Roulette vs baccarat

Roulette vs baccarat: what really separates them

On the surface the two games could hardly look more different: a spinning wheel with 37 or 38 pockets against two hands of cards drawn from an eight-deck shoe. Underneath they share a lot. In both, you place a bet and then watch; nothing you do after that alters the result. Both are fixtures of UK live casino lobbies, and both are often described as games for players who don't want to learn strategy.

The big difference is how each game charges you. Roulette sets one flat price: on a single-zero wheel every standard bet, from a single number to red or black, costs 2.70% of what you stake in the long run. Baccarat uses a price ladder: two main bets near 1%, and a Tie bet that costs many times more.

Red or black against Banker or Player

The fairest like-for-like test is between the even-money bets, because that is where most players in both games put their chips. Each game has a 'house result' that spoils the even-money bettor's day. In roulette it is the zero: an even-money bet simply loses when the ball lands there, unless the table uses La Partage. In baccarat it is the tie, but a tie does not lose your Banker or Player bet. It pushes, and your stake comes back.

That is the core of why baccarat is cheaper. Ties come up about 9.5% of the time with eight decks, according to Wizard of Odds' baccarat basics (opens in a new tab), yet cost the Banker and Player bettor nothing. Baccarat's edge comes instead from small imbalances: Banker wins slightly more often, so it carries a 5% commission, while Player wins slightly less often and pays even money.

Percentages are rounded. The baccarat figures are Wizard of Odds' eight-deck results; the roulette figures come from counting pockets (18 reds out of 37 or 38).

Baccarat's price ladder and roulette's flat rate

Because every roulette bet on the same wheel carries the same edge, you can't make the game cheaper by switching from a straight-up bet to a dozen bet; you only change how often you win and how much. Wizard of Odds' roulette basics (opens in a new tab) shows every single-zero bet at 1/37, or 2.70%. The only exceptions are rule changes: La Partage halves the cost of even-money bets, and on an American wheel the five-number top line rises to 7.89%.

Baccarat is the reverse. Your choice of bet is the single biggest factor in what you pay. Picking Banker over Tie cuts the cost by more than 13 percentage points at an 8 to 1 table. Even the choice between commission and no-commission tables matters: the common Super 6 rule, where a Banker win on 6 pays 1 to 2, raises Banker to 1.46%.

Roulette vs baccarat odds in pounds: 100 rounds at £5

Multiply total staked by the house edge and you have the average price of a session. At £5 a round for 100 rounds, £500 in all, the gap between the cheapest and dearest choices across both games is striking.

In other words, a Banker bettor pays roughly two-fifths of what a European roulette player pays for the same stakes, while a Tie habit is the dearest option on either table. Any single session can finish well above or below these averages; the expected value page explains why.

Live speed and hourly cost

Hourly cost depends on pace as much as edge. Evolution gives about 48 seconds for a standard live baccarat round and about 27 for Speed Baccarat. For roulette it says Speed Roulette runs a round every 25 seconds, about half a standard live round, which puts a standard table at roughly 50 seconds. Its live roulette range (opens in a new tab) also includes Auto Roulette, described as capable of 60 to 80 games an hour.

Round counts are maximums assuming you bet every round; in practice most players skip some. Even so, the pattern is clear: a speed roulette table can cost around five times as much per hour as standard baccarat at the same stake. Our speed roulette and speed baccarat pages describe each format.

Variety and variance: what each game offers

Roulette wins on choice. You can cover one number or eighteen, use call bets that cover sections of the wheel, or mix inside and outside bets on one spin. That choice lets you set your own volatility: even-money bets move slowly, while a single number wins only 1 time in 37 but pays 35 to 1.

Baccarat is narrower. Its main bets behave like even-money bets with occasional pushes, so sessions tend to drift steadily rather than jump. Players wanting bigger single payouts turn to side bets such as pairs or the Dragon Bonus, which Wizard of Odds puts at 2.65% on the Player side and 9.37% on the Banker side, but those raise the cost considerably.

• Choose roulette for variety, flexible risk and a simple wheel to follow.
• Choose baccarat for the lowest cost on a main bet and slow, steady swings.
• In either game, side bets and Tie bets are where costs climb fastest.

Lightning and no-commission versions compared

Both games have popular branded versions that change the maths. Evolution's Lightning Roulette picks one to five lucky numbers with straight-up multipliers of 50x to 500x, paid for by cutting the normal straight-up payout to 29 to 1. Lightning Baccarat adds one to five Lightning Cards with 2x to 8x multipliers and charges a 20% Lightning Fee on your total bet.

No-commission baccarat simplifies the payout at a small cost (Super 6 rules take Banker from 1.06% to 1.46%), while EZ Baccarat's three-card-7 push keeps Banker at 1.02%. On the roulette side, French tables with La Partage are the main cost-cutting variant. Before comparing any branded game with the plain versions in this guide, check its help screen for the published return. See Lightning Roulette and Lightning Baccarat for more.

Patterns, roads and hot numbers: myths in both games

Both games attract pattern-spotters. Roulette screens show recent numbers, and baccarat tables show score-card 'roads' tracking Banker and Player wins. Neither display predicts anything. Each spin and each coup is independent, so a run of reds or Banker wins has no effect on the next result. The best-known example is Monte Carlo in 1913, when black came up 26 times in a row and players lost heavily betting that red was due.

Staking systems fare no better. Wizard of Odds' simulations found that loss-to-stake ratios under the Martingale and other systems matched the house edge. Read hot and cold numbers and independent events for the maths.

How to choose between roulette and baccarat

1. Set a session budget and a maximum stake per round before you open any table.
2. If cost is your priority, pick baccarat and bet Banker or Player, avoiding the Tie.
3. If you prefer roulette, choose a single-zero wheel and look for a French table with La Partage for even-money bets.
4. Pick a standard-speed table rather than a speed version to slow your hourly spend.
5. Ignore score cards and recent-number displays; they do not change the odds.
6. Stop when your budget or time limit is reached, whatever the last few results were.

Our compare hub has more head-to-heads, including blackjack against roulette.

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18+. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: safer gambling tools and support. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.