Sic Bo is a three-dice casino game with one of the widest spreads between a reasonable bet and a terrible one. Small and Big cost the player 2.78% per bet; a Specific Double on the same table costs 18.52%. The payouts printed on the layout make the expensive bets look generous, which is exactly why they need checking.
The analyzer below evaluates every one of the 216 ordered outcomes that three dice can produce, counts how many win the selected bet, and converts the result into probability, RTP and house edge. The default payouts follow the common Macau table; switch to Custom payout to enter the odds actually shown by your casino or live game.
Sic Bo Odds & House Edge Checker
What went wrong?
How to Read the Result
- Win probability depends only on the dice. Small wins on 105 of 216 outcomes, a Specific Triple on 1, a Two-Dice Combination on 30. No paytable changes these counts.
- Fair payout is what the bet would have to pay for the house edge to be zero. Compare it with the printed payout: the gap between the two is the casino’s margin.
- House edge is the share of every unit wagered that the casino keeps on average. It is a long-run rate, not a prediction of one session.
- Single Number is tiered: 1 to 1 for one matching die, 2 to 1 for two, and 3 to 1 for three under the Macau table. The 3 to 1 top tier applies to only 1 outcome in 216, so the bet’s overall cost (7.87%) is driven by the 1 to 1 tier.
Where the Traps Are
The same bet can be cheap or expensive depending on the number printed next to it. Three examples from the Macau table:
- Total 9 or 12 at 6 to 1 is the most expensive wager on the layout at 18.98%. The same total paid at 7 to 1, as some Atlantic City tables do, drops to 7.41%. One extra unit of payout changes the edge by 11.57 points.
- Specific Triple at 180 to 1 sounds enormous, but the fair payout is 215 to 1. The casino keeps 16.20%. Tables that pay 150 to 1 keep 30.09%.
- Total 7 or 14 at 12 to 1 is the best of the total bets at 9.72%, but still three and a half times the cost of Small or Big.
For a side-by-side comparison of how Sic Bo sits against other table games, see our house edge ranking of every casino game.
Beyond This Checker
This page covers the standard bets under one reference paytable. Casinos in Macau, Atlantic City and Melbourne pay different amounts for identical dice events, and some layouts add wagers that do not exist elsewhere. For the full Sic Bo calculator with Macau, Atlantic City and Crown Melbourne paytables, including exact-combination bets, a 216-outcome explorer and a roll simulator, use SicBoCalc, which runs the same enumeration with verified rule sets.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Does the Martingale system work on Sic Bo?
No. Doubling after a loss on Small or Big changes how much money is exposed, not the 2.78% cost of each bet. A simulation of 100,000 sessions of 200 rounds found that Martingale lost 2.92% per unit staked against 2.81% for flat betting, with the difference inside the margin of error. The pattern that makes the system feel effective is real, though: it ended 78% of sessions in profit, while the remaining sessions hit the table limit and absorbed all of the losses. Our comparison of betting systems explains why this holds for every progression.
Why do Triples lose on Small and Big bets?
The six triples (1-1-1 through 6-6-6) are the Sic Bo equivalent of the zero in roulette. Without them, Small and Big would each win 108 of 216 outcomes and a 1 to 1 payout would carry no house edge. Excluding the triples leaves 105 winning outcomes, and the 6 excluded outcomes, 2.78% of the total, are exactly the casino’s margin.
Which Sic Bo bet has the lowest house edge?
Small and Big at 2.78%, on any table that pays them 1 to 1 and applies the triple rule. Odd and Even, where offered on the same terms, cost the same. Every other standard bet costs more under the Macau paytable, with Total 7 or 14 the next best at 9.72%.
Sources
- Wizard of Odds — Sic Bo: reference paytables and house edge figures for the Macau and Atlantic City tables.
- SicBoCalc — betting systems test: the 20-million-roll simulation of Martingale, streak reversal and hot-number betting cited in the FAQ, with the downloadable script.