Types of bets in roulette

Roulette basics

The word roulette comes from the French expression “small wheel”. I was invented by Blaise Pascal while trying to develop a perpetual motion device. Later François and Louis Blanc added the zero, to give the house some edge and make it profitable to casinos. When roulette was introduced in the USA in the 1800´s a “double zero” was added making this game even more profitable to the casinos. No matter if you are playing on a French Roulette or in an American one, you will get paid 35:1 when you hit a single number. So you are betting on one number with 1:36 chances to come up in French roulette and 1:37 in American one. Payoff is 35:1 in both of them. This gives the house and edge of 2,70 % in single zero wheels and 5,26% in double zero ones.

Types of bets

There are several ways to bet on any roulette game you play. We can mention two general kinds : Inside bets and outside bets.

Inside bets

Straight bets: This is the most common kind of inside bet. You must put your wager on top of the number you are betting on. This bet is the one with the highest payoff in roulette. 35:1

Split bet: You place a bet on two numbers, both numbers must be touched by the chip on the roulette table, it can be horizontal or vertical. You win if either number hits. Payoff 17:1

Street bet: Here you put your wager covering a row of three numbers, if either of those numbers hit you win. Payoff 11.1

Corner bet or square bets: You put your wager in a way that all four adjoining numbers are covered. Your wager must be placed where the four corners of each number meet. Payoff 8:1

Outside bets

Red or black bets: As everyone knows, each number in the roulette table has a colour, either red, black or green (the 0 and 00). You can bet a red number is coming and win if a red coloured number hits. Of course the same is with black. This is almost an even money bet, the only thing making this not absolutely even money is the fact that if 0 comes up neither red or black win. Payoff 1:1

Even or odd bets: You wager on if the next number hit will be either even or odd. This is again almost even money, but you must know that 0 or 00 are not considered neither even nor odd. Payoff 1:1

Low or High bet: You wager on if the next number hit will be either low or high. From 1 to 18 are considered low numbers and 19 to 36 high ones. Of course 0 and 00 are not considered neither low nor high. Payoff 1:1

Column bets: On the roulette table, below the individual numbers you will find three squares pointing each of the three columns. By placing your bet on one of those, you wager on if the next number hit is in this column. Of course, 0 or 00 are not considered a part of any column. Payoff 2:1

Dozen bets: You have 36 numbers to choose from on the roulette table. If you divide those between 3, you will get three dozens, you can bet on in which dozen will be the next number, Payoff 2:1