Blackjack vs Baccarat — Odds, House Edge & Which Is Better

Blackjack and baccarat are the two lowest-edge card games on most casino floors, but they reward completely different things. Blackjack gives the better odds — but only if you play it well. Baccarat gives near-identical odds with no decisions to make.

The house edge

• Blackjack with perfect basic strategy: about 0.5% under good rules. With careless play it climbs several percent.
• Baccarat: Banker ≈ 1.06%, Player ≈ 1.24%, and the Tie ≈ 14% — avoid the tie entirely.

Play blackjack correctly and it is roughly half the edge of the best baccarat bet. Play it badly and baccarat's banker bet pulls ahead.

Skill vs simplicity

That gap is the whole trade-off:

• Baccarat is decision-free. You bet Banker or Player and the rules play themselves — impossible to misplay, but also impossible to improve. The edge is fixed.
• Blackjack is a skill game. Every hand has a correct, EV-maximizing action (see what EV is), and with card counting the edge can even turn positive — something no baccarat bet can do.

Which should you play?

If you want the lowest possible cost and are willing to learn basic strategy, blackjack wins. If you want to relax with no decisions and accept a slightly higher fixed edge, baccarat's banker bet is fine. Both beat almost everything else in the building. Fullcount computes blackjack's exact edge for any rules and shoe, so you can see precisely how much correct play is worth:

The rules also matter: a 6:5 blackjack table can have a worse edge than baccarat — check the house edge by rule before you sit down.