The Most Exciting Casino Games

Have you ever felt your heart skip a beat before you see the cards flip in blackjack, or had to shake off sweaty palms during an intense poker play? 

Playing casino games is an exciting and thrilling experience – and here at Casinos.com, in the spirit of International Casinos Day, we wanted to take a deep dive to determine once and for all what makes the most exciting casino games. 

We've got some fascinating statistics to share based on our research showing how heart rates vary between the genders while playing some of the most popular casino games. We sent two male and female people into a casino to see what games get their juices pumping. 

Our test measured gamblers’ resting heart rate, their average heart rate, and the average increase in BPM while our lucky participants were busy playing some of the nation’s favorite casino games. Both men and women have a resting heart rate of 75 BPM – but how much does that jump up while playing poker, roulette, blackjack, and slot machines? 

Blackjack

Let's start with blackjack. Blackjack casinos are becoming increasingly popular. 

As a quick-draw, fast-paced game, perhaps it’s not a huge surprise that overall heart rates and excitement levels were high while playing. 

In fact, blackjack had some of the highest average heart rates for both men and women – with the men's average heart rate sitting at 86.7 BPM, the highest of any of the games we measured for men and is a 15.6% increase in their average heart rate. 

The women's average heart rate, on the other hand, was 89.2 BPM – that’s an increase of 18.9% and one of the highest points we recorded for female players in the study, making blackjack the second-most exciting game for gambling girls. 

Poker

How is your poker face? When it comes to playing poker, the men's average heart rate sat at 85 BPM, while the women's was 86.4 BPM. 

Once again, women had a higher average heart rate than men, suggesting that they may be more engaged in the high stakes and personality plays involved in a game of poker. 

But the overall increase in heart rate was one of the biggest we saw in our male gamblers, with an overall average rise of 13.3% up to 85 PBM. 

However, the average heart rate increase for both men and women was lower than in blackjack, with the highest heart rate spike being only 95 BPM for women and 94 BPM for the guys. 

Roulette

Now, let's talk about roulette. 

For both men and women, the biggest overall spikes in heart rate come from a spin of the roulette wheel. 

Men are likely to see a 36% spike in heart rate while playing roulette, but overall their average heart rate stayed at a placid 84.5 BPM – so despite the jump up to a heart rate high of 102, overall, roulette only averages out at the third most exciting game for guys.

For the girls, though, roulette was the most exciting game out of the four they played. Women’s heart rates spiked up to 104 BPM, and the average heart rate also jumped up to 90.9 – the highest from any group playing any game. 

Clearly, whether you bet it all on black or risk it on red, playing at roulette sites or at a land-based casino is sure to give your heart a workout.

Slots

Finally, let's look at slots, where the men's average heart rate was 81.5 BPM, and the women's was 81.1 BPM. In contrast to the other games, men and women had very similar average heart rates while playing slots. 

While both men and women did experience an increase in heart rate while playing, it potentially offers less of a rush than the other games.

Conclusions

So, what does all of this mean when it comes to the most exciting casino games? 

Well, it's clear that both men and women experience increased heart rates while playing casino games, with the highest spikes occurring when playing roulette. 

In fact, blackjack and roulette come out ahead – both games gave gamblers significant spikes in heart rate and high average heart rates. 

Female gamblers definitely got more into the swing of things, and it's interesting to note that women had higher average heart rates and heart rate increases than men in most of the games, suggesting that they may be more emotionally invested in the casino games they played, with all of the stress, excitement and adrenaline that implies.