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Most Popular Casino Games in the World
Casinos from as far afield as Las Vegas and Macau are home to a variety of exciting card and table games, as well as slots.
With professional dealers waiting to cater to every player’s preference and budget, you might imagine that it would be hard to decide which table to join first.
Today, we look at the top five most popular casino games in the world, as well as the countries that play them the most, and the most common game variants.
Blackjack
Blackjack is played all over the globe and is considered to be more popular than any other game type.
It’s particularly popular in Europe and North America, which is why you’ll find so many different variants have emerged from these two continents.
For example, there’s Spanish 21 and there’s also Pontoon, the latter of which emerged following the First World War and is based on the French card game Vingt-Un.
Most US casinos offer American Blackjack, and the main difference between the American and European version is that the dealer receives their face-down card before the player gets to decide what to do with their hand.
As Blackjack requires decision-making skills, as well as luck, and its rules are relatively easy to learn, it’s no surprise that it continues to attract players both old and new.
Many casinos offer a choice of high-limit and low-limit blackjack tables, as well as some common variants (in addition to those mentioned above) such as Perfect Pairs, Vegas Strip, and Blackjack Switch.
Roulette
You’ll often see players crowding around the roulette tables because a) many people can play the same game at the same time and b) because it’s a fascinating game to observe.
Roulette is an all-or-nothing table game that’s fast paced and highly sociable. Like blackjack, it’s mostly played in the US and Europe, and these countries have helped to inspire several exciting variations such as French, European, and American Roulette.
The main difference between American and European Roulette is that the American wheel features a double zero as well as a single zero. With the European Roulette wheel, only the single zero is used, and as this results in a slightly lower house edge, hence Europeans tend to favour it over the American version. You may see European Roulette referred to as Single Zero Roulette — same thing, just a different name.
Nearly all forms of roulette give players a wide choice of betting options. Beginners typically start by choosing Red or Black, Odds or Evens, or a single number such as 9. But as their confidence and knowledge of the game grow, many players branch out by betting on columns, multiple number combinations, dozens, and inside bets such as Straight, Split, Street, and Corner.
Poker
Casino poker, not to be confused with video/electronic poker, covers a wealth of different poker categories, including Mississippi Stud, Texas Omaha, Caribbean Stud, Casino Hold’em, 3-Card Poker, Let ‘Em Ride, Chinese Poker, and Pai Gow Poker.
Many of these poker variants have spread between continents. However, here in the UK, 3-Card Poker is probably the most popular.
Pai Gow Poker can now be found at many online casinos, and you might be interested to know that it was invented in the 1980s in Los Angeles after a card club owner was told about a game called Pusoy by a customer from the Philippines.
Poker is widely enjoyed around the globe. However, in order of popularity, the countries where it’s most prevalent are the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, France, the UK, Italy, India, and Germany.
There are some very well-known poker tournaments which attract players from all over the world such as the World Series of Poker.
Baccarat
Baccarat is also referred to as Punto Banco, and it’s likely to have gained the popularity that it currently enjoys as the basic objective is pretty simple. The player must bet on whose hand will be closest to a total of nine.
Baccarat is widely played across Europe and it has also become the most common table game in Macau – the equivalent of Las Vegas in Asia.
The game also attracts plenty of high rollers due to its low house edge (of around 1%).
The different types of Baccarat include Punto Banco (which is regularly played in Canada, the US, and Australia), Chemin De Fer (otherwise known as European Baccarat), Baccarat en Banque (another common European variant), Super Pan 9 (which is primarily found in the US), and 3-Card Baccarat (a favourite of casino players in Asia and Macau).
Craps
Craps is a thrilling dice game that was first played in the United States and continues to attract millions of Americans to casinos every year. It has more recently gained notoriety in Asia and Europe.
They say that if you walk into an American casino, you’ll instantly know where the Craps table is due to the whooping and hollering.
Craps is a table game which requires the player to “shoot” a set of dice, and up to twenty players can participate in each game. Observers can also join in the fun by betting on the “shooter”.
Rather than needing just one dealer, Craps requires a whole team of casino staff who act as the Boxman (i.e. the supervisor and cash handler), the Stickman (who pushes the dice with a stick, announces the results, and decides how fast the games play out), and the two dealers.
Outro
So, there you have it!. The official top five most-played casino games are blackjack, roulette, poker, baccarat, and craps.
And while you can enjoy playing many of these in land-based casinos across the UK, you’ll also find that plenty of them are just a click/tap away at Gala Casino as both non-live and live dealer games. You can start rolling with any one of them by heading to our Casino or Live Casino pages. Alternatively, you can get our Welcome Bonus Bundle so you can both in one offer.