Understanding Why No Bet Is Better Than Another
So even when you win, you still lose money. But the payout for a single number bet is an unfair 35-1. Your odds of wining are 100%, which sounds great. This slight difference is called the “house edge”.ĮXAMPLE 2: Now consider betting on all 37 numbers. Specifically, 48.65% of the time you’ll profit $100. So there’s a slightly higher chance you will lose. But on closer inspection, you have a 48.65% chance of winning, and a 51.35% chance of losing. You know you have around a 50% chance of winning, which sounds like good odds. The more numbers you bet, the more likely you are to get get a hit.ĮXAMPLE 1: Consider betting $100 on red for a European wheel. But does better odds mean you are more likely to profit? No, and this is a common mistake players make. In the above table we see the more numbers we bet on, the better the odds of winning. So if the house edge is 2.7% and you bet $1, you can expect to lose $0.027 every 37 spins. The house edge is the advantage the casino has over players.1:1 payout means you receive 1 chip PLUS your original bet 5:1 payout means you receive 5 chips PLUS your original bet.European Roulette Odds (Chance of Winning)Īmerican Roulette Odds (Chance of Winning)