Why Do Casinos Give Players An Edge In Video Poker?

All casino gamblers are looking for an edge. In most cases, there is no edge to be had. Online casino games are designed with a built in house edge. This is how the house makes money. Even if the house edge is only one percent, so many thousands of dollars are wagered every day in both live and online casinos that this small advantage leads to huge profits for the casino. Not only that, but the real house edge on most casino games is much higher than one percent.

What’s so Great about Video Poker?

One of the lowest house edge games in Las Vegas and other us casinos is video poker. Your typical full pay Jacks or Better machine returns over 99 cents out of every dollar wagered if played with perfect strategy. In other video poker games, it may even be possible to turn the game into a positive expectation game with a player edge using perfect strategy!

Wouldn't the Casino Go Broke Giving Players an Edge?

How can the casino offer a positive expectation game? It cannot be true, can it? In fact, it is true, but there are a number of factors to keep in mind. In the first place, games with a positive player expectation offer a very small edge, an edge that amounts to about 75 cents won for every $100 wagered. Secondly, these games usually only allow wagering in units of a quarter, meaning it can take a considerable amount of time to wager $100, even playing quickly (remember, you must use perfect strategy, which makes it unlikely you will be able to make instantaneous decisions). Even if you were able to wager $1,000 an hour under these conditions, which is extremely doubtful, you would only make about minimum wage, so it is not really cost effective to do this as a money-making effort.

Still, Why Should the Casino Offer a Game with Any Positive Expectation?

The idea behind these games is to encourage people to get into casino gambling and try other games. Most people are not using perfect strategy anyway, so the casino is still making money from these games, and the value of traffic they bring into the casino far outweighs the cost of giving away a small edge, in the same way that giving bonuses is worthwhile for the casino. You can win a little from video poker, but still, if you wish to become a big winner, you might have to turn to internet poker.