Inside bets are wagers placed on specific numbers on the table. If you bet $1 on a number and the ball lands on that number, you win a 35:1 payout, or $35 plus your original $1 bet. You can also split your bet between up to 6 numbers that are next to each other on the table. Outside bets, such as even/odd and red/black, are lower risk, but the payout is only 2:1 or 1:1. There are blocks labeled with various bets on the table outside of the chart of numbers. This is why they’re called outside bets, while wagers placed on the numbers are called inside bets.
High/low: Wagering that the ball will land on 1 through 18 or 19 through 36; the payout is 1:1. Dozens: Betting that the ball will land on 1 through 12, 13 through 24, or 25 through 36. The payout is 2:1. Columns: Betting the ball will land on a number within one of the table’s 3 columns; the payout is 2:1.
The payout decreases with the more numbers you split. A straight bet (1 number) yields a 35:1 payout, while a 6 line bet offers a 5:1 payout. When you split your wager, the numbers must occur next to each other on the roulette board within a 12-cell block. The exception is a 4 corners bet, in which you wager on the corner numbers of one of the table’s blocks.
If people making wagers spin the wheel on their own, give it a spin yourself to get a feel for how fast it moves.
Additionally, don’t get too ambitious when it comes to profiting off of a roulette table. Set a low profit goal, such as 5% of your total wagers. To avoid temptation, limit the amount of alcohol you consume, write your maximum acceptable losses on a piece of paper to hold yourself more accountable, and ask a friend to keep tabs on you.
The more you win and withdraw your money, the more likely it is that you’ll at least break even.
Suppose you bet $1 on the same number on a European wheel 37 times. If the odds play out, you’ll lose 36 times and you’ll land on that number once. You’ll end up losing $36, but you’ll only make $35 in winnings, so your net gain is -1. This gives you a house edge of -2. 7% (-1 ÷ 37 = -0. 027) . Similarly, since there are 36 numbers and a 0 pocket on a European wheel, you have a 51. 35% chance of losing if you bet on black. Say you bet $1 on black for 37 spins; if the odds play out, you’ll win $18 and lose $19. Again, you have a profit ratio of -1 to 37, or -2. 7%. This means that, no matter which type of bet you place, you’re more likely to end up losing money to the house because of how the game is structured.
Recall that, on a European wheel, the house edge is 2. 7%. If you bet $1 on the same number for 37 spins and the odds play out, you’ll end up with a net profit of -$1 ($35 in winnings and $36 in losses). On an American wheel, if you bet $1 on the same number for 38 spins (accounting for the extra pocket), you’ll end up with $35 in winnings and $37 in losses, or a net profit of -2. That gives you a house edge of -5. 26% (-2 ÷ 38 = -0. 0526), which is twice that of a European wheel’s -2. 7% edge.
Over the course of a few spins, there’s no guarantee that one spin will be red and the next will be black. The ball could land on a black pocket 5 times in a row despite the roughly 50:50 odds of landing on red or black. For another example, try flipping a coin. If you flip it 3 times, you may very well land on heads 3 times in a row. However, if you flip it 100 times, it’s more likely that you’ll flip heads and tails around 50 times each.
If you can guess before the croupier, or the casino worker, calls last bets, you can wager on the section of the wheel where you think the ball will land. Recall that it’s easier to predict where the ball will land if the wheel is tilted. If there’s a slight tilt, the ball is more likely to land on the side opposite where the croupier released it into the spinning wheel. [11] X Research source
Let’s say you bet $10 on black. If the ball lands on zero, the house keeps $5 and gives you back $5. It’s not a win, but it’s better than losing the entire $10 bet. En Prison works similarly. Suppose you bet $10 on black and the ball lands on 0. The house keeps your $10 and spins again. If the ball lands on black, you get your $10 back. You don’t win anything, but you don’t lose your $10!
The Fibonacci numbers are a sequence in which a number is equal to the sum of the 2 numbers before it. The first part of the sequence is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, and 89. To figure out what comes next, just add the last 2 numbers in the sequence: 55 + 89 = 144. Suppose you start with a $1 wager and lose 4 times in a row. So far, you’ve lost a total of $7 ($1 + $1 + $2 + $3 = $7). You win when you wager $5, so you get the original $5 bet back plus the $5 payout. Then, you’d count back 2 steps in the sequence from 5 and wager $2 in the next round. Lowering your wager every time you win helps protect your profits. The Fibonacci strategy is a pretty safe strategy, but low risk means low profits. Additionally, remember that house always has an edge of 2. 7% (for a European wheel) or 5. 3% (for an American wheel), and no mathematical system or betting strategy can defeat that.
This strategy is based on a $200 total wager; keep your proportions if your making a wager other than $200. For instance, divide a $20 bet in to $14, $5 and $1 wagers. If you’re betting $40 total, make divided wagers of $28, $10, and $2 (20 x 2 = 40, so multiply the divided bets by 2). If the number is between 19 and 36, you will have an $80 profit; if the number is between 13 and 18, you will have a $100 profit, and if the number is zero, then you will have a $160 profit. No strategy is foolproof. Since odds tend to even out over time, the house still has an edge. Even if you place bets on half the board, you’re still more likely to lose money over time. Additionally, there’s no guarantee that the ball won’t land on a number between 1 and 12 several times in a row. Suppose that happens for the first 5 spins. If you wagered $200 per spin, you just lost a quick $1000!
Say you bet $10 on red and lost. You’d bet $20 in the next round and, if you win, you’d more than make up for your $10 loss in the previous round. The problem with this strategy is that a losing streak could quickly leave you bankrupt. In a series of 4 spins, there’s no guarantee that the ball will land on red twice and black twice, even if the odds are roughly 50/50. You could bet on red 4 spins in a row and the ball could land on black each time. Suppose you bet $10, lose 4 times in a row, and double your bets each spin to $20, $40, and $80. If you have only $150 to spend, you’ll have blown through your entire bankroll before you have a chance to recover your losses.
