If you’ve already read our Roulette players guide and Roulette strategy guide, you should already know your way around the table. If you’re completely new to the game, we recommend checking out either of those guides. They’ll both help to explain the details of Roulette, how to play, and tips for improving.
In this guide, we’re going to be sharing some extra knowledge on improving your Roulette game. Of course, Roulette is a game that’s entirely based on chance, so there isn’t too much you can do to directly influence your odds. There are lots of ways you can indirectly improve your chances, however. More importantly, the tips we give you will help you to have more fun while playing.
Roulette is one of our favorite casino games, and it’s also one of the most popular casino games in the world. We’re always looking for new ways to play and for ways to get the most out of our bets at the Roulette table. In this guide, we’ll be sharing those tips with you and hopefully helping you to win more often.
Read on to learn some top tips and strategies to boost your chances and make Roulette even more fun to play. We cover some strategy, general tips, and betting guides.
Online Roulette Tips
The game of Roulette revolves around the spinning wheel. Where the ball ends up is just down to luck, so there isn’t a way to influence where it lands or to predict where it might land. There are still plenty of ways to improve your chances of a successful bet, however. We’ve put together this list to give you some helpful tips on improving your chances while playing Roulette online. Most of these speak for themselves, but we’ll take a more in-depth look at Roulette strategies later on in the guide.
- Learn the rules – This is always good advice for any casino game you play. You’ll always have a much better chance of winning if you know how to play and the different rules that are in effect. Don’t assume that just because you’ve played Roulette before, you know all the rules already. There are lots of different game types out there, and some casinos have different rules than others.
- Know your limits – Again, this one applies to all the casino games you play. You’ll want to make sure you’re not betting more than you can afford to lose. While it’s fun to play with big stakes and you can definitely win more if you get lucky, you can also lose more if you’re unlucky. Set a limit on how much you’re willing to bet each month. If you find it hard to control your betting, you can set up a deposit limit on your account or lock your account for a certain amount of time. Online gambling should always be fun, and if you’re finding you’re no longer having fun, you should stop.
- Choose a good site to play – There are plenty of sites out there that offer online Roulette to players. Some of these sites provide loads of great features, a good variety of games, and some big bonuses. Others aren’t quite up to the same standard. If you want to have the best possible time while playing casino games online, you’ll need to first choose a good casino. Take a look at our top casino page and the reviews we’ve written on each site. These will help to give you an idea of which sites offer the best features and hopefully help you pick the perfect casino for you.
- Get the most out of your casino bonus – Any good online casino will offer its players a welcome bonus for when they first sign up. These bonuses can range from free bets on certain games to matched deposit and no deposit bonuses. Depending on the casino you sign up to, there may be different terms and conditions on the bonus before you can unlock and use it however you want. Be sure to read all these terms before you sign up. Once you have your bonus, use it to play Roulette with as little risk to your own cash as possible.
- Try out free games before playing for real money – A lot of online casinos will offer a free demo version of their most popular games. This allows you to test out a game and get to know how it works before playing for real cash. If you make the most of these demo games, you can gain a lot of experience and find which bets and strategies work best for you. Of course, you won’t be able to win any real money before you play with real cash, but it’s still a great way to practice.
- Look for favorable game rules – Not all games of Roulette are equal, and some have much better rules than others. Look for French Roulette and avoid American Roulette whenever possible. French and European Roulette has a better return to player rate than American Roulette. French Roulette has the best RTP rate of any game, thanks to the en prison and la partage Always check the rules and RTP of the game before you play.
Understanding House Edge in Roulette
The house edge is the advantage that the casino has over its players. All casino games have a house edge, as ultimately, the house always wins. Some games have a much smaller house edge than others though, and if you want to win more often, you’ll need to find these games.
In Roulette, the house edge comes from the presence of the green 0 and 00. Outside bets will always lose if the ball lands on either of these green places. For inside bets such as the straight bet, the house edge comes from the fact that payouts are set at a few digits lower than the actual probability of the number coming up. For example, a straight number bet typically pays out at 35 to 1, while the odds of that happening are 37 to 1 or 36 to 1 for European and French Roulette.
As you can see from the probabilities, the house edge of European and French Roulette is lower than that of American Roulette. Is it enough to really make a difference, though? Well, American Roulette has an average house edge of 5.26%. Let’s compare this to the house edge of European Roulette which has a house edge of 2.7%. Now let’s imagine two players both spend $10,000 at the Roulette wheel over the course of a year. Player A plays American Roulette while player B plays European Roulette. On average, player A will have lost $526 while player B will have lost $270.
As you can see, it does make a real difference. Of course, these numbers will never be exact as with random chance. Player A could theoretically win more than B. However, player A definitely has a higher chance of losing more money than player B, so it always makes more sense to play a game with a lower house edge.
French Roulette has a special rule which lowers the house edge even more. If you place outside bets while playing French Roulette, there’s a chance for the la partage or en prison rules to come into play. If you bet on an outside bet such as red or black, and the ball lands on 0, you’d normally lose your stake. With la partage, half your stake is returned to you. With en prison, your stake remains in play for the next spin. If you win the next spin, your stake is returned to you. Some casinos may allow you to choose between en prison or la partage while others make the choice for you.
These rules help to give French Roulette a house edge of 1.35% if you’re placing even money bets. This makes it one of the best casino games to play in terms of the house edge. If you want to have the best odds when playing Roulette online, make sure you choose to play French Roulette over other game types where possible.
Placing the Best Bets
In Roulette, there are lots of different betting options available, though some are better than others in terms of their probability of winning. If you want to best possible chances of winning and winning often, you’ll need to make sure you get your bets right.
First off, let’s take a look at the odds and probabilities of the various betting options. There are two main types of bet in Roulette, the inside bets and the outside bets. These are so named because of their position on the Roulette table.
Inside Bets
These are generally riskier bets with a higher payout and are found in the center of the Roulette table. They include straight number bets, split bet, corner bet, street bet, line bet, and the five-number bet. For most of these bets, the payout is slightly less than the probability of the event occurring. For example, a straight bet pays out at 35 to 1 but has a 36 in 1 chance of happening.
Outside Bets
Outside bets are a lot less likely to occur but will pay out less. Most of the outside bets are even money bets, meaning you’ll win an amount equal to your stake if you win with them. The outside bets include red or black, odd or even, high or low plus columns and dozens. Bets like red or black and odds or evens double your stake. However, there isn’t a 50% chance of the ball landing on these options because of the 0.
To help you understand which bets are best, we’ve created this table that shows you the probability and payout of each bet.
| Bet | Odds | American Probability | European Probability |
| Even/Odd | 1/1 | 47.4% | 48.6% |
| Red/Black | 1/1 | 47.4% | 48.6% |
| Low/High | 1/1 | 47.4% | 48.6% |
| Dozen | 2/1 | 31.6% | 32.4% |
| Column | 2/1 | 31.6% | 32.4% |
| Straight number | 35/1 | 2.6% | 2.7% |
| Split | 17/1 | 5.3% | 5.4% |
| Street | 11/1 | 7.9% | 8.1% |
| Corner | 8/1 | 10.5% | 10.8% |
| Line | 5/1 | 16.2% | 15.8% |
| Five-number | 6/1 | 13.5% | NA |
From these odds, we can see that playing European Roulette is always better than American as the odds are always slightly better. The only reason to play American Roulette is for the Five number bet which isn’t available at European Roulette games. This bet has a very high house edge though, higher than any other bet. So it’s really not worth it to play American Roulette, and you should always look for European or French if it’s available.
Roulette Betting Systems
A betting system is a more structured approach to betting, and although it won’t improve your odds, it can help you to manage your bankroll. There are a lot of people out there who swear by betting systems and claim that they have a system that helps them to beat the odds at the casino. All of them are wrong.
Betting systems cannot improve your odds. At times, they might cause you to go on brilliant runs, but over time, those losses will come in. That’s not to say that betting systems are useless, however. There’s still a big benefit that comes from structuring your bets and managing your bankroll correctly.
Take a look at some of the betting systems below and decide for yourself whether you’d like to use them or not. Remember to stay within your betting limits and some betting systems can be a lot more aggressive than others, which can quickly lead to big losses if you’re not careful.
The Martingale System – This is probably the most famous betting system of all time, and even plenty of non-gamblers are familiar with it. It involves doubling your stake each time you lose a bet. While this can, in theory, works out very well, it can also quickly use up your bankroll if you go on a losing streak. The Martingale system relies on the gambler’s fallacy that a win is due after a long period of losses.
The Paroli System – Rather than doubling your stake after each loss, the Paroli system sees players double after a win. After a loss of three consecutive wins, the player returns to their original stake. This is much better suited to beginners than the Martingale method as it’s unlike to wipe out your bankroll as quickly. It can still be risky to double your stake multiple times, however.
The D’Alembert System – This system will have you increasing your bet after each loss. Instead of doubling your stake, however, you’ll only be increasing by a unit. A unit is a single portion of your bankroll. For example, if you have a bankroll of $100, one unit could be $1. So, each time you win using this method, you’ll increase your stake by $1.
Oscars Grind – The aim of this system is to make one unit of profit. Again, you’ll need to break down your bankroll into units. Then you’ll start by betting one unit and increase your bet by one each time you win. If you lose, you’ll go back down to one unit again. This is a good way to practice careful bankroll management and get used to betting with units.
Labouchère System – Sometimes known as the cancellation method or the split Martingale. Before starting, the player will need to work out how much they want to make from their betting session. Once you know that, simply split the amount into several parts. So if you want to make $100 in profit, you could split it into $20, $30, $30, $10, and $10. Then you’ll place a bet using the first and last number on the list. If the bet wins, cross those numbers from the list, if it loses, add on the amount to the end. This continues until there are no numbers left and the profit has been made.
