Roulette Bets, Odds, & Payouts

When playing roulette, there are two types of wagers, namely inside and outside bets. These terms correspond to the physical positions of your bets on the table.

Inside bets are wagers placed on the numbered grid or its immediate border.

Outside bets have nothing to do with alfresco gambling. Instead, they simply refer to all the betting options located in the rows and column beyond the grid of numbers.

European roulette players will enjoy the same house edge no matter what type of bet they place. At the same time, it’s much easier to win an outside bet, but your potential payout is much lower than if you were to win an inside bet.

As we run down the bets below, it will be obvious why most players choose to place a mixture of bets.

When playing European or French roulette, you’ll often have the opportunity to place announced or call bets.

These bets cover sets of numbers based on where they appear on the wheel. In case you haven’t noticed by now, the numbers don’t appear sequentially on the wheel. Here are the most common call bets.

While we’ve certainly dreamed of throwing down our entire bankroll on a single number and winning 35 times our money, it’s not a wise way to play.

Whether you are an expert or trying roulette for the first time, it’s important to play responsibly. That means making bets that are in line with your budget and ensuring that your bets are small enough to withstand a losing streak.

When starting out, we recommend sticking to outside bets, especially the even money bets. By betting on 1 to 18, 19 to 36, even, odd, red, or black, you’ll win nearly half the time. Once you get comfortable, try column bets or wagering on the first, second, or third dozen and then experiment with inside bets.

Did you know many online casinos offer more than a dozen styles of roulette? While it’s great to have access to a wide range of games, some roulette variants are much better than others.

If you care about your bottom line, you’ll want to choose games with the lowest house edge. The means choosing European, and ideally French, roulette and steering clear of the American tables. The fact is American roulette has a whopping 5.26% house edge, which is much higher than the European house edge of 2.7%. If you plan on placing even money bets, French roulette halves the house edge even further to a reasonable 1.35%.

Now that you know which roulette variants give you the best odds, you’ll also want to consider your budget, especially if you’re playing at a land-based casino. Typically, online casinos offer greater flexibility when it comes to choosing your stakes. Expect to find higher minimums at offline casinos, particularly if you visit during the weekend.

The most popular online casinos can accommodate every budget at the low and high end.

While you can easily refer to this handy guide whenever you play roulette online, it probably won’t take you long to know all the bets and odds by heart. Of course, the easiest way to get acquainted with all your betting options is by placing them yourself. Fortunately, you don’t have to burn through your bankroll while you get up to speed. Take advantage of free games while you learn the rules and get familiar with all the ways to bet.

We highly recommend playing for free if you want to experience the differences between American, European, French, live dealer, multi-ball, multi-wheel, and other varieties of roulette for yourself. Playing for fun will also give you the opportunity to test various betting strategies with no risk.