bet on that wheel.
Which casino table game has the lowest house edge? Among the three here, baccarat Banker. Blackjack with perfect basic strategy at a 3:2 table is lower still, about 0.5% — compare on baccarat vs blackjack.
Can I win long term at any of these games? No. Every bet listed except craps free odds has a negative expectation, and free odds can only be placed together with a negative line bet.
Method: baccarat from exact enumeration of an 8-deck shoe; roulette and craps from exact fractions (37/38 pockets, 36 dice outcomes); ahead-probabilities from the binomial distribution (Baccarat Terminal, October 2026). 18+. Information only — not a gambling service and not betting advice.