Sic Bo (Dadu) Guide for Malaysian Players: Bets, Odds and House Edge
Desk research, checked 1 October 2026. Every house-edge figure on this page is our own arithmetic on the 216 possible results of three dice, which you can reproduce with a calculator. The three paytables come from the Macau, Atlantic City and Australia sets published by Wizard of Odds; game features come from the providers’ own pages; the legal section quotes the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 from the Attorney General’s Chambers’ own texts. We do not claim any casino’s table uses a particular paytable. Where a number depends on the paytable in front of you, we say so.
On a sic bo table paying Macau rates, two squares on the same layout differ in price by a factor of twelve. Bet Small and you give up 2.78% of everything you stake. Bet a specific double at 8:1 and you give up 33.33%. On that same table, a bet on a total of 5 or 16 at 18:1 costs 47.22% — almost half of every ringgit. Same dice, same shaker, same round. The only difference is which square takes the chip.
Few casino games spread their prices that widely. On a single-zero roulette wheel every bet costs the same 2.70%. Sic bo, or dadu as many Malaysian players call it, charges anything from 2.78% to almost half your stake, and the layout does not tell you which is which. Only the paytable does.
This guide covers the rules, every bet priced from the 216 possible dice results under three published paytables, what the multiplier versions change, what “strategy” can and cannot do in a game with no decisions, and where sic bo sits in Malaysian law — which turns out to be a more specific place than most people expect.
The 30-second version
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is sic bo? | Three dice in a shaker. You bet on what they show. Also called dadu, tai sai or dai siu. |
| Cheapest bets | Small, Big, Odd, Even: 2.78% each, wherever they are offered — RM27.78 per RM1,000 staked |
| Specific double | 11.11% at 11:1, 18.52% at 10:1, 33.33% at 8:1 |
| Most expensive bet on a published paytable | Total of 5 or 16 at 18:1 (Macau): 47.22% |
| Are there any decisions? | No. You choose a bet, then you watch. |
| Does a betting system help? | No. Every shake is independent, and no sequence of bets changes any edge. |
| Do paytables vary? | Yes, a lot. A total of 9 costs 7.41% at 7:1 and 18.98% at 6:1. |
Sic bo rules: how the game works
Three standard six-sided dice sit in a sealed shaker. The dealer shakes, the dice settle, and every bet on the layout is settled at once against what the three dice show. Then it happens again. There are no cards to draw, no decisions after the bet is placed, and nothing you do between rounds affects the next one.
That makes sic bo the opposite of blackjack, where your decisions carry real value, and a close cousin of roulette: pick a square, watch, settle. The difference is that a single-zero roulette layout charges one price everywhere, and a sic bo layout does not.
The standard layout, as Evolution describes it for its First Person Super Sic Bo game, offers these bet types:
- Small / Big — the total of the three dice is 4–10 (Small) or 11–17 (Big). Both lose to any triple.
- Odd / Even — the total is odd or even. Both lose to any triple.
- Total — one of fourteen squares labelled 4 to 17. Payouts vary by total.
- Single number — a face from one to six. You win if one, two or three dice show it, and the more dice that match, the more you are paid.
- Double — at least two dice show your chosen number.
- Specific triple — all three dice show your chosen number.
- Any triple — all three dice match, whatever the number.
- Combination — one of fifteen pairs of two different numbers; you win if both appear.
The names. Sic bo (骰寶) is the Cantonese-derived name that stuck in English-language casinos. In Malaysia you will hear dadu, simply the Malay word for dice, and you will see tai sai or dai siu (大細, “big small”) used for the same game. Malaysian law already knows the three-dice family well: the same schedule that names tai sai also lists Hoo Hey How, played with three dice engraved with a fish, a prawn, a king crab, a flower, a butterfly and a beautiful lady. More on that schedule below.
The 216 outcomes: where every figure below comes from
Three dice, six faces each: 6 × 6 × 6 = 216 equally likely outcomes. That is the entire probability model of sic bo. Every house edge on this page is one division against 216.
The spread of the three-dice total explains most of the paytable:
| Total | Ways to make it (out of 216) | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| 3 or 18 | 1 each | 0.46% |
| 4 or 17 | 3 each | 1.39% |
| 5 or 16 | 6 each | 2.78% |
| 6 or 15 | 10 each | 4.63% |
| 7 or 14 | 15 each | 6.94% |
| 8 or 13 | 21 each | 9.72% |
| 9 or 12 | 25 each | 11.57% |
| 10 or 11 | 27 each | 12.50% |
Those sixteen totals account for all 216 outcomes. Totals 3 and 18 are left out of Small and Big, and that exclusion, together with the triples, is exactly where the house edge on the cheapest bets comes from.
The bets, and what each one costs
Small, Big, Odd, Even: the 2.78% family
Small wins on a total of 4 to 10. Big wins on 11 to 17. Both lose to any triple (three matching dice), which removes totals 3 and 18 and also the triples that fall inside the 4–17 range.
Counting from the 216: totals 4 through 10 account for 3 + 6 + 10 + 15 + 21 + 25 + 27 = 107 outcomes. Two of those are triples: 2-2-2 (total 6) and 3-3-3 (total 9). 1-1-1 totals 3 and is already outside the range. That leaves 105 winning outcomes out of 216. Big is the mirror image: 107 outcomes for totals 11 to 17, minus 4-4-4 and 5-5-5, leaves 105.
Expected value on a RM1 bet: (105 ÷ 216) × RM1 − (111 ÷ 216) × RM1 = −RM0.0278. House edge 2.78%. Odd and Even work the same way: 108 outcomes each before triples, 105 after, and the same 2.78%.
That is one design decision, not a coincidence you can exploit. An even-money bet that would otherwise be a coin flip is made to lose on the six triples, and 6 ÷ 216 = 2.78%.
In ringgit: RM1,000 staked on Small costs you RM27.78 on average. That is slightly more than single-zero roulette at 2.70%, and more than two and a half times the cost of baccarat’s Banker bet at about 1.06%.
Three published paytables, side by side
Sic bo has no single paytable. Wizard of Odds publishes three: the payouts used in Macau, in Atlantic City and in Australia. It also warns that online, “anything is possible”. The table below prices every common bet under each set. Each cell shows the payout, then the house edge we computed from the 216 outcomes. Treat the payout as the assumption and check it against your own table.
| Bet | Wins on (of 216) | Macau | Atlantic City | Australia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small / Big | 105 | 1:1 → 2.78% | 1:1 → 2.78% | 1:1 → 2.78% |
| Odd / Even | 105 | 1:1 → 2.78% | not listed | not listed |
| Total 4 or 17 | 3 | 50:1 → 29.17% | 60:1 → 15.28% | 62:1 → 12.50% |
| Total 5 or 16 | 6 | 18:1 → 47.22% | 30:1 → 13.89% | 31:1 → 11.11% |
| Total 6 or 15 | 10 | 14:1 → 30.56% | 17:1 → 16.67% | 18:1 → 12.04% |
| Total 7 or 14 | 15 | 12:1 → 9.72% | 12:1 → 9.72% | 12:1 → 9.72% |
| Total 8 or 13 | 21 | 8:1 → 12.50% | 8:1 → 12.50% | 8:1 → 12.50% |
| Total 9 or 12 | 25 | 6:1 → 18.98% | 6:1 → 18.98% | 7:1 → 7.41% |
| Total 10 or 11 | 27 | 6:1 → 12.50% | 6:1 → 12.50% | 6:1 → 12.50% |
| Single number (1, 2 or 3 dice match) | 91 | 1/2/3 to 1 → 7.87% | 1/2/3 to 1 → 7.87% | 1/2/12 to 1 → 3.70% |
| Combination (two named numbers) | 30 | 5:1 → 16.67% | 5:1 → 16.67% | 6:1 → 2.78% |
| Specific double | 16 | 8:1 → 33.33% | 10:1 → 18.52% | 11:1 → 11.11% |
| Any triple | 6 | 24:1 → 30.56% | 30:1 → 13.89% | 31:1 → 11.11% |
| Specific triple | 1 | 150:1 → 30.09% | 180:1 → 16.20% | 180:1 → 16.20% |
Three things fall out of that table.
Small, Big, Odd and Even are the only bets whose price never moves. Every other row depends on whose payouts you are playing under. If you do not know the paytable, these four squares are the only ones you can price without reading it.
The combination bet is a bargain only at 6:1. You name two different numbers, say 2 and 5, and win if both appear. That happens in 30 of the 216 outcomes. At 6:1 the edge is 2.78%, the same as Small and Big, and it is the only bet on any of these three paytables that pays more than even money at the cheapest price. At 5:1, which both Macau and Atlantic City pay, the same square costs 16.67%. One payout step, six times the cost.
On the Macau sheet, half the layout costs more than 18%. Seven of its fourteen rows do: totals 4/17, 5/16, 6/15 and 9/12, the specific double, any triple and the specific triple. A RM10 bet on a specific double at 8:1, once a round for 100 rounds, puts RM1,000 through the table and costs RM333.33 on average.
Never take a total of 5 or 16 at 18:1. Six of the 216 outcomes make a total of 5, and six make 16. A fair payout for six chances in 216 would be 35:1. The Macau paytable pays 18:1, roughly half the fair price, which gives the bet a 47.22% house edge: RM472.22 gone per RM1,000 staked. The same square pays 30:1 in Atlantic City (13.89%) and 31:1 in Australia (11.11%). If your table shows 18:1, walk past it.
Totals 9 and 12: one payout line changes everything
The middle totals look like the “sensible” bets on the board, and they are where a single number on the paytable matters most. At 6:1, which Macau and Atlantic City pay, a total of 9 or 12 costs 18.98%, worse than every other total on the Atlantic City sheet. At 7:1, which Australia pays, the same square costs 7.41%. Nothing on the layout tells you which version you are playing except the printed payout.
The same logic runs down the column. Moving 4 or 17 from 50:1 to 62:1 cuts its cost from 29.17% to 12.50%. Moving 6 or 15 from 14:1 to 18:1 cuts it from 30.56% to 12.04%. We are not telling you what any Malaysia-facing casino pays. We are showing you how to price whatever you find.
Multiplier sic bo: read the paytable, not the headline
Live studios have added multipliers to sic bo the way they did to roulette. Evolution’s launch announcement for Super Sic Bo says random multipliers are applied to “between zero and several bet spots just before the dice are rolled”, and can increase winnings “by up to 1000x”. Its page for the software version, First Person Super Sic Bo, describes the same mechanic. Ezugi, an Evolution brand, runs Ultimate Sic Bo with randomly applied multipliers “up to 1000x”.
None of those Evolution pages, read on 1 October 2026, publishes an RTP figure for the game or a per-bet paytable. So be careful with any single number you see attached to sic bo. If you see 97.22% quoted as its RTP, recognise it: it is exactly 100% − 2.78%, the Small/Big figure worked out above. It describes the cheapest bets on a classic paytable, not the game as a whole, and on a multiplier game it tells you nothing about the squares the multipliers land on. Our glossary of RTP, house edge and volatility explains why a headline RTP is a best case, not a promise.
Multipliers have to be paid for somewhere. On Lightning Roulette, Evolution says so outright: “Non-multiplied Straight Up Bets pay 29:1” instead of the standard 35:1 (our roulette guide works through what that costs). The Evolution pages for Super Sic Bo that we read do not publish the equivalent trade. Before you bet a square that can carry a multiplier, open the game’s own paytable and compare its base payouts with the table above.
Strategy: what works, and what is myth
Sic bo has no decisions. Once the chip is down, nothing you do affects the result. So “strategy” comes down to one question, which square you bet, and everything else sold as sic bo strategy is noise.
| Tactic | Does it work? | What it actually does |
|---|---|---|
| Betting only Small, Big, Odd or Even | Yes | Pays the lowest price on the table, 2.78%, wherever these bets are offered |
| Taking combinations only at 6:1 | Yes | 2.78% at 6:1; the same square costs 16.67% at 5:1 |
| Reading the paytable before the first bet | Yes | Tells you whether a total of 9 costs 7.41% or 18.98% |
| Refusing doubles and triples | Yes | Avoids bets that cost at least 11% on all three paytables |
| Flat betting and a loss limit | Neutral on edge | Cuts variance and blow-ups; the only lever you hold |
| Martingale and other progressions | No | Same edge, far worse worst case |
| “Due” totals and roadmap patterns | No | The dice have no memory |
| Betting Big and Small in the same round | No | Loses both on every triple; you pay 2.78% twice for no chance of profit |
Count your turnover, not your bets. Say you bet RM10 a round and play 40 rounds an hour (an assumption; tables vary). That is RM400 an hour through the game. On Small it costs RM11.11 an hour on average. On a specific double at 8:1 it costs RM133.33. On a total of 5 at the Macau price of 18:1 it costs RM188.89.
Why Martingale fails here too
Doubling after every loss on Small does not change the 2.78%. It changes the shape of your losses, concentrating them into rare, very large ones. Small loses 111 times in 216, so seven losses in a row happen about once in every 106 attempts. Across a 100-round session, the chance of at least one run of seven is about 36%; across 250 rounds it is about 69%. Start at RM10 and by the seventh straight loss RM1,270 is gone and the next bet is RM1,280, all to win back RM10. Those figures are almost identical to an even-money bet on a single-zero roulette wheel, and the roulette guide lays out the full table.
Why the roadmap is not a signal
Many sic bo tables, live and software, show a history of recent results. Evolution’s own page for First Person Super Sic Bo says the past results “can help you guide your betting choices”. They cannot. Each shake is independent of every shake before it. A total of 9 that has not appeared in 40 rounds is exactly as likely on round 41 as it was on round 1: 25 in 216.
Triples, which sink Small and Big, are not rare enough to plan around either. Over 40 rounds, the chance that at least one triple lands is about 68%. Waiting for a triple to be “used up” before betting Small changes nothing: the next shake has the same 6-in-216 chance of a triple as every other.
Covering the board
Betting many squares at once to “guarantee” a hit raises your total stake, and so your total expected loss. Six squares do not give you six chances to win. They give the house six bets to charge.
Sic bo and casino bonuses
If you plan to use sic bo to clear a deposit bonus, read that promotion’s own terms first. Live-casino bonuses can be priced very differently from slot bonuses, and some promotions exclude table games altogether.
One example. BK8, one of the seven casinos in our ranking, showed these terms on its Malaysia promotions page on 1 October 2026:
- Its welcome bonus gives live casino 50% up to MYR 300 at 25x turnover, against 100% up to MYR 300 at 12x for slots and for sports.
- Its 288% headline welcome offer is for slots and fishing games only.
- The terms of that offer say turnover on non-live table games does not count “unless SPECIFICALLY stated”, and that bets “made on opposite sides with the same outcome” are not valid turnover. Covering Big and Small in the same round is the obvious sic bo example.
A 2.78% bet is a sensible way to work through a turnover requirement only if the promotion counts it. Our wagering and rollover explainer shows how to work out what a turnover multiple will cost you before you accept it.
Sic bo and Malaysian law: the game is named in the statute
Malaysian law does not cover sic bo only in general terms. It names the game, in a list that also names roulette, blackjack and baccarat, and a Malaysian player should know this before reading any other guidance.
The Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 (Act 289) has a First Schedule headed “Bankers’ Games”. Item 12 is “TAI SAI”, with its appliances listed as “(a) Tai Sai staking board (b) Three dice (c) A cup and saucer or similar container”. Tai sai is sic bo. Item 15, SEK POH, a name that sounds very close to sic bo, lists the same three dice, a staking board and a cup and saucer. The same schedule lists roulette at item 5, Hoo Hey How at item 7, Dadu Muka Enam (a six-sided top marked with one to six pips) at item 10, Black Jack or Twenty One at item 20 and Bacarat at item 22.
Why that matters, in three steps:
- Section 2 defines a “common gaming house”. One limb covers any place “where eight or more persons are gaming”. The next covers any place “where any bankers’ game is being played”, with no headcount at all. One sic bo game is enough.
- Section 3A(2) says that when a person is tried under section 6 or 7, it is enough for the prosecution “to merely prove that the game being played is a bankers’ game”, without proving which game.
- Section 6(1) makes it an offence to game in a common gaming house, punishable on conviction by “a fine not exceeding five thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both”.
Where the Act applies. Section 1(2) of the official reprint says the Act “applies to Peninsular Malaysia only”. But the same reprint records commencement dates for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan of 15 April 1992, and the Attorney General’s Chambers’ Malay text adds a note: for its application in Sabah and Sarawak, see P.U. (A) 377/1991, and in Labuan, P.U. (A) 376/1991, both in force from 15 April 1992. We do not try to untangle how those instruments work. If you are in Sabah, Sarawak or Labuan, do not read section 1(2) as meaning the Act does not reach you.
Online play. On 18 October 2023 the Court of Appeal upheld convictions under the Act arising from online casino roulette played on laptops at a condominium in Melaka. It held that no physical gaming machine had to be on the premises, and Free Malaysia Today reported the ruling as making online gambling an offence in Peninsular Malaysia. In February 2026 Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof said a new law to curb online gambling was being drafted, either as a new Act or as amendments to laws such as this one. Until any such law passes, the 1953 text quoted here is the one that applies. Both the English and Malay texts on the Attorney General’s Chambers’ site record 2001 as the Act’s last amendment. Our live, RNG and licence glossary explains what this means for licence claims: no Malaysian authority licenses online casinos, so every site you can reach is licensed offshore or not at all.
None of this is legal advice, and we are not lawyers. It is the text of a public statute, linked below so you can read it yourself, and we say nothing here about how it is enforced against any individual. What it means for this page is narrow and worth stating plainly: sic bo is not a legal grey area by omission. It is named.
Where you will meet sic bo online
Sic bo comes from the same live studios that supply baccarat and roulette. Evolution runs Super Sic Bo, plus First Person Super Sic Bo in software form; Ezugi, part of Evolution, runs Sic Bo and Ultimate Sic Bo; SA Gaming lists Sic Bo, and a game called Fish Prawn Crab, among its games. Which studios each casino carries is set out in our live casino Malaysia ranking.
Two practical warnings before you look for a table.
Check the paytable at every table, even from the same studio. A multiplier version does not have to pay the classic rates (Lightning Roulette does not), and the lobby tile will not show you the payouts.
A cheap bet at a casino that will not pay you is not a cheap bet. A 2.78% house edge only means something if the withdrawal works. Start with our licence-checked list of Malaysian online casinos, where a casino is ranked only if the regulator’s own register confirms its licence.
Play it as entertainment
Sic bo is fast, and there is no decision to slow you down. Turnover piles up faster than most players track, which is why the per-hour figures above are in this guide at all.
Set a loss limit in ringgit before you start and stop when you reach it. Do not chase a losing session: the dice have no memory, and neither does your bankroll. This content is for readers aged 18 and over. If gambling has stopped being entertainment, our responsible gambling resources list support services and practical steps such as blocking betting apps. Befrienders KL answers on +603-7627 2929, 24 hours a day, and Gambling Therapy offers free online support worldwide at gamblingtherapy.org.
If you believe an online operator has defrauded you — a refused withdrawal, a fake “claim link”, a payment to a mule account — call the National Scam Response Centre on 997, then lodge a police report anyway. You can check whether a bank account or phone number has been linked to reported fraud on PDRM’s Semak Mule site at semakmule.rmp.gov.my.
Frequently asked questions
Apa itu dadu — what is sic bo?
Sic bo is a casino dice game played with three six-sided dice in a shaker. Many Malaysian players call it dadu; you will also see tai sai or dai siu. You bet on what the three dice will show — a range, a total, a pair, a triple — and the round settles at once. There are no decisions after the bet is placed.
What is the best bet in sic bo?
Small, Big, Odd or Even, all at a 2.78% house edge wherever they are offered. The combination bet costs the same 2.78% if your table pays 6:1, but 16.67% at 5:1, which the Macau and Atlantic City paytables pay. Every other bet on a standard layout costs more, and several cost more than ten times as much.
Berapa house edge dadu — what is the house edge in sic bo?
It depends on the bet and on the paytable. It runs from 2.78% on Small, Big, Odd and Even to 33.33% on a specific double paying 8:1, and to 47.22% on a total of 5 or 16 at the Macau payout of 18:1. That is why “the house edge in sic bo” has no single answer.
Can you win consistently at sic bo?
No. Every bet on the layout has a negative expected value, every round is independent, and there are no decisions to play well or badly. You can lose more slowly by betting only the 2.78% squares. That is the whole of what skill can do here.
Is sic bo rigged?
Live sic bo uses physical dice that settle on camera. Software sic bo uses a random number generator, and whether that generator has been independently tested is a question about the game’s certification, which our live, RNG and licence glossary explains. Either way, the published paytable already gives the house between 2.78% and 47% depending on the square. The game does not need to be rigged to profit.
Why do Small and Big lose to a triple?
Because that rule is the house edge. Without it, Small and Big would be a true coin flip at even money and the house would make nothing. Losing on the six triples takes 6 of the 216 outcomes away from both sides, which is 2.78%.
Adakah dadu haram di Malaysia — is sic bo legal in Malaysia?
Sic bo is named in Malaysian law. “Tai Sai” is item 12 of the First Schedule to the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953, which lists “bankers’ games”. Any place where a bankers’ game is played counts as a common gaming house, and gaming in one is an offence under section 6(1), with a fine of up to RM5,000, up to six months’ jail, or both. Section 1(2) says the Act applies to Peninsular Malaysia only, but the official texts also record its application to Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan from 15 April 1992. This is a summary of public law, not legal advice.
Does a sic bo betting system work?
No. No system changes the house edge of any bet, because the shakes are independent. Martingale, Fibonacci, D’Alembert and every pattern read off a results board change when you lose, not whether you lose. The only decision that changes your cost is which square you bet.
Sources
- Laws of Malaysia — Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 (Act 289), Attorney General’s Chambers, reprint incorporating amendments up to 1 January 2006. First Schedule (“Bankers’ Games”) items 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 22; sections 1(2), 2, 3A(2) and 6(1); commencement note for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan. Read 1 October 2026.
- Laws of Malaysia — Akta Rumah Perjudian Terbuka 1953 (Akta 289), the Attorney General’s Chambers’ Malay translation as at 1 April 2014: the note on application in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan (P.U. (A) 377/1991 and P.U. (A) 376/1991), and the record of Act A1096 (2001) as the last amendment. Read 1 October 2026.
- Free Malaysia Today — “Online gambling an offence under existing law, rules court”, 18 October 2023, and “New law being drafted to curb online gambling”, 15 February 2026.
- Wizard of Odds — sic bo bets, payouts and house edges: the Macau, Atlantic City and Australia paytables, and the note that online “anything is possible”. Read 1 October 2026. Every house edge in our table matches the figures on that page.
- Evolution — Super Sic Bo launch announcement (multipliers on “between zero and several bet spots”, “up to 1000x”); First Person Super Sic Bo game page (bet types, roadmap wording); Ezugi Ultimate Sic Bo; Lightning Roulette game page (“Non-multiplied Straight Up Bets pay 29:1”). Read 1 October 2026. Evolution’s game site is blocked in Malaysia, so you may not be able to open the games.evolution.com links.
- SA Gaming — Sic Bo game page and game list (Sic Bo, Fish Prawn Crab). Read 1 October 2026. This site is also blocked in Malaysia.
- BK8 — welcome bonus and 288% welcome offer terms on BK8’s official Malaysia promotions page, read 1 October 2026. Not linked, because the casino’s Malaysian web address changes often.
- All probabilities, house edges and ringgit figures were computed by listing all 216 outcomes of three six-sided dice and settling each bet at the payout shown in the same row.
Editorial Note: Felix McCoy
Seasoned iGaming expert with 10+ years covering online casinos, slots, sports betting, and crypto gambling.