Live table rules: roulette, blackjack and baccarat payouts
Every standard bet at a live roulette, blackjack or baccarat table: what it pays, how often it wins and what the house keeps over time. The figures are arithmetic, not opinion. Each table says how it was derived, and the worked examples use KES 100 so that the difference between two payouts shows up in shillings. No casino is named or recommended.
European roulette2.70% house edge1/37, derived
American roulette5.26% house edge2/38, derived
Blackjack natural, KES 100KES 150 at 3:2, KES 120 at 6:5KES 30 less per natural
Baccarat bankerabout 1.06% after 5% commissioneight decks, derived
How to read these tables
A payout written as 35:1 means a profit of 35 for every 1 staked, with the stake returned on a win. The chance to win is the number of winning outcomes divided by the number of possible outcomes. The house edge is the share of each bet the operator keeps on average over many rounds: the probability of losing times the stake, minus the probability of winning times the payout.
Illustrative example, derived: a straight-up bet in European roulette pays 35:1 and wins on 1 pocket in 37. Expected result per KES 1 staked = 35 x (1/37) - 36/37 = -1/37 = -0.027, so the house keeps 2.70% of such bets over time.
A licensee must clearly display the odds, rules and terms of every bet and may not change them after the bet is accepted (Gambling Control (Conduct of Gambling Operations) Regulations, 2026, L.N. 112 r.23). Where a table's displayed rules differ from the standard ones below (a 9:1 tie, a 6:5 natural, a no-commission banker), the displayed rules are the ones that apply to your bet.
European roulette: single zero
Thirty-seven pockets: 0 and 1 to 36. Every standard bet carries the same house edge because every payout is set as if the zero did not exist; the zero is where the 2.70% comes from.
| Bet | Numbers covered | Pays | Chance to win | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight up (one number) | 1 | 35:1 | 2.70% | 2.70% |
| Split (two adjoining numbers) | 2 | 17:1 | 5.41% | 2.70% |
| Street (row of three) | 3 | 11:1 | 8.11% | 2.70% |
| Corner (four numbers) | 4 | 8:1 | 10.81% | 2.70% |
| Six line (two rows) | 6 | 5:1 | 16.22% | 2.70% |
| Dozen (1-12, 13-24, 25-36) | 12 | 2:1 | 32.43% | 2.70% |
| Column (twelve numbers) | 12 | 2:1 | 32.43% | 2.70% |
| Red or black | 18 | 1:1 | 48.65% | 2.70% |
| Odd or even | 18 | 1:1 | 48.65% | 2.70% |
| Low (1-18) or high (19-36) | 18 | 1:1 | 48.65% | 2.70% |
Illustrative example, derived: KES 100 on red for 37 spins in which every pocket comes up exactly once. Eighteen wins bring KES 1,800 profit; nineteen losses cost KES 1,900. Net: KES 100 lost over 37 spins, or KES 2.70 per spin, which is 2.70% of each KES 100 stake. Real sessions do not land every pocket once; the edge is the long-run average, not a schedule.
Variants change the arithmetic. Evolution's Lightning Roulette uses a single-zero wheel but pays non-multiplied straight-up bets at 29:1 instead of 35:1, while one to five numbers each round receive multipliers of 50x to 500x; all other bets pay as in standard roulette (Evolution's game page). For a variant like that, the return to player figure the provider publishes is the number to read, not the classic 2.70%.
American roulette: double zero
Thirty-eight pockets: 0, 00 and 1 to 36. The payouts are identical to the single-zero table; the second zero is an extra losing pocket for every bet, which almost doubles what the house keeps.
| Bet | Numbers covered | Pays | Chance to win | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight up | 1 | 35:1 | 2.63% | 5.26% |
| Split | 2 | 17:1 | 5.26% | 5.26% |
| Street | 3 | 11:1 | 7.89% | 5.26% |
| Corner | 4 | 8:1 | 10.53% | 5.26% |
| Five-number bet (0, 00, 1, 2, 3) | 5 | 6:1 | 13.16% | 7.89% |
| Six line | 6 | 5:1 | 15.79% | 5.26% |
| Dozen or column | 12 | 2:1 | 31.58% | 5.26% |
| Red or black, odd or even, low or high | 18 | 1:1 | 47.37% | 5.26% |
Illustrative example, derived: KES 100 on red for 38 spins in which every pocket comes up once. Eighteen wins bring KES 1,800; twenty losses cost KES 2,000. Net: KES 200 lost over 38 spins, or KES 5.26 per spin. The five-number bet pays 6:1 on 5 pockets: 6 x (5/38) - 33/38 = -3/38 = -7.89%, the worst standard bet on either wheel.
Blackjack: 3:2 against 6:5
Each player's hand plays against the dealer's. The hand closer to 21 without going over wins; the dealer draws by a fixed rule shown at the table. A natural is an ace and a ten-value card as the first two cards, and how much it pays is the single rule that most changes what a blackjack table costs to play.
The overall house edge of blackjack depends on the full rule set (whether the dealer stands on a soft 17, whether you may double after a split, how many decks are in the shoe) and on the decisions the player makes, so this page does not put one figure on it. What it can show is arithmetic: the payout on a natural, and how often one arrives.
| Result | Pays | On KES 100 |
|---|---|---|
| Standard win | 1:1 | KES 100 profit; KES 200 comes back |
| Natural at a 3:2 table | 3:2 | KES 150 profit; KES 250 comes back |
| Natural at a 6:5 table | 6:5 | KES 120 profit; KES 220 comes back |
| Difference per natural | KES 30 less at the 6:5 table | |
| Push (same total as the dealer) | stake back | KES 0; the KES 100 is returned |
| Insurance (side bet offered when the dealer shows an ace) | 2:1 | A KES 50 insurance bet returns KES 100 profit if the dealer's second card is a ten-value |
Illustrative example, derived: how often a natural comes. With eight decks there are 32 aces and 128 ten-value cards in 416 cards. Chance of a natural = 2 x (32/416) x (128/415) = 4.75%, about one hand in 21. Over 1,000 hands of KES 100, about 47 naturals: a 3:2 table pays about KES 7,100 for them, a 6:5 table about KES 5,700. The 6:5 table costs about KES 1,400 more per 1,000 hands, which is roughly 1.4% of the money bet, added to whatever edge the rest of the rules carry.
Insurance, derived while ignoring the cards already dealt: 128 of 416 cards are ten-values, 30.77%. A 2:1 payout returns 2 x 0.3077 - 0.6923 = -0.077, so the house keeps about 7.7% of insurance bets.
Whether the dealer stands or draws on a soft 17, whether you may double after a split, how many seats a studio table has and whether bet-behind is offered are set by the provider and must be displayed by the operator (L.N. 112 r.23). The live blackjack guide walks through them.
Baccarat: player, banker and tie
Two hands, Player and Banker, are dealt by fixed drawing rules; nobody decides anything after the bet. You bet on which hand ends closer to nine, or on a tie. Player pays 1:1. Banker pays 1:1 less a 5% commission, so a winning KES 100 banker bet returns KES 95 profit. Tie pays 8:1 at most tables and 9:1 at some. Player and Banker bets are returned on a tie.
| Bet | Pays | Chance to win | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banker | 1:1 less 5% commission (0.95:1) | 45.86% | 1.06% |
| Player | 1:1 | 44.62% | 1.24% |
| Tie, at 8:1 | 8:1 | 9.52% | 14.36% |
| Tie, at 9:1 | 9:1 | 9.52% | 4.84% |
Illustrative example, derived: KES 1,000 on Banker. A win returns KES 950 profit after the KES 50 commission; the same bet on Player returns KES 1,000. Over 10,000 banker bets of KES 1,000 at the frequencies above: 4,586 wins at KES 950 bring KES 4,356,700; 4,462 losses cost KES 4,462,000; ties return the stake. Net: about KES 105,300 lost, 1.05% of the KES 10,000,000 staked (the table shows 1.06% from unrounded frequencies). The commission is the price of betting on the hand that wins more often; without it, Banker would favour the player.
No-commission tables pay Banker at 1:1 but change one outcome instead, commonly paying only half on a Banker win with a total of six. Which outcome, and what it pays, is in the provider's rules and must be displayed by the operator (L.N. 112 r.23). Read the published rule, not the label.
Where the numbers come from
The payouts are the standard ones used by live casino providers; Evolution's Lightning Roulette page, for instance, states that bets other than straight-up pay the same as standard roulette. The probabilities are counts of pockets or of card combinations. The house edge of each bet follows from those two. Nothing on this page comes from an operator, and no figure here is a forecast for any session: the edge is an average over many rounds, and a single evening can land far from it in either direction.
Two rules from the Act frame every table above. The minimum online bet in Kenya is KES 20 (Gambling Control Act, 2025, s.71(1)); no maximum stake is set in the Act or in the Regulations as gazetted. And a licensee may not advance credit or allow a credit card to fund play (s.72(7)); the money at the table is money you already have.
Questions and answers
Why does American roulette keep almost twice as much?
The payouts are the same on both wheels, but the American wheel has two zeros among 38 pockets instead of one among 37. On an even-money bet you win on 18 pockets either way; you lose on 19 pockets in Europe and 20 in America. Derived: 1/37 = 2.70% against 2/38 = 5.26%.
Is a 6:5 blackjack table always worse than 3:2?
On the natural payout alone, yes: KES 120 instead of KES 150 per natural on a KES 100 bet, and a natural arrives about once in 21 hands with eight decks (derived). Other rules at the table can move the edge too, in either direction, so compare the full displayed rule set (L.N. 112 r.23 requires it to be displayed) rather than the payout line alone.
Why does the Banker bet pay less when it wins more often?
Because the fixed drawing rules give Banker the last draw, it wins about 45.86% of hands against Player's 44.62% (derived, eight decks). Without the 5% commission the Banker bet would return more than it costs on average; the commission turns a player advantage into a house edge of about 1.06%.
Do these tables tell me what I will win or lose tonight?
No. House edge is an average over many rounds. In a short session the result is dominated by chance and can be far above or below the average in either direction. The tables tell you the price of each bet in the long run, which is the one thing about the game that does not change from night to night.