Most people visit casinos to have fun playing their favorite games. But if you want to better your odds of winning; find games designed to help you win. Likewise, avoid games with poor odds. The information about best and worst-paying casino games is freely available online, so you have no excuse to play high-paying games

Some online casinos also publish their games’ payout rates. But to help you save time, below is a list of the best and worst games to play at a casino. Intrigued? Let’s dive right in.

Best Odds

Blackjack—1% House Edge

Blackjack is a card game played between a player and a dealer. You can play online or at land-based casinos. The objective is similar: Form a hand whose value is closest to or equal to 21. If you exceed 21, you bust—a loss. The game comes in many variants, some that promise better payout rates and others with more inviting odds.

All the same, the way to win blackjack is to learn strategies that work. For example, experts advise that you split 8s always and hit 12 when a dealer’s exposed card is a 2-5. Another tip is to avoid side bets and insurance—most people lose.

Although blackjack comes with many systems, the most recommended cheat sheet is the Basic Blackjack Strategy. It lists moves you should make at different junctures of a blackjack game. Follow the strategy religiously and there’s a chance you could win blackjack consistently.

Video Poker—1% House Edge

Video Poker is a blend of slots and poker. It’s played on video screens—akin to slots—and uses the same cards used in poker. The game’s objective is to form a real poker hand: Two of a Kind, Straight, Flush, Full House, or Royal Flush.

Like blackjack, video poker comes in many variants. Some of them games have a 100% Return to Player (RTP) on theory. And that means they give you a pretty decent chance of winning. So, how do you play video poker?

You place a bet of one to five coins (or their multiples) and press play. The video machine deals you five poker cards. Then you choose cards you want to keep and discard the rest. The machine then deals you more cards. And if they form a poker hand, you win.

With Jacks or Better, the most popular video poker variant, you win 4000 coins if you wager five coins and form a royal flush. By comparison, you walk away with just 250 coins if you bet one coins and get the highest poker hand. Lesson: Maximize your bet when it’s possible.

Roulette—2.8% House Edge

Roulette is a simple game of chance involving a labeled wheel and a pay table. You place a bet to predict where a small ball lands after it’s thrown into a spinning wheel. It could be the specific number the ball lands on, the color of that pocket or where it’s located.

Like many casino games, roulette comes in many forms. And as a result, the odds of different predictions vary from one game to another. In many casinos, the most popular variants are European and American roulette. The latter is known for having an extra (00) pocket that lowers the odds of winning.

With that in mind, the 2.8% house edge we mentioned above applies to European roulette. If you play American roulette, keep in mind the house advantage is 5.2%. That said, 50/50 roulette bets like odds/even or blacks/reds give you the best odds of winning in roulette—48.6% chance in European and 47.4% chance in American roulette.

Craps—1%

Craps is purely based on luck but it attracts great odds. It’s a 50/50 game in that you can throw dice and get it right or lose. In the casino space, Craps can appear intimidating because of its somewhat complex rules. It’s not just a game of dice.

Craps is centered on a bet type called pass line. You can wager on whether the dice passes the line or not. With that in mind, someone (the shooter) rolls dice in a round called the comeout roll. If it’s a 7 or 11, all bets on passing the line win.

If it’s a 2, 3, or 12 and you had wagered on passing the line, you lose. If it’s a different number, it’s pushed into another round (the point). The shooter rolls the deice again. And if they roll the same number again, they win an even-money payoff. If they roll a 7, they lose.

Games with the Worst Odds

Classic Slots

Classic slots are games designed in the 1990s or early 2000s. Back then, the competition among casinos was low and developers would create games that highly favored the house. To provide some context, the average classic slot has an RTP of 80% to 90%.

By comparison, today’s video slots have RTP rates ranging from 92% to 99%. In fact, most people won’t play video slots with an RTP of below 95%. That’s because although the aim of playing slots is to have fun, there’s also the need to beat the house.

You can’t beat the house playing classic slots. What’s more, they are simplistic and lack a lot of the features found in video slots. For example, their graphics are often dated. Also, they lack in-game features like wilds, scatters and multipliers.

Keno

At one time, Keno was a popular casino game with exclusive lounges in Las Vegas and its own categories at online casinos. These days, most casinos relegate into the category for ‘Other Games. So, how did Keno lose its mojo?

People figured out it is a terrible game. It works out like a lottery—you choose 1 to 20 numbers from a pool of numbers 1 through 80. The objective is to have as many correct games from the pool. The computer then draws out 20 numbers at random: your numbers must be among the 20 picked for you to win.

Now comes the terrible part—the odds of getting one number correctly are 1 in 80. The odds of getting two numbers correctly are 1 in 6250. The odds of matching three numbers are 1 in 492961. Lesson: never play Keno.

Your man cave is your palace, your domain. It should be somewhere that makes you feel comfortable, relaxed, and at home.

Unfortunately, many man caves start out as dingy basements or decrepit garages. Turning them into paragons of relaxation and comfort can take quite a bit of work.

To help you create your little utopia, we’ve created a guide that will help you work your way systematically through the jobs that need to be done.

Clear Out

First things first, clear out the space. Up until now, you’ve probably been using the garage or basement to store stuff you didn’t want to throw away.

That has to stop.

If you’re going to create a man cave you need to find a new place for the stuff you want to keep and you need to get rid of the junk.

It’s no good leaving boxes stacked in one corner and promising to find space for them. You never will. Get rid of them before you create your man cave otherwise they will end up cluttering up your man cave.

While you’re clearing out, don’t forget to strip any wall paper and remove any flooring or carpets that need to go.

Water and Damp Proofing

Basements and garages are not always weathertight. They can be prone to seepages as water from below the floor or around the walls makes its way inside.

Before you even think about laying flooring, treat the ground with waterproof underlayment. You’ll need to do the walls as well. When doing the walls and floor, check for any cracks and seal them before waterproofing.

Wiring

You need to get your wiring done before you think about decorating the walls, floor and ceiling. If you do it afterwards, you’ll end up punching holes in your painted walls to run cables.

When it comes to wiring, you want to make sure you have enough outlets for your tv, entertainment system, consoles, lights, lamps, and sound systems. A good choice is to place 4 sockets on each wall, 2 at either end.

If you’ve already decided where your tv and things are going to go, why not get the sockets installed in the same place. It will save you trying to run extension cords about the place.

Another thing to think about when it comes to wiring is if you need any special outlets. If you have any kit that requires 240V outlets, make sure you get some installed.

Plumbing

While you’re thinking about wiring, you’ll want to consider the plumbing too. This only really matters if you’re planning on having a bathroom installed.

If you’re installing a bar in your man cave, you might want to consider getting a sink and potentially a dishwasher installed. To do this you’ll need to bring some plumbing into the area.

Here’s a handy guide that will help you decide whether a wet bar is worth the effort in your man cave.

The Ceiling

Basements and garages often have unfinished ceilings with exposed plumbing and wiring.

Once you’ve got all your wiring and plumbing sorted you’ll want to cover up those wires. Installing a ceiling can be as simple as plasterboarding or installing drop tiles. It’s up to you.

Decorating

At this point, you should now have a blank canvas. The walls, floors, and ceiling should be prepped, the wiring and plumbing installed.

You now need to decide how to decorate and customise your man cave. This is going to be a super personal choice. We’re going to offer some ideas rather than tell you how to do it a specific way.

Let’s consider the floor first.

You have so many options when it comes to flooring. You could tile, carpet, lay laminate or vinyl, or get hardwood installed.

Carpet is a good choice if you plan on watching tv in your man cave. It helps absorb sound and prevents distortion. With harder floors sound waves can bounce off and cause a bit of an echo in the room.

Carpets will also keep your feet warmer. Unless you’ve installed some sort of heating in your man cave, expect it to get a bit chilly in the winter. Carpet is a good way of providing some insulation.

Of course the downside to carpet is that it absorbs spills and stains. If you’re planning on doing some drinking and partying, you might want to choose flooring that is easier to clean.

You could always create different spaces in your man cave. By this I mean you could have a carpeted area for relaxing and watching TV and a tiled or vinyl floor around the bar or drinking area.

Rugs are also a good choice if you want a bit of insulation around the tv or sound system but don’t want the hassle of cleaning an entire carpet.

Next up? The Walls.

This is where you can really personalize your man cave. You can use your collectibles or memorabilia to decorate the walls if you wish.

You could use the walls to mount monitors, projectors, and sound systems for your gaming consoles.

If you’re into hunting and the outdoors, you could use wood paneling to create a lodge or cottage feel.

Try to think of the walls as your canvas. They’re a space that you can use to create the room of your dreams.

We recommend installing any shelves and equipment that needs wall mounting before you start decorating. There’s nothing worse than lovingly hanging you sports jerseys only to realize that the tv needs to go in that spot!

Final Thoughts

So there you have it, the first steps you’ll need to take to transform your basement or garage into your man cave.

There’s lots more to do after these steps, but this will help you get started.

Don’t forget to think about lighting, furniture, equipment and amenities when planning the layout of your man cave.

Do you love sports? Have you been witnessing the boom in sports betting?

Does turning your passion for sports into a side hustle to pay your bills sound exciting?

In this guide, we’re going to teach you the essentials on starting your own sportsbook. You don’t even need to start out full-time, this business can start out part-time as a side hustle.

Steps to Turning Your Passions for Sports Into a Business

Let’s take a look at how you can turn your passion into a profitable business.

1. Join the Best PPH: A pay per head (PPH) service will provide you with the essentials to get started in this business, including the software, live betting odds and support.

PPH services are common, but we recommend reading our PPH reviews to find the best.

It’ll save you time, money and headaches.

You can get started for free by claiming a free trial. What other business can you start with zero initial investment? There aren’t too many, especially with the profit potential in this industry.

2. Get Players Signed Up: Opening accounts for players is simple using a PPH. You or the provider will create a unique account number and password to share with the player.

You’re only going to be able to pay your bills if you make money.

How do you make money as a bookie? Well, you need players actively betting. Typically, the more players you have wagering and the more turnover you have, the more money you’ll make.

We recommend marketing wherever possible. Social media, friends/family, the local bar. You need to grow your betting sheet with qualified sports bettors, though. Don’t accept everyone.

3. Learn the Tools of the Trade: PPH services offer bookies a lot of tools and data to increase turnover and profits. You need to start utilizing the bookie tools as soon as you launch.

We have lots of great guides that will teach you about what tools to use.

One great feature are the reports provided by PPH services. These reports are updated in real-time and bookies can also use them to handle the accounting at the end of the month.

4. Profit: Once you learn the ropes, start utilizing the tools and have players actively betting, you’re going to end up making lots of profit as long as you can continue to grow.

It’s definitely possible to turn your passion for sports into a business that pays your bills.

Millions of people bet on sports every single day. There’s a good chance some of your friends bet on sports and these should be the first people you work on signing up to your sportsbook.

If you love sports, why not give it a try?

PPH services offer free trials, allowing you to run your own sportsbook for free initially. These trials can last for several weeks, so the only money you need to start is a bankroll to pay out winners.

You may not even end up paying any winners the first few weeks, but you need to have the money in case a player wins. Your reputation is on the line and you have to payout players quickly.

Learn more about Pay Per Head:

Automated Player Management With Pay Per Head
Key Pay Per Head Business Analytics
Three Great Ways to Find the Right Pay Per Head Site
Real Bookies Ramps up the Betting Action This Winter
Benefit From Real Bookies Pay Per Head Business Model

On a regular day in the sporting calendar, the bookies are guaranteed to turn a tidy profit from their customers. But every so often one extremely lucky – or clever – gambler manages to beat the odds and walk away with a huge sum of money from an unlikely bet. Here are some of the betting upsets that have gone down in infamy.

Gino DiFelice and the Fail Mary

In 2012, Canadian Gino DiFelice was waiting on the outcome of the clash between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks. Having already predicted the outcomes of 14 other NFL games correctly, this final result was all that was standing between him and a staggering win.

The game went down to the wire, and was ultimately decided by a controversial Hail Mary pass that handed the game to the Seahawks by the narrowest of margins. The incident famously became known as the ‘Fail Mary’, as the official’s decision to award the touchdown was dubious at best. Good news for DiFelice, who received the full $725,000 from his original $5 bet.

Leicester City Top the English Premier League

One of the most popular sporting leagues in the world, the EPL is not usually full of big surprises. Teams that receive a massive injection of cash may be expected to up their game fairly rapidly, but aside from that the final top ten are generally a mix of the usual suspects.

The bookies were caught out in a big way in the 2015/16 season, when rank outsiders Leicester City rocketed up the table and proved unstoppable. During the previous season the team had faced relegation fears, ultimately finishing in fourteenth place. At the start of the next season, their odds for topping the table were set at 5,000-1. Only 24 people made the bet before the first kickoff. By the time Leicester lifted the trophy, UK bookies had paid out more than $34.5 million.

Overnight Millionaire

A horse racing fan from Yorkshire in the UK received the best birthday present imaginable in 2008 when he became a millionaire overnight – from a stake of just fifty pence (around $0.70). Fred Craggs placed the eight-race accumulator bet as a bit of fun, and didn’t even check the ticket at first.

Only when he next visited the bookmaker, to place some more small bets, was he informed that the 2,800,000-1 odds had netted him a million pounds sterling. At the time, this was the maximum payout for horse racing, and Craggs was the first customer ever to win it. Fittingly, the name of the first horse was Isn't That Lucky, and the last was A Dream Come True.
World Series Wild Cards
In 2011, the St Louis Cardinals were a Major League Baseball wild card team. The chances of them even making the playoffs had been looking slim, so the odds stayed high for them to be the eventual winners. One devoted fan had enough faith to place a $125 bet at 999-1.

Going up against defending American League champions the Texas Rangers, the Cardinals played a nailbiter for the seven games of the World Series. Tied after the sixth game, the Cards pulled it out of the bag to score the title in the final clash. After a season dogged by injury and the loss of some key players, the bookies were likely surprised that they had to cough up the cash.

Kentucky Derby Makes the Headlines

It may be a household name today, but back in 1913 the Kentucky Derby was not yet on many people’s radar. The result that year, the 39th running of the annual race, cemented its place as a premier sporting event in the American calendar. Donerail was the winning horse, a locally-reared thoroughbred who still to this day holds the record for the longest odds victory in the history of the race.

At 91-1, Donerail was clearly not seen as a threat. Jockey Roscoe Goose held the stallion back until the home stretch, but when he was unleashed he forged ahead to overtake the three in front and win over favorite Ten Point by half a length. Although his time doesn’t even make the top fifty today, Donerail set the record that day. From a bet of just $2, one lucky racegoer received $184.90 – which translates to almost $5,000 in today’s money.

The Ultimate Beginner’s Luck

In 2015, Las Vegas resident Tayla Polia was trying to learn how spread betting works. As she recalls, her boyfriend was getting frustrated with explaining it, so she decided to learn by doing and try it out on the day’s NFL games. Polia knew that the parlay bet she placed on all 15 fixtures was ludicrous, but it wasn’t really about winning.

Imagine her surprise when all her bets came through. Polia won a cool hundred grand after betting just $5, beating the 20,000-1 odds.

If You Win, Make Sure The Payout is Fast

There you have it, some of the biggest upsets that have cost bookmakers a lot, or have brough piles of money to the winners. While these situations are rare, everyday people do win by gambling – either in sports or in online casinos. These winnings will be taxed depending on their country of residence. Example, in Germany taxes will probably higher than in the Finland where gambling is tax free. Sometimes there are issues with payouts for simple reasons that all documents aren’t in order or that casinos/bookies suspect irregularities. When all the procedural red tape is cleared, transfers of money can also take a while, depending on the amount. In order to speed things up, punters should always consider using quick withdrawal operators which guarantee short processing periods and generous payout terms. Keep this in mind, just in case you win big and don’t want to wait too long.

Sporting events and sports betting have gone hand in hand ever since the Greeks devised the first Olympics, the Romans held their first chariot races, and the Chinese kicked a ball in the first game of Cuju. And no matter how many times sports betting has been deemed illegal over the years, punters have always found a way to make it interesting. We just love to place bets on the outcome of an exciting sporting event. So much so, in fact, that these days sports betting accounts for at least 70% of the gambling revenue worldwide – we’re talking billions of euros. With such insane amounts of money flowing through the bookies every year, it’s not surprising that the industry would attract the attention of criminals looking to make some easy money through match fixing.

More Bets More Fixes

The advent of online gambling has not only led to a massive increase in the number of people placing sports bets, but also in the number of sporting events that can be bet on. There has also been a change in the way bets can be placed. In the past, it was only possible to bet on a football game via a land – based bookie, and the bets on offer were win, lose, or draw. Nowadays, punters can place bets on any number of factors, such as how many goals will be scored in the first or second half, or which player will score, or which player will get sent off. Venues have gone online, even online casinos offer sportsbook products. It’s very easy to start betting online. Almost any of the online casinos that accept PayPal makes it possible to deposit quickly and start betting without delay. Players can also place bets while a game is in play. Punters can also place bets on games within leagues that would normally fall under the radar. And it’s in these smaller games that match fixing can go unnoticed.

The Whys and Wherefores

Match fixing (and race fixing) is more common than any football fan would care to believe. After all, most fans love their game to the point of madness and would never wish to see their team cheat their way to a win. But for some people, it’s all about the money. These people know that if they place a guaranteed bet at the right moment, when the odds are low, then they’re going to make a fortune. And the only way to guarantee a bet is to fix a match.

Match fixing is accomplished in any number of ways. The most common is to pay-off the referee, but sometimes match fixing can involve players, managers, and club members. Up until the early 2000’s it was impossible for bookmakers to offer truly accurate odds on minor league games. This made it easier for match fixers to throw a game without drawing too much attention to themselves. However, in 2001, a company called Market Monitor created a software tool by the name of Betradar that could accumulate and assess data from hundreds of bookies worldwide. Using this data, Betradar could provide bookies with more accurate odds on a vast selection of matches – saving them both time and money. It wasn’t long before the team at Market Monitor realized that their software could also be used to detect suspicious gambling patterns in live sporting events.

The Rise of Sportradar

In the 2005 Hamburg vs Paderborn match fixing scandal, a referee (Robert Hoyzer) was paid off by members of the Croatian mafia to throw the game in favor of Paderborn. The crime came to light after several other referees came forward to testify that they had been approached by Hoyzer to fix other games. It was at this time that Carsten Koerl, Market Monitor’s CEO, realized that Betradar could have red-flagged the sudden upsurge of bets in favor of Paderborn midway through the game, just before the referee sent off Hamburg’s star striker with a dubious red card and then went on to award Paderborn two penalty kicks. There was little to suggest that Paderborn had any chance of winning prior to Hoyzer’s actions. Clearly, the bets were placed because whoever placed them knew what Hoyzer was up to.

The German Football Association, suitably embarrassed by the scandal, worked with Market Monitor to produce the Fraud Detection System using the Betradar software. Market Monitor is now known as Sportradar and their software is now responsible for monitoring bookmakers in over 100 different countries. Huge amounts of data are processed on a daily basis in order to calculate odds and detect unscrupulous behavior. The Sportsradar team monitors approximately 375 football games a day, as well as a huge array of other sporting events. They calculate odds using data that includes past performance, current team players, injuries, weather conditions, and game location. The data is then displayed on a graph that also displays real-time odds during the game. Should the real-time odds suddenly veer off course for no discernible reason, such as an in-game injury, or a change of player, then the team will investigate the possibility of match fixing. Since their launch in 2009, Sportradar has detected 4,145 cases of match fixing. But the fight to weed out corrupt players and officials, as well as career criminals is ongoing.

If you’ve been in the bookie business for a little while, you probably already know that there are many different ways to go when you’re trying to run your day to day operation. There is not a right or a wrong way, there is not a special or magic formula for success, you just do the best you can, you plan ahead, and you expect the best results possible.

It’s the same in the Pay per Head industry, you can go with one provider or another, but it’s important that you know that not all bookie services offer you the same, in fact, many things can change from one place to another, and that’s why here at realBookies.com we want you to come in, sit back, relax, and get to know our offer, everything we can do for you, all the different ways we can help your business, to make sure we lower your risk to a minimum and maximize your profit as much as we can.

Real Bookies is safe, fast, and easy

We have been in business for over two decades, we know how this business works, we know what your operation needs, we’ve been there, we’ve built up already, we adjusted and came up with easier and better tools, and we’re ready to share our experience with you and your players.

At RealBookies we offer you instant account setup, you can use your laptop or smartphone, our platform is good either way, it’s actually mobile-first designed, because we know that’s how things are done right now, instantly, right at the palm of your hand. With our sportsbook platform you will be able to easily set up new accounts, profile customers, adjust limits, make payments and anything else you need, in a matter of just a few clicks.

Product variety is so important nowadays, and it was proven right during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when sports were forced to stop. Casino games became the number one product for many, horse racing, virtual sports, all of these gained popularity among gamblers, but most importantly, sportsbooks realized how important it is not only to offer them, but to offer a truly great experience, so that customers will never have to go out and find another source.

We can also guarantee some of the best and most experienced sportsbook personnel for your business, right here at Real Bookies. We have people with years of experience in every single position, and they’re all ready to offer you and your clients 24/7 backup and support, both in English and Spanish.

Some of the sharpest line movers in the world are also here with us, and their expertise and sports knowledge are right at your disposal. They will be the ones dealing your lines and markets, making sure your risk level is always at a minimum.

Can you see why Real Bookies is the best option for you and your operation? Give us a call right now and let’s talk some more, we’ll be more than happy to help!