Sic Bo

Players place bets on the layout, then the dealer shakes the three dice in a covered container or automated shaker and reveals the result. Every bet is settled on that one roll. The main bets are:

• Small (total 4–10) and Big (total 11–17), each paying 1:1. Both lose on any triple.
• Totals: a bet on a specific total from 4 to 17, paying from about 6:1 on the common totals up to 50:1 or 60:1 on 4 and 17.
• Single number: pays 1:1 if the number appears on one die, 2:1 on two and 3:1 on three.
• Specific double and two-dice combinations: pay around 10:1 and 5:1.
• Any triple pays around 30:1; a specific triple pays 150:1 or 180:1.

Big and Small have the lowest house edge, about 2.78%, because triples, which make both lose, occur only 6 times in 216 rolls. Margins elsewhere vary widely with the paytable: any triple at 30:1 carries about 13.9%, and a specific triple is about 16.2% at 180:1 but over 30% at 150:1. Paytables differ between casinos, so the same bet can carry very different edges.

Sic Bo fills the dice slot in Asian-focused lobbies, alongside baccarat and Dragon Tiger. Live studios stream it with automated shakers and camera-read results, and many add random multipliers on selected bets, a variant that has broadened its audience beyond Asia. The wide spread of margins across the layout means the mix of bets players choose largely determines the game's hold.

A player bets 10 on Big and 1 on a specific triple of 5s. The dice show 5, 5, 5. The Big bet loses because the result is a triple, but the triple pays 180 at a 180:1 table, for a net win of 170.

• Craps — the two-dice game that plays the same role in Western casinos.
• House edge — why paytables change the margin on the same bet.
• The rise of Macau — the market where Sic Bo is most played.
• Live dealer — how dice games are streamed online.

Compare the studios that stream Sic Bo in the live casino provider directory, or RNG versions from game developers.