Keno Has a House Edge Close to 30% Keno is a simple game of number-picking that closely. Which Games in the Casino Offer the Worst Odds? Sausage party game. 4- The Tie Bet in Casino War Has a House Edge of 18.65% 5- The “Any 7” Bet in Craps Has a House Edge of 16.67% 6- Slot Machines Might Have a House Edge as High as 25% 7- The 5-Number Bet in American Roulette Has.
Tristan N. asks: What are the longest odds on a sporting event that ended up having to be paid out?
Given the nature of sports gambling and so little publicly available documented evidence in the field throughout history, it’s impossible to know for sure what the longest odds were on a sports bet that ended up having to be paid out. However, as far as known documented instances are concerned, it would seem the longest odds paid out on any sports bet were probably what ultimately amounted to 2,800,000-1 odds on a 50p ($0.66) bet placed by one Fred Craggs of the UK.
The bet in question was an eight horse accumulator bet (meaning all eight horses had to win their respective races) in 2008. They did and the 60 year old Craggs, who was celebrating his birthday at the time, should have won £1.4 million (~$2 million), but the institution he placed the bet at had a rule in place that capped the winnings on Craggs’ bet at £1 million. Technically they could have even reduced it to £100,000, owing to more fine print they had in place, but it would have been a tenuous argument ripe for litigation and would have also been something of a PR nightmare for them, whether they won or lost the case. So they went ahead and just paid the £1 million and also submitted the win to Guinness World Records for consideration.
As for the longest odds paid out on a bet where multiple people bet on a sporting event and won, this *seems* to have occurred when Leicester City won soccer’s Premier League in 2016. They had so little shot at the title that the odds of them attaining it were 5,000 to 1 when the season began. According to reports, bookmakers paid out in excess of $14 million to various individuals on that long shot.
Other notable underdogs who won despite long odds include the 1980 U.S. Men’s Olympic Hockey Team, which took the gold medal from Finland despite being huge underdogs with 1,000 to 1 odds against them.
Similarly, in 2012, the Auburn Tigers also defied 1,000 to 1 odds to win American college football’s Bowl Championship Series.
My St. Louis Baseball Cardinals also beat long odds to win the 2011 World Series. With just 15 games left to play in the regular season, the Cards were 4.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the last Wild Card spot, which led bookmakers to set their odds of winning the National League pennant at 500 to 1, and their chances of winning the whole shebang at 999 to 1. The Cardinals then went 11-4 down the last stretch, beat out Atlanta on the final day of the regular season for the Wild Card, and then went on to duke out two nail-biters (literally, I bit off all of my nails that fall) against the Philadelphia Phillies (winning 3-2), and then the Milwaukee Brewers (4-3). The Cards then went on to battle with the Texas Rangers over another seven games, prevailing on October 28, 2011 with a 6-2 win at Busch Stadium before a crowd of 47,399.
Going back a little, in 1981, England defied 500 to 1 odds to defeat Australia in cricket by 18 runs in the Third Ashes Test.
Similarly, Ben Curtis defied 300 to 1 odds in 2003, and the fact that this was his debut at any major championship, to win the British Open Golf Championship.
The odds against Scotland’s Robert Thornton winning the 2012 UK Darts Open were 250 to 1 before he defeated a string of big names, including Phil Taylor in the final.
Defying odds of 11 to 1, an aptly named horse named Upset defeated the famous Man o’ War at the 1919 Sanford Memorial Stakes. Another horse, Mine That Bird, was in last place when field turned for home at the 2009 Kentucky Derby; and yet despite 50 to 1 odds against, Mine That Bird rallied and won the race by 6.75 lengths.
On to boxing, Mike Tyson was considered nearly unstoppable when he faced Buster Douglas in 1990, with odds against Douglas at 42 to 1. Douglas knocked Tyson out in the 10th round.
The most remarkable UFC upset, at least in terms of odds, came on May 24, 2014 when TJ Dillashaw beat +710 odds and Renan Barao in the Bantamweight division when he knocked out the heavily favored Barao in the fifth round.
One of the largest upsets in college football history came on November 14, 2015 when the New Mexico Lobos beat the Boise State Broncos and a 31-point spread, to win 31-24.
One of the most notable upsets in professional football’s championship game happened on January 12, 1969, when the New York Jets defeated the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Well-remembered for Broadway Joe Namath’s improbable boast that the Jets (predicted to lose by at least 9 points) would prevail: “We’re gonna win the game. I guarantee it,” in Super Bowl III, the Jets not only beat the spread, they beat the Colts 16-7.
More recently, when the New England Patriots trailed the Atlanta Falcons 28-12 at the opening of the fourth quarter in Super Bowl LI, the odds against them winning the game were 11 to 1. Throughout the next quarter and-a-half, as the Patriots narrowed the score to 28-20, the odds improved, but soon declined to 16 to 1 when Atlanta took the ball to the Patriots 22 and had a first down and just minutes to go. And yet, in what has been termed by many the greatest (or worst) choke in sports history, rather than scoring the Falcons ended up having to punt after a sack and a holding penalty pushed them out of scoring range. The Patriots then tied the game, pushed it to overtime and scored, winning Super Bowl LI 34-28.
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When it comes to gambling at the casino, not all games are created equal. The betting and gameplay dynamics of the different games mean that players are more likely to end up in profit when playing some games than they are playing others.
Those that understand the concept of house edge will avoid some games like the plague, whilst they more than happy to try their luck elsewhere in the casino. Those that don’t will often wrongly assume that they’ll play with the same odds no matter the game.
In the following article, we’ll show you three of the most potentially profitable punts at the casino, as well as those that are probably best avoided.
The Best Bets
Although they’re often a bit more intimidating to players, table games usually give the best odds at casinos. The house edge can be less than 1%! That said, some slots, particularly online ones, can be quite generous too.
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Blackjack
Blackjack is absolutely synonymous with casino gambling. The card game is easy to understand, is relatively fast-paced, and requires quite a few player decisions. However, these aren’t the only reasons that blackjack is one of the most popular games at both online and real-world casinos.
Blackjack is widely regarded as the casino game with the lowest house edge at most casinos. Depending on the rules played, the player can have a near 50% chance at winning. Whilst many players know this, a lot of players don’t realise that they need to play blackjack perfectly to not surrender an additional edge to the casino.
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There is an optimum way to play every hand in blackjack. Deviations from this optimum strategy always increase the house edge. For example, the optimum play with a hand of 13 versus the dealer showing a 6 is to stand without drawing another card. Most inexperienced players will hit here, giving up value to the casino.
It’s also worth noting that you can additionally increase your odds by using bonus offers. Flashcasino.org has composed the ultimate list of the best blackjack bonus offers.
Standout Slots
Slots, on the whole, are usually considered worse bets than table games. However, with the arrival of the internet, these days there are some virtual fruit machines that offer incredibly low house edges to players.
Here are some of the real standout slots offered by many online casinos:
• Ugga Bugga by Playtech (99.07%).
• Rainbow Riches by Barcrest (98%).
• Mega Joker by NetEnt (99%).
• Ooh Aah Dracula by Barcrest (99%).
• 1,429 Uncharted Seas by Thunderkick (98.6%).
• Rainbow Riches by Barcrest (98%).
• Mega Joker by NetEnt (99%).
• Ooh Aah Dracula by Barcrest (99%).
• 1,429 Uncharted Seas by Thunderkick (98.6%).
Online casinos can afford to offer slightly higher return-to-player ratings than their real-world counterparts. They have much lower overheads to deal with thanks to a lack of venue operating costs, lower staffing commitments, and much lower machine maintenance fees. All this means that running an online casino is a lot cheaper than running a brick-and-mortar one.
Online casinos can offer more generous games and still operate at a profit. Competition between different companies encourages them to stock the most generous games online too.
European Roulette
Another absolute classic of both real-world and online casinos is roulette. There are two main versions of roulette – US and European. Those wanting to play against the lowest house edge possible should always opt for European roulette.
Roulette gives the casino an edge by paying out less than the probability of a certain event occurring.
For example, the odds of hitting a single number are 36 to 1 but the payout is 35 to 1.Similarly, the odds on an even money bet are slightly less than 1 to 1. This is because of the Green Zero on the wheel. When the ball lands on Green Zero, all Red/Black, High/Low, and Even/Odd bets will lose. This creates an edge for the house.
American roulette includes a Green Double Zero section as well as a single Zero. This means that there are two sections of the wheel that are neither Red or Black, or High or Low. The addition of Double Zero immediately reduces the return-to-player rating on all bets.
On straight up bets with American roulette, the casino will still pay winners at 35 to 1. However, the probability of hitting your number reduces because there are actually 38 places for the ball to land (rather than the 37 in European roulette). When given the option, always choose European roulette either online or at a real-world venue.
The Worst Plays in the Casino
Some games do not offer anywhere near the same return-to-player ratings as those already mentioned. These propositions should be avoided at all costs since they really are mug bets. Casinos make extra profits whenever you play the following games.
Worst Odds In The Casino
Stingy Slots
As mentioned, real-world slots will usually offer much lower return-to-player ratings that their online counterparts. Online, many slots fall into the 95 to 97% RTP rating range. In brick-and-mortar casinos, they’re often under 90%.
It’s also worth noting that slot manufacturers create different versions of the same game with different return-to-player ratings. This means a casino operator can choose whether to load their venues with potentially lucrative games or not.
Typically, the biggest and most famous casinos around will stock low RTP rated slots. Often based in decadent hotel complexes, the likes of the Bellagio or other Vegas super casinos are not known for their loose slots.
In fact, Las Vegas itself is generally one of the worst places to play slots. People are going to gamble in Vegas regardless of pay out percentages. That’s a given. Casinos don’t need to try to lure players with very generous slot RTP ratings so they don’t try.
Keno
A game that routinely has one of the worst pay outs versus the odds of winning is keno. For those that don’t know what keno is, it’s a kind of private, small-scale lottery. Players will pay to select up to 20 numbers from a choice of 80.
Once selections have been made, a lottery-style draw takes place. Twenty numbers are drawn. The more numbers correctly guessed by the player, the larger the prize will be.
Different versions of keno offer different return-to-player ratings. However, they’re almost always very bad. In some cases, they’re much worse than even real-world slots. It’s not at all uncommon to see keno games with a house edge of between 20 and 35%! Compare that to blackjack and you can understand why so few serious gamblers find themselves taking part in a game of keno or two.
Scratch Cards
Scratch cards in the real world are much more associated with off-licences than they are with casinos. However, online, this isn’t the case. Online casinos often feature a range of scratch cards, which, despite lousy RTP ratings, are still very popular with casino members.
This popularity is certainly related to the top prizes up for grabs on online scratch cards. Just like with real-world lotteries or scratch cards, the odds a punter receives seem to go out of the window when the prizes reach six or seven figures.
Even the industry’s best scratch cards offer much lower RTP ratings than slots do. Take Microgaming’s Lucky Numbers for example. This game offers one of the lowest house edges of all online scratch cards. However, with an RTP rating of 96.57%, it’s a long way off the most generous slots listed above.
Worst Casino Games
Down at the other end of the scale, the gap between slots and scratch cards is even more pronounced. Wolf Gold 1,000,000 is a scratch card with a particularly juicy top prize. Yet, its average return-to-player rating is between 67.03% and 74.48%! That makes even the very worst slots on the planet look pretty lucrative!
In fact, the gambling regulator for Nevada insists that every real-world slot in the state needs to be at least 75%.
Play Smart
Worst Odds In Casino Games
As you can see, there’s quite a big difference between the house edges of casino games. With the above advice, you can avoid the worst bets at the casino and stick with those that are most likely to return a profit.
Our best advice, for those wanting to play at as close to break even as possible, is to learn perfect strategy blackjack and stick to it. This will give you the best chance of a winning session!