EV Casinos Explained: How to Find the Best Value Online

Expected Value (EV) is the average amount you can expect to win or lose per bet over the long term. It doesn’t predict short-term results, but instead shows what can happen over many bets based on a game’s odds. Playing with this in mind is a strategy that allows bettors to make informed choices on which games are worth their time and can hypothetically lead to more wins over the long-term.

Whilst wins aren’t guaranteed, staying informed whilst gambling is favourable for both you and your wallet. In the short-term, you may experience a few more wins, but in the long term, you’ll find that betting based on EV saves you money, as you aren’t betting blindly. 

One thing that players frequently overlook is just how important casino offers are in rebalancing the edge that casinos tend to have. In this article, that’s exactly what we’ll cover and get you up to speed on the best EV casino bonuses.

How Does the Type of EV Impact Players?

Theoretically, EV directly impacts a player’s funds by determining if a player makes or loses money. If an EV calculation is positive (for example, +10%), then the player will hypothetically make money. While this is rare, it’s not impossible to see, especially with casino offers. 

Negative EV, which is far more common, means that you are expected to lose money over time when playing a game. While iGaming shouldn’t be seen as a way to generate profit, understanding this can help players estimate potential losses before playing a slot. This, in turn, supports better strategic decisions, including identifying which games are worth playing.

Finally, Neutral EV is where you don’t make money on the game, but neither does the casino. In this instance, each party breaks even. This is less common than negative EV, but when it’s found, you can hypothetically spin and over a long period of time see 100% of your funds returned to you.

Check out the table below as a good way to keep track of the EV types.

Best EV Casinos on Irishluck Compared

Above, we’ve seen some of the best EV casinos Irishluck has to offer. Now, let’s get into how they compare against each other. 

Unlike a slot’s expected value (EV), a casino site’s overall EV is not determined solely by the slot’s RTP or the house edge. Wagering requirements attached to withdrawals and the quality of promotions also play a significant role. High wagering requirements, for example, can reduce the amount of winnings you actually take home. On the other hand, a casino’s bonus features, often called ‘EV drivers,’ can increase EV. For instance, cashback bonuses or other promotions can boost the funds you earn, raising the site’s overall EV.

With this in mind, let’s check out the table below to find out how our top sites compare against each other in terms of wagering requirements, EV drivers and the real impact the site has on EV. 

EV vs RTP vs House Edge

So what's the exact calculation to determine EV and how does it work against the house edge?  This starts with picking a game from your chosen casino and taking a look at its RTP. As mentioned above, a game with an RTP of 96% will hypothetically return 96% of your wagered funds to you, after playing through the game for an extended period of time. If you wager €100 on the slot, then this would result in a theoretical loss of €4. This €4 or 4% of your wagered funds is the house edge and is calculated by subtracting the game’s RTP from 100. 

When trying to find the highest EV, players should look for the highest RTP they can find, as this will theoretically see the most of their funds returned to them. You can think of this like the casino house edge vs EV.

EV Influences Game Choice

Prioritising EV essentially means choosing high RTP casino games. The best options in this line of thinking are blackjack, roulette and higher RTP slots like Blood Suckers. Blackjack sits at 99% RTP, with many different versions of the game having a house edge of less than 1%. This is because players usually have an optimal strategy when playing blackjack. This doesn’t guarantee that you win all your hands by any means, but learning the strategy and knowing when to stick or twist on specific hands will definitely help the amount of funds returned to you. An RTP as high as 99% makes blackjack a much better choice for players trying to maximise EV and should definitely be considered when picking what to play. 

Roulette is another fantastic option for high EV gameplay. This is due to the game having 50/50 chances on wins, if you’re betting on options like red or black and odd or even. However, the European version of roulette features a single zero space that doesn’t count as odd or even nor black or red. The zero space then lowers the RTP of the game. The US version of roulette has two zero spaces, which significantly reduces the game's RTP and should be avoided by players looking for the highest EV. 

Slots, on the other hand, work without strategy and are high-variance. This means that, unlike blackjack or roulette, there aren’t any specific techniques that you can master to increase your chances of winning; you’ll just have to roll the dice. However, you can find slots that have a higher RTP than others. You can find a list of these here: 

• NetEnt’s Mega Joker: 99% RTP

• NetEnt’s Blood Suckers: 98% RTP

• Thunderkick’s 1429 Uncharted Seas: 98.6% RTP

• Wizard Games’ Fruity Friends: 97% RTP

Playing these types of games will give you the highest EV possible. Players who are looking to play high EV gameplay need to watch out for games with a high house edge and poor bonus contribution. These will all lower the EV on selected games and offer a more varied and random experience.

Whilst playing based on EV can lead you to make informed decisions that lead to better long-term results, it isn’t without negatives as well as positives. The practice requires an amount of patience, as results aren’t immediate. EV is not a way to 'get rich quick' or to swindle casinos like in an Ocean’s film; it’s just a way to make your betting more informed and ultimately more fun. Variance is very much still in play and even if you start taking EV into account when you play, you will still find yourself losing. 

On the other hand, playing slots with higher EV can be better in the long run, due to you only playing games with higher EV. This would theoretically result in lowering your losses and increasing how frequently you win. By putting this into practice, you’re then able to make smarter uses of bonuses, as you’ll have the best chance of turning extra funds into withdrawable amounts.