In any game of luck there is a correlation between the chances of winning and the payouts, and players should be aware that ones that are less likely to turn into winners are the most profitable ones. For any reasonable players, who intend to play the roulette in the long run, the goal should be to maximize the income while mitigating the risks. This is why the following article will treat individually all the types of popular roulette bets, presenting the benefits and shortcomings in an unbiased manner.
Relatively safe wagers with low payouts
Those who intend to follow a progressive roulette system, whether it is a positive or a negative one prefer even bets. The reason is that the steps are more simple to follow and the rules are easy to pick up, which also grants more stability to their wagering patterns. The black/red bets, odd/even, or the ones on a range of numbers such as 1 to 18 or 19 to 36 pays 1 to 1 although the chances of actually winning are about 47.4%.
This is the case for American roulette, which has two green numbers on the wheel and the house edge of 5.26%, almost twice as much as the European roulette. The latter has a slightly better probability win by 48.6% for even bets, which explains why it is more profitable to choose this version of roulette. The same goes for betting on the thousands, which are the groups of numbers ranging from 1 to 12, 13 to 24 and 25 to 36 which have a 31.6% probability to win in American roulette and 32.4% in European roulette.
Riskier bets can be more rewarding
If you don’t mind taking slightly higher chances for the prospect of maximizing your winnings, then you should consider these kind of bets. The six lines which just as the name suggests implies betting on six numbers has a 15.8% win rate in American roulette and 16.2% in European one. The chances to win are further decreased if you bet on a corner (four numbers) but the potential profits increase up to 8 times.
Very few are the ones willing to bet solely on a street or a split, meaning that they will place chips on three or two numbers for a chance to win 11 or 17 times the amount invested. The first type of bet has a chance of 8% to turn into profits while the second is just above 5%. Last but not least, there are daredevils who will bet on a straight number hoping to win 35 times more, but the chances are no better than 2.70%.
Roulette house edge
Any casino game has a house edge, and roulette makes no exception but understanding exactly how high it is compared with other games can help players calculate their chances of winning. Essentially this concept is defined by the average defeat to an initial bet, and the idea is to focus on games that keep this percentage as low as possible. Roulette is hardly one of the casino games that carry a low house edge, with the Blackjack leading the pack by keeping the figures below 1%.
For those who decide that they intend to play roulette the best thing that they can do is to choose the European roulette over the American one. There is a single difference between the two wheels, and it consists in the fact that American roulette has an additional slot marked with 00. Whenever the ball lands on this slot, old wagers except those made in 00 are lost, and this is enough to double the house edge.
The European roulette has a single zero and the house edge is 2.70%, while the American version has such unlucky slots and as a result the house edge is 5.26%. This applies to all wagers except for the five number bet which is the worst possible wager that a roulette player can choose. It carries a house edge of 7.89%, so it should be avoided at all costs, especially with the payouts being as low as 6 to 1.
Adjust your wagering strategy
Another thing worth mentioning about house edge, is that it is relative to the initial wager so players will have an easier task of estimating the amount they will lose. Essentially a house edge of 2.72% implies the fact that in the long run a player who makes an original wager of $100 will lose an average of $2.72. By knowing these figures, players can adjust their wagering strategies, so that even during the lengthy losing streak, the total amount lost will be kept bearable.
Although knowing the percentages of the house edge for different casino games is important, the figures shouldn’t be overestimated. An American roulette and Caribbean stud poker have a similar house edge, but the ratio between money lost and wagered can differ significantly. Furthermore, the house edge can be calculated by taking into account or ignoring ties, which explains why there are differences between people and websites calculating the house edge for different casino games.