What Games Are Played at a Casino? Complete Guide to Table Games, Slots & More

Casinos offer a diverse array of games catering to different tastes, skill levels, and risk appetites. Here's a breakdown of the main categories you'll find on the gaming floor.

Table Games

These games are played on a felt-covered table with a dealer or croupier and often involve a mix of strategy and chance.

• Poker: Includes variants like Texas Hold'em, Omaha, and Seven-Card Stud. Players compete against each other using strategy, psychology, and hand rankings.
• Blackjack: A card game where players aim to beat the dealer by getting a hand value as close to 21 as possible without busting.
• Baccarat: Players bet on whether the "Player" hand, "Banker" hand, or a Tie will win. It's a game of pure chance with a low house edge.
• Craps: A fast-paced dice game where players wager on the outcome of rolls. It offers some of the best odds in the casino if you stick to basic bets.
• Roulette: Players bet on where a ball will land on a spinning wheel (numbers, colors, odd/even, or sections).
• Pai Gow Poker: A fusion of poker and the Chinese domino game Pai Gow. Players create two poker hands (five-card and two-card) to beat the dealer.
• Three Card Poker: A simplified, fast-paced poker variant where players compete against the dealer with just three cards.
• Let It Ride: A poker-based game where players can withdraw parts of their bet as community cards are revealed.

Slot Machines

Electronic gaming machines (EGMs) are the most popular and profitable games in modern casinos.

• Reel Slots (Classic): Traditional mechanical or video-simulated spinning reels with simple paylines.
• Video Slots: Feature rich graphics, themes, bonus rounds, free spins, and interactive mini-games.
• Progressive Slots: Linked machines where a portion of every bet feeds a growing jackpot, often reaching millions.

Other Popular Games

• Bingo: A game of chance matching numbers on a card to those drawn randomly.
• Keno: A lottery-style game where players pick numbers (usually 1-80) and hope they match the 20 drawn by the casino.
• Sports Betting: Wagering on the outcomes of sporting events, available at dedicated sportsbooks within casinos.
• Live Dealer Games: Online casino games streamed in real-time with human dealers, bridging the gap between virtual and land-based play.

Specialty Games

• Sic Bo: An ancient Chinese dice game played with three dice and a wide variety of betting options.
• Big Six Wheel (Money Wheel): A vertical wheel of fortune where players bet on which symbol the wheel will stop on.

Key Distinction: Casino games generally fall into games of skill (like Poker and Blackjack, where decisions affect the outcome) and games of chance (like Slots, Roulette, and Baccarat, where the outcome is random). The specific selection varies by casino and jurisdiction.