In the context of gambling, a sucker bet is a wager with a large casino advantage, which is why it is commonly only made by novice players. Sucker bets are often made to be enticing to new players by the promise of high potential payouts. Seasoned gamblers tend to avoid these wagers regardless of how high the payoff odds are because they understand that there are much better bets that can be made.
Examples of Sucker Bets
Lucky Ladies (Blackjack)
In general, blackjack is one of the fairest casino table games out there. In some cases, the house edge in blackjack can be as little as 0.5% (perfectly played game, single deck).
The Lucky Ladies bet, however, is anything but fair. It is a wager in which the player bets that they will get 20 points during the round. Depending on the exact combination of cards dealt, the player can be paid anywhere between 4:1 and 1000:1. The latter figure is often the one that makes inexperienced players make the bet.
A more experienced player would look at the wager and see that the Lucky Ladies bet has a house edge of a staggering 24.71%, which is about 49 times more than a standard bet has.
Tie Bet (Baccarat)
Like blackjack, baccarat is seen as one of the most player-friendly games out there. Betting on the player comes with a 1.24% casino advantage, whereas betting on the banker comes with a house edge of just 1.06%.
Betting on a tie in baccarat, however, is a horrible idea. Such a bet has a house edge of 14.1%.
Any Seven, World Bet, Horn Bet (Craps)
Craps is also seen as a very fair game to the players. Betting on the pass line comes with a casino advantage of just 1.41%, whereas betting on the don’t pass line comes with an even lower figure of 1.36%. However, the game contains several bets that are incredibly unfair to the player:
- Any Seven (Big Red). A bet placed on the shooter rolling a 7, which comes with a 16.1% house edge.
- Horn Bet. A wager on 2, 3, 11, and 12, which has a casino advantage of 12.5%.
- World Bet. A combination horn and any seven bet, which comes with a house edge of 13.33%.
Sucker bet:
- A wager with a large casino advantage, which is commonly only made by novice players.
