How to Win at Roulette

Roulette is one of the gambling world’s most well-known games and it represents all that’s exciting about casino play. It has been around since the late 1700s and nowadays you can’t walk into a casino without seeing at least one table on offer. While the game might seem simple enough – betting on what number the ball will land in based solely on luck – there is a surprising depth of strategy that serious bettors can employ and which can help them win big money.

The basics of the game are quite easy to understand: players place their chips on a special betting mat with precise placement indicating their bet. This is all done before the croupier spins the roulette wheel and throws the ball into it. Once the ball stops, if there are any winning bets the winners will be paid out according to their betting odds. In general, inside bets are a safer option as they have lower house edges than outside bets and higher payouts for winning bets.

A successful inside bet will pay out 35 to 1. This bet covers the numbers 1 through to 36 and includes the zero and double-zero (which is only present on American tables). There are also other bets available which have different payouts, for example a successful column bet will pay out 2 to 1, or a successful line bet will pay out 8 to 1, or even a winning basket bet will pay out 6 to 1.

Other than the above, the only difference between the different roulette variations is that the European game has one single-zero and the American game has a second green division marked as ‘double-zero’ which makes the game a worse proposition financially. Aside from these differences the games are all played in a similar way. When the dealer is between decisions players tell them how much they would like their roulette chips to be worth, they indicate this on a separate ‘wheel’ of chips, the dealer parcels out the chips and the betting begins.