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Columns: A column bet covers one of the three columns on the roulette table layout, each of which contains 12 numbers. If any of those 12 numbers wins, your bet pays 2-1 odds. Dozens: These bets cover sets of 12 consecutive numbers: 1-12, 13-24, or 25-36.

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Introduction

Roulette is one of the easiest games to play and understand in the casino. As usual the easier a game is to understand the greater the house edge, and roulette is no exception. If you are looking for a easy to understand and slow paced table game, and are willing to sacrifice on the house edge, then you may like roulette. If you want something more stimulating or with a decent return I would suggest looking at other games.

One difference between roulette and all other table games is that roulette chips have no value denomination printed on them. This actually is the true definition of a chip, one which indicates its value is technically called a check. The roulette table comes with six to eight sets of different colored chips, each set consisting of 300 chips. When a player purchases chips he gets his own color and the value of each chip is the buy-in divided by the number of chips received. The dealer will place a token on top of the dealer's stack of that color of chips to indicate the value.

American Rules

A U.S. roulette wheel consists of 38 numbered slots: numbers 1 to 36, a zero, and a double zero. The betting layout consists of every individual number as well as a host of 'outside' bets on combinations of numbers. After the players make their bets, the dealer spins the wheel and a ball and after several seconds the ball will land in one of the numbered slots.

The following table displays the available bets, the win (on a 'to one' basis), and the probability of winning under U.S. rules. All casinos in the U.S. follow these rules except for in Atlantic City. The house edge on all bets is 1/19, or 5.26%, except for the 0-00-1-2-3 combination, which carries a house edge of 7.89%.

Double-Zero Roulette

BetPaysProbability WinHouse Edge
Red147.37%5.26%
Black147.37%5.26%
Odd147.37%5.26%
Even147.37%5.26%
1 to 18147.37%5.26%
19 to 36147.37%5.26%
1 to 12231.58%5.26%
13 to 24231.58%5.26%
25 to 36231.58%5.26%
Six line (6 numbers)515.79%5.26%
First five (5 numbers)613.16%7.89%
Corner (4 numbers)810.53%5.26%
Street (3 numbers)117.89%5.26%
Split (2 numbers)175.26%5.26%
Any one number352.63%5.26%

European Rules

What most call 'European roulette' is roulette played on a 37-number wheel, with one zero only. The pays are the same as in American roulette. However, with one zero the house edge is cut to 1/37, or 2.70%, on all bets.

The term European roulette is somewhat of a misnomer because you can find single-zero roulette all over the world. In fact, it is the standard outside the United States. Even in the United States you can find single-zero roulette in some high-limit rooms.

Atlantic City Rules

In Atlantic City, any all even money bets (red, black,odd, even, 1-18, 19-36) follow a variation of the European half-back rule (see below). If the ball lands in 0 or 00, then the player will lose only half of any even money bet. This lowers the house edge to 2.63% on these bets. This rule does not apply on single zero wheels.

What Are The Odds On A Roulette Table Game

French Rules

French roulette is played on a single wheel and also features a favorable 'en prison' or half-back rule. Under the 'half-back' rule, if the player makes any even money bet (red, black, odd, even, 1-18, 19-36), and the ball lands in zero, then the player gets half the bet back, known as 'la partage' in French.

The term French roulette is also somewhat of a misnomer because the 'la partage' rule can sometimes be found in casinos outside of France, including some high-limit rooms in Las Vegas.

Rather than lose half, the player sometimes may also choose to imprison the bet. If an imprisoned bet wins on the next spin it is released and the player gets it back, without winnings. What is subject to casino rules is what happens to an imprisoned bet if the ball lands in zero again on the next spin. At some casinos the bet loses, and at others it would become double imprisoned. If a double-imprisoned bet bet won on the next spin, it would move up a level, and become single-imprisoned again. If it lost, then if would become triple-imprisoned if the casino allowed it, otherwise it would lose.

The following table shows the probability of a win, push, and loss under every imprisonment variation I'm aware of.

Imprisonment Odds

ImprisonmentWinPushLossExpected
Value
Single0.486486490.013148280.50036523-0.01387874
Double0.486486490.013323460.50019005-0.01370356
Triple0.486486490.013325830.50018768-0.01370120
Infinite0.486486490.013325860.50018765-0.01370117
French0.486486490.013513510.50000000-0.01351351

When given the choice to lose half or face imprisonment, the expected value is the same under French rules. Otherwise the expected loss is less losing half.

Triple-Zero Roulette

Triple-Zero Roulette is roulette played on a 39-number wheel. The wheel has the same numbers and colors as a double-zero wheel, plus a 39th place on the wheel. This 39th place will always be green and often the Logo of the casino where the game is located, for example an apple at the New York New York. The game premiered at the Venetian in Las Vegas in September, 2016.

Much like zero and double-zero, all even money bets lose if the ball lands in green. The order of the numbers 1 to 36 is the same as in single-zero roulette. The 0, 00, and Logo are all consecutive, with the Logo in the middle.

There is an added bet on any green, which pays 11 to 1. The house edge on every bet is 1/13 or 7.69%.

What Are The Odds On A Roulette Table

Short Pays

I've noticed some electronic roulette games don't pay the full 35 to 1 on single-numbers bets, and/or 17 to 1 on double-number bets. Invariably, any game that short pays the player like this is going to be on a double-zero wheel as well. The following two tables show the house edge on single- and double-number bets, according to the win, assuming a double-zero wheel, and based on 'to one' odds. Be careful that on electronic games wins are often given on a 'for one' basis, meaning the original wager is not returned on a win. To convert a 'for one' odds to 'to one' odds, subtract one.

Single-Number Bets

WinHouse Edge
35 to 15.26%
34 to 17.89%
33 to 110.53%
32 to 113.16%
31 to 115.79%
30 to 118.42%

Double-Number Bets

WinHouse Edge
17 to 15.26%
16 to 110.53%
15 to 115.79%

Best Roulette in the West

Best in Nevada: The Bellegio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Mirage, Rio, and Wynn all have European roulette, with a house edge of 1.35%. Usually such wheels are in the high-limit rooms, but the MGM and Mirage also have a European wheel in the main casino at a $25 minimum.

Best in California: It is my understanding that the only single-zero roulette in California is at the Barona casino, with a house edge of 2.70%.

Las Vegas Rules Survey

I am proud to present my Las Vegas roulette survey at my companion site Wizard of Vegas.

Number Placement

To the casual observer, it would appear that the numbers on the wheel are not organized and seem to be distributed randomly. The only obvious patterns are that red and black numbers alternate and that usually two odd numbers alternate with two even numbers. However the distribution of numbers was carefully arranged so that the sum of the numbers for any given section of the wheel would be roughly equal to any other section of equal size. Most numbers are part of a pair, with one number between them. These pairs add to either 37 or 39.

For what it is worth, the sum of all the numbers in roulette is 666.

Wheel Tracking

Some people and books claim that roulette wheels are biased, with a heavy side and a light side. Gravity causes the numbers in the heavy side to hit more often. This, I believe, used to be true when the quality of the equipment was poor. However, modern roulette wheels are much better and very rigorously tested. Only in a casino using a very dated wheel, may you be able to find a biased one by testing many thousands of spins. Based on stories I have heard, your odds of finding such wheels are probably best in Europe.

Betting Systems

Ugh. If you think you can beat roulette with a betting system please read my section debunking betting systems. If you don't believe what I say there, here is what the Encyclopedia Britannica says under the subject of roulette:

The oldest and most common betting system is the Martingale or 'doubling-up' system,in which bets are doubled progressively. This probably dates back to the invention of the Roulette wheel, but every day of the week some gambler somewhere reinvents it, or some variation of it, and believes he has something new. Over the years hundreds of 'sure-fire' winning systems have been dreamed up, but regardless of what system is used, in the long run it cannot overcome the house's advantage of the 0, or 0 and 00. This house advantage is the only system that consistently wins in the long run.

'No one can possibly win at roulette unless he steals money from the table while the croupier isn't looking.' — Albert Einstein

San Diego Area Roulette

The California Constitution prohibits a ball and wheel alone to determine the outcome in roulette. In the greater San Diego area the casinos have thought of some creative ways to offer roulette anyway. Visit my page onSan Diego County roulette to see how they do it, and who offers the best odds.

Ball Steering

I get asked a lot about whether I believe dealers can influence the spin to a certain area of the wheel. I used to be very skeptical of it. However, after considering the articles How to Win at Roulette — Part I and Part II by Arnold Snyder as well as other evidence, I think it would be easy for a colluding dealer could do a late slow spin to benefit a wheel clocking player. An extremely skillful dealer may even be able to influence the ball to a certain sector of the wheel. So, for now, I'm still straddling the fence on this one (ow!).

Organic Roulette Experiment

In March 2017, I concluded an analysis of an electronic roulette game by Interblock for ball steering away from perceived wheel clockers. For more information please see my page on the Organic Roulette Experiment.

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Written by: Michael Shackleford

Is there a particular bet on the roulette table that has better chances of winning than others? That depends on your perspective and the roulette strategy you apply, but in most cases all the roulette bets are essentially the same. Specifically they are all subject to the house edge.

What Are The Odds On A Roulette Table

The Odds of Bets on the Roulette Table

The page about how to play roulette explains the various types of bets and their respective odds. Pay particular attention to the house edge for each type of bet and you will notice that the house edge is the same for all bets. As the pace in the link also explains, the house edge is essentially unfair payouts offered by the casino. The principle is very simple although often misunderstood. It has nothing to do with the green zero.

How Different Bets Affects Results

If you bet on 30 individual numbers, the chances are that you will profit on most of your spins. The problem is when you eventually lose, you lose big.

Apply this principle to betting on an individual number such as 32. You statistically will win one every 37 spins on the European single zero wheel. For most players, play will be particularly boring because wins will infrequently occur. Now consider a red or black bet, you expect to win approximately 50% of the time (actually slightly less than 50%). The more frequent wins is generally more appealing for the average player, but the two types of bets are still subject to the house edge of -2.7%. That means if two different players making the different types of bets both wagered $100, the expected return, or loss in this case, is exactly the same.

So for the average roulette strategy, the different types of bets only controls how frequently a win or loss will occur.

But there are exceptions to this rule, and again it depends on the roulette betting system you are applying.

Odds

Bets and Odds with Advantage Play

Advantage play is the term given to professional roulette system methods. They refer to any legitimately effective system that gives the player the advantage. These are the kinds of systems that can and have won millions in modern casinos. Typically they use roulette physics to predict the winning number. Advantage play can be applied on either European or American roulette wheels exactly the same way, although the edge is slightly less on American wheels because of the added pocket and resulting less fair payout.

The one thing that all advantage play systems have in common is that they use inside bets. These are table bets on individual numbers, which represent specific sectors or areas of the physical roulette wheel. An example would be 0,32 and 15 which are all neighbouring numbers on the roulette wheel.

If you are using a professional system, and these are definitively the best type of roulette bet, and in fact the only profitable roulette bet. This is because the professional systems attempted to understand the physics of why the roulette ball lands where it does, to predict future spins and ultimately the winning number.

For example, a professional player may use visual ballistics or a roulette computer device. These ultimately determine the speed of the wheel rotor and ball to predict where the ball will fall. While it may not possible to predict the winning number with 100% accuracy, perfect accuracy is not needed to overcome the house edge. In fact only a very small increase in prediction accuracy is all that is needed to predict the winning number and place a winning bet.

Placing Bets on the Table

Again using the example of a roulette computer, this device uses the timings of the roulette wheel and ball to make predictions. This is done while the ball is still spinning, and before the dealer calls no more bets. This is a critical time in which the player has to make some quick bets on the table. The player may only have 4 to 5 seconds, or even less, before the dealer calls no more bets. In most cases, the player only needs to make one bet on an individual number in the predicted region of the wheel.

Bets Before the Ball is Released

In common conditions it is also possible to predict spin outcomes before the ball is even released. It is not possible in all circumstances, but enough for it to be a practical and viable income source for today’s roulette players. Such an approach may be considered a banned roulette system although not illegal, because they do not at all interfere with the outcome of roulette spins.

Types of Roulette Bets

The two main types of roulette bets are the inside bets and outside bets. See the roulette bets page for a detailed explanation of the odds, chip locations and payouts