Updated on August 6, 2026, to remove Binion’s and Four Queens from the list, as those casinos stopped requiring forced side bets.
Updated on October 7, 2026, to remove two forced side bet games at Golden Nugget.
Three Las Vegas casinos deal table games with forced side bets. Two are in downtown Las Vegas at the intersection of Fremont Street and Casino Center Blvd. The other is New York-New York. Binion’s and Four Queens had mandatory side bet games for years. Both made all side bets optional in August 2026. Golden Nugget removed forced side bets from pai gow poker and High Card Flush in September 2026. That ended forced side bets in non-blackjack games. Golden Nugget still requires side bets on two blackjack games.
Mandatory side bet games started with blackjack in 2019. In recent years, poker pit games joined the list. The house edge for these games is as high as 8.95%, based on Vegas Advantage’s calculations of the forced Bonus Spin side bet holding approximately 23%.
These are not typical side bets that reward top hands. All are based on the Bonus Spin side bet. Players spin the wheel when a certain hand is dealt. It is a player blackjack in 21 games.
When a qualifying hand is dealt, the player spins the virtual weighted wheel. A random number generator determines which prize is selected.
The house edges listed below assume the minimum bet is placed. The hold percentage decreases on larger bets.
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Golden Nugget
Golden Nugget was the first Las Vegas casino to deal table games with mandatory side bets. It started with Lucky Cat Blackjack in 2019. It has the highest house edge among Las Vegas blackjack games. Today, Golden Nugget deals two mandatory side bet games. It previously had four, where the worst held 12.28% at the minimum bet.
Lucky Cat Blackjack – 8.95%
This game pays 6:5 and has an odd rule that the dealer shakes four dice when their hand makes 22. Each die has a “Lucky Cat” on one side and is blank on the other five. This determines the payout, resulting in a push nearly half the time and paying up to 50/1 if all four “Lucky Cats” appear.
The minimum main bet is $5, which holds $0.167 at the 3.33% house edge. The mandatory Bonus Spin side bet is $2. The house holds approximately $0.46 of that. This game holds 8.95% at the minimum bet.
6:5 Bonus Spin Blackjack – 5.5% or 8%
All traditional 6:5 blackjack tables at Golden Nugget require a $2 Bonus Spin side bet. That is in addition to the $10 main bet. The $2 side bet holds about $0.46, while the flat bet holds $0.20. The $0.66 total is 5.5%. When the Lucky Cat tables are closed, the minimum on these games may be $5+2. That holds $0.56 on a $7 bet, making the house edge 8%.
Fremont
Fremont has the 6:5 blackjack game found at Binion’s and Four Queens. The minimum bet is $11, including the mandatory $1 Bonus Spin side bet. At that amount, the house edge is 4.18%.
New York-New York
New York-New York is the only Las Vegas Strip casino with a mandatory side bet game. It has a $7 6:5 blackjack table that requires $2 of it to be on one of two side bets. More information about that game is in this article.
Each casino offers a good alternative to these games
Golden Nugget offers a variety of $5 poker pit games that do not require a side bet, including Let It Ride, Three Card Poker, Cajun Stud, and Heads Up Hold’em. Choosing the $25 3:2 blackjack game in the back of the pit lowers the expected loss per hand to about $0.16, as opposed to about $0.56 on the $7 Lucky Cat game.
Fremont deals $15 and $25 3:2 double-deck blackjack. New York-New York has $15 or $25 3:2 blackjack. All these casinos offer craps games where the house edge is well below 1% when making line bets and taking maximum odds.
Bonus Spin calculation disclosure
Vegas Advantage first calculated the mandatory Bonus Spin side bet’s house edge at 23% in 2019. A second version is now available for certain games. Since wheel bonuses are typically programmed to hold the same, Vegas Advantage assumed that these games match the original calculation, which has not been disputed since we first published our numbers in 2019.
The High Card Flush and Pai Gow Poker house edge estimations were first published in January 2025 and have not been disputed. Vegas Advantage welcomes any additional information to help calculate the exact payout.
Last Updated on October 7, 2026 by John Mehaffey
