Ranking the 10 Worst Casino Games – Slots and Other Games to Avoid

It can be difficult to decide which casino game to play, especially with so many different options. To make your decision a little easier, you could eliminate the worst casino games from your list of options.

Although many of these casino games can win you money, they aren’t recommended to play on a daily basis. You want to make sure you are getting a fair deal while gambling.

All games are different, but you still want to have a good risk-to-reward ratio.

The worst online casino games are the ones that heavily favor the house, while also offering limited upside for the player. Be sure to think twice before you spend your hard-earned money on any of the games below.

If you’ve read the companion piece to this blog post, “The 10 Best Casino Games”, you’ll notice that I included slot machines on my list of best games, too.

No, I haven’t lost my mind. And no, I’m not trying to be disingenuous.

Some slot machines are great fun, and others aren’t. The slot machines on the worst list include some of the following games for the following reasons:

These have notoriously low payout percentages, especially in Las Vegas. If you’re desperate to get a little more action in before you fly home, you might play these.

You should know, however, that the payback percentage is probably between 75% and 85%. That means you’ll lose, on average, $15 to $25 for every $100 you wager on these games.

Compare that with slot machines at casinos, which are heavily trafficked, like those on the Strip in Las Vegas. The payback percentage on those games is always well into the 90s.

The reason is simple: When you’re at the airport, those slot machines are the only game in town. They don’t have to compete with other casinos for your attention.

If you want to play slot machines while you’re at the airport, you’re stuck with their games.

Casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, on the other hand, are constantly competing with each other. If you don’t like how you’re running at the slots in one casino, you can just walk next door and look for a looser slot machine game there.

These also offer lower payout percentages than flat-top slot machines (A flat-top slot has a flat jackpot as its grand prize—it doesn’t grow progressively larger over time.) The math on this is just common sense.

To fuel the ever-increasing progressive jackpot slots, the games take a tiny percentage of each bet and use it toward increasing the size of the progressive.

That money comes directly from the payback percentage of the other smaller wins. The odds of hitting the progressive jackpot are similar (if not as extreme) to hitting a lottery win.

So, 99.9999% of the time, the payback percentage will be significantly lower for YOU because you’re not likely to see that progressive jackpot when you’re playing.

Slot machines are cool for certain players, but not all slots are created equally.

It makes more sense to play hot drop slots because at least they give you a window for when their jackpots will drop. You can find hot drops on several sites, such as Ignition Casino.

Read more about what they offer with this Ignition Casino review before you start playing.

You probably also noticed that blackjack made the top spot on my list of the best games in the casino.

That’s because it’s a lot of fun and offers some of the best odds in the casino. But not all blackjack games are created equal.

Most blackjack games pay off at 3 to 2 if you get a blackjack (a “natural”). That’s a 2 card hand that totals 21—it has an ace and another card worth 10. This bonus payout changes the texture of the game dramatically.

In fact, the increased payoff, on that hand, is the reason card counting works. Card counters track the ratios of aces and 10s in the deck to low cards. When there is a relatively high number of those cards in the deck, your odds of getting a blackjack and the accompanying higher payout increase.

So, they raise their wagers when that situation comes up.

But some casinos only offer a 6/5 payout for a blackjack. That has a huge effect on your bottom line. This particular rule variation takes unfair advantage of unsophisticated gamblers who don’t understand the big difference that extra payout makes to your bottom line.

Let’s say you’re playing for $100 per hand and 30 hands per hour. You’re putting $3000 into action every hour that you play.

You can calculate your expected loss per hour by multiplying the house edge by the amount of action you’re bringing.

Maybe you’re playing a reasonably good blackjack game with perfect basic strategy, and the house edge with all the rules variations in place for this game is only 0.5%. You’re looking at losing, on average, $15 per hour.

That’s not bad for an hour’s entertainment. And standard deviation will help you win during some sessions, too.

But let’s make this one change to the rules and start paying you $120 when you get a blackjack instead of $150. The house edge jumps from 0.5% to 1.89%.

Now, your expected loss per hour is around $57. There’s a big difference between losing $15 per hour and $57 per hour. And that’s the result of one seemingly small rule variation.

My advice is to stick to traditional blackjack. I also recommend the following guide to blackjack strategy, so you know how to increase your chances of winning.

Roulette is an okay game for some casino players. It’s relatively slow-paced, so you don’t generally get a lot of money into action per hour.

It’s also an excellent way to socialize with other gamblers without the intensity of the craps table.

But there are two kinds of roulette in most casinos. One is American roulette, and the other is European roulette.

The difference between the two games is the number of 0s on the wheel. And like changing the payout on a blackjack from 3 to 2 to 6 to 5, adding another 0 to the wheel has a devastating effect to your odds.

A European roulette wheel has 37 numbers on it. One of them is a 0, which is green, but the rest are even and odd numbers colored red and black.

The American wheel is the same, with one exception—the addition of a slot with 00 on it. It’s also green. But it effectively doubles the odds of the casino winning.

The house gets its edge in roulette from those 0s. If you removed them from the wheel and kept the same payouts on the bets, you’d have an even money game. The house wouldn’t have an edge, and neither would the player.

Here’s how that works:

If you have a 37 to 1 chance of hitting a single number bet, and if the casino pays off 35 to 1 on that bet, the casino wins more often than the player. On an American wheel, those are the exact odds you face.

On the European wheel, though, your odds of winning that single number bet are 36 to 1. It still pays off at 35 to 1, but the house edge is much smaller.

What effect does that have on your bottom line? Let’s assume you’re betting $100 per spin. And let’s also assume that you’re getting 30 spins per hour. You’re putting $3000 into action every hour.

You can multiply the house edge by the amount of action you’re bringing in order to get an estimate of your expected hourly loss.

2.7% of $3000 is $81. That’s a big loss per hour compared to blackjack, but it’s still WAY better than your expected hourly loss in the American version of the game.

5.26% of $3000 is $157.80. That’s way more than I want to give up per hour for the privilege of playing a game with only one difference—an extra 0 on the wheel.

Not all casinos offer European roulette. I suggest sticking with the casinos that do and stay away from the American roulette games altogether.

In an effort to help you avoid the casino games with the worst odds, allow me to steer you in the right direction.

If you want to play European roulette, you can do so online. The best site for it is arguably DuckyLuck Casino.

DuckyLuck welcomes you to their site with a generous 500% deposit bonus (up to $7,500). They also have a wide selection of casino games to play, in addition to multiple European roulette games.

Whether you prefer European Roulette Deluxe or the standard version, be sure to give DuckyLuck Casino a visit.

What casino game has the worst odds, you ask? Well, there are a lot of games out there that do not have intriguing odds. However, they all have some sort of upside that makes them worth playing.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be the worst games to play at casinos; they just simply wouldn’t exist.

That said, the odds for Andar Bahar aren’t great. It’s a game with limited upside, and your odds of winning are essentially 50%. Your payout can be less than 1:1 in many Andar Bahar games.

It can take a very long time to build up enough bankroll with just even odds. Other casino games might require more decision-making on your end, but they make up for it by offering better odds or a more satisfying payout.

You never know when a bad streak will come, and it will be twice as devastating if you have your head in the clouds.

If you’re looking for the casino games with the worst odds, I’d say Andar Bahar is one to put on the list. That said, some of you might enjoy the simplicity.

If you need a little more help with how to play, then check out our Andar Bahar guide to help. Once you’ve mastered it, maybe you can play it online at a site like Bovada.

One of the worst online casino games is Tri Card Poker, or otherwise known as 3 Card Poker by others. You might enjoy this game because of its simplicity, but there are many reasons to consider playing a different game.

Tri Card Poker can be played very fast, which is dangerous for any casino game. The house edge isn’t astronomically high at a little over 2%, but it’s even higher when you don’t apply basic strategy.

Every casino game favors the house to a certain extent. The faster and longer you play, the more the house will win. Taking your time and walking away when you are ahead is better.

In addition to the playing speed, Tri Card Poker can be difficult to win. There are two different wagers, with the first being the ante and the second being the raise. You can’t win without raising, so you essentially have to bet twice.

Not only that, but you don’t always win back your raise. That happens when the dealer doesn’t qualify, or they qualify, and either their hand or the player’s hand is better. It’s hard enough to win as is, but these rules limit your upside.

Tri or Three Card Poker is one of the most popular Treasure Island games, and I’m sure you played a few games during your last visit. However, I would reconsider playing this poker variant and stick with the traditional one instead.

Big Six is more like a carnival game than a casino game. It’s not even that common anymore. But I know one thing about carnival games—the odds are in the house’s favor in a BIG way.

Here’s how Big Six works. There’s a spinning wheel, similar to the Wheel of Fortune, but it’s upright instead of level with the ground. There are dollar symbols of various denominations on the wheel, and those dollar amounts are also found on the surface of the betting table.

The wheel and the table also have options for the “Big Six” logo.

If you bet a $1 bill on the $1 result, you win $1 if that result hits when the wheel is spun. If you bet a $5 bill, you win $5 if the $5 lands when the wheel is spun. And so on for the $10 and $20 bets. The logo bets pay off at $40.

The best of the bad bets in this game is the $1 bet. The house edge for that bet is only 11.11%. That’s twice as high as the house edge at the American roulette wheel, which you’ll remember made our list of worst casino games already.

But that’s the BEST bet in this game. Bet $5 or $20; the house edge is 22.22%. That’s about what you’d expect from a keno game, but you don’t even have a slim chance of getting a big payday. The best you can hope for is to win $5 or $20.

This is a silly game that’s not found in a lot of casinos anymore. You’ll usually see it near the entrance when you find it.

I don’t judge casino games based solely on the house edge, but I do consider it, and so should you.

There’s no good strategy for playing the Big Six Wheel, but if you are going to play, stick with the $1 bets as the house edge skyrockets for all the other bets on the table. I also recommend only playing the best online casino wheel games.

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War is one of the silliest games in the casino. Years ago, I watched Vegas Vacation, and the Chevy Chase character went to a low-rent casino that had a bunch of silly games.

One of the games was War, which, as far as I know, wasn’t actually being played in real casinos at the time. That was part of the joke.

But some casino executive somewhere saw an opportunity here, and now the game is pretty common.

The problem is that it’s boring and has lousy odds. Here’s how the game works:

You probably played War at the kitchen table when you were a kid. You get a card, and your opponent gets a card. The player with the card of higher rank wins the hand. In the event of a tie, you deal out 2 or 3 dead cards and have another showdown.

In the casino game version, you and the dealer compete in the same kind of contest. But if you have to go to War in the event of a push, you only win your original bet, even though you have to place an additional bet to go to War in the first place.

The game not only has a relatively high house edge, but it also plays incredibly fast. Unlike blackjack, there are few decisions to be made. And you’re looking at half as many cards per hand. So, seeing 200 hands per hour isn’t unheard of or even hard to pull off when playing Casino War.

The house edge is between 2% and 2.5%, but there’s a side bet where you can wager on whether you will go to war on a given hand. The house edge on that bet is lousy. The payoff is only 10 to 1, but the odds of actually going to war on a given hand are 12 to 1.

War is similar to games like roulette and slots. You have no opportunity to make any kind of decision that will help you win more often.

I avoid War because it’s just a boring game with a lousy house edge. Blackjack is infinitely more interesting.

Craps is the most popular dice game in the casino, but Sic Bo is still relatively common.

This game uses 3 dice instead of 2, and you have a wide variety of bets you can place. It lacks the excitement of craps, because the house edge is much higher, and the way it’s played is quite different.

Instead of having a player act as a shooter and roll the dice, in Sic Bo the dealer rolls the dice every time. There are a bewildering number of bets available, but the house edge on all of these bets is lousy.

Example:

• You can bet “small” or “big”.
• A small bet is a wager that the total on the 3 dice is anywhere from 4 to 10.
• A big bet is a wager that the total on the 3 dice is anywhere from 11 to 17.

This bet pays off at even odds, but the house edge is 2.78%. This is actually one of the best bets on the table.

You can also bet on specific totals. You might bet that you’ll see a total of 4 or a total of 17. If you do, that bet pays off at 50 to 1 or more.

But even though there’s a big payoff, the house edge is awful—it’s between 15% and 29%, which makes this bet a similar proposition to a keno wager. The house edge goes down as the payoff for this result goes up.

If you’re at a casino where you get paid off 60 to 1 instead of 50 to 1, you’ll see that higher percentage.

Sic Bo is interesting to look at, and it’s really popular in Macau. Most Americans don’t enjoy the game much. There’s no strategy other than choosing the bets with the lowest house edge, but even then, the odds aren’t great.

If you want to understand how things work better in the game, you can check out our best Sic Bo tricks.

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Video poker is another game on my list of best casino games. The reason it makes my list of worst games in the casino is because some versions of some popular games offer a relatively high house edge.

The full pay version of Jacks or Better is also called 9/6 Jacks or Better. The 9 and the 6 refer to the payouts for the full house and the flush. A full house pays off at 9 to 1, and a flush pays off at 6 to 1.

If you can find a full pay version of the game and play with optimal strategy, the payback percentage is 99.54%. That means the house edge is only 0.46%, making the game comparable to blackjack.

But most Jacks or Better games don’t offer these kinds of payouts. You can find 8/5, 7/5, and 6/5 versions of Jacks or Better. The house edge skyrockets as the payoffs for these two hands go down.

Here’s a comparison:

The best thing you can do as a video poker player is specialize in certain games and learn how to spot the better pay tables. If you’re discriminating about which games you play, video poker IS one of the best bets in the casino.

But if you play video poker games with lousy pay tables, you’re just giving away your money for no reason.

What is the worst game to play in a casino? That’s not exactly an easy question to answer. Everyone prefers something different, so there’s not one game you could point your finger at and say, “That one!”

Instead of trying to find the one game to avoid in the casino, it’s better to understand what makes them unappealing in the first place.

One game that I’m adding to the list is Teen Patti Pro. You might enjoy this game, but there are several different reasons why it’s not one of the best casino games to play.

First and foremost, Teen Patti Pro is another simple game. As I mentioned with a few other games on this list, simple does not always mean good. In fact, it usually means that the odds aren’t that great.

In Teen Patti Pro, there are three main bets that you place. Those bets are for the player, dealer, or split. The payouts for the player and dealer are slightly below 1:1, while the tie bet has more upside.

You might think that the tie bet is the best for this reason. However, you aren’t going to see many ties when you play. This means you must have a huge bankroll to survive between wins.

I wouldn’t say Teen Patti has the worst casino game odds, but I also don’t think you should be dying to play it. If you want to try it, you may want to try some Teen Patti betting tips to improve your chances of winning.

If you’re looking for a reputable online casino to play it at, you can find it at Café Casino. Read our Café Casino review for more details on their site and welcome bonus!

As you can see, there are a good amount of casino games that you should avoid playing.

For the most part, they don’t offer you the chance to win big while also having odds that heavily favor the house.

Out of all the worst casino games, the one that I recommend never playing is 6/5 blackjack. This blackjack variant essentially ruins any advantage that the player can get.

Sticking to traditional blackjack makes way more sense, which is also much easier to find at online or in-person casinos.

I’d also like to re-emphasize that it’s not all about finding the worst casino game odds. Although it is important, it’s worth mentioning that not everyone prefers the same type of casino game. Stick to a game you know also offers the opportunity for big wins.

Our beginner’s guide to casinos can help you avoid more bad casino games and become a more well-rounded gambler!

Footnotes:

• Popular games at Treasure Island are from their official site.