RNG vs live dealer — is the RTP actually different?

[RouletteRebecca]

Common question. For European roulette: RNG 97.30% RTP vs live dealer 97.30% RTP — IDENTICAL on standard tables. For blackjack: RNG basic strategy 99.5% vs live 99.4% (live has slightly less deck penetration due to cut card). For baccarat: identical.

The 'live dealer is fairer' narrative is mostly emotional, not mathematical. Both are properly random. Choose based on experience preference, not theoretical edge.

[HighlandHouseEdge]

+1. The only mathematically meaningful difference is in blackjack where multi-deck live shoes have specific count opportunities (essentially unusable in practice given the cut card position).

Quick numbers from my logs: Evolution Lightning Roulette over ~4,000 spins came out at about 96.6% return, Pragmatic's RNG European at 97.1%. So slightly worse on live, but the variance is much spikier — more 50x hits in the live data than the RNG.