If you are a regular roulette player then you know that roulette odds are very important when it comes to winning. This is because you know that higher odds mean higher winnings but at the same time it means that the outcome has less chances to be in your favour.

We can all agree that roulette is a game of chance and any outcome is possible! But when you know the odds then at least you know what to expect from the roulette wheel.

The odds are the same when you play at a live roulette UK table online or at a UK land based casino.

On this article we are looking at the roulette wheel odds, probabilities and payouts.

If you are a beginner and want to learn more about this game then we reccomend that you read our article about roulette rules.

Roulette Odds Explained

That seems a hefty increase but even at that higher house edge rate, roulette is still one of the better games in terms of house edge for players in the casino, on a par with most slot games and much better than some other games or bets such as Keno or betting on a tie in Baccarat. Roulette is not the game with the best odds in a casino, nor is it the one that can be the most thrilling to play. However, many would argue that roulette is the classiest table game you can find, which makes it a great experience to play. What’s more, roulette is a game with a very simple set of rules and quite good odds for the player. Roulette is a drain on your wallet simply because the game doesn’t pay what the bets are worth. With 38 numbers (1 to 36, plus 0 and 00), the true odds of hitting a single number on a straight-up bet are 37 to 1, but the house pays only 35 to 1 if you win! Ditto the payouts on the combination bets.

Let’s start by explaining the types of bets you can have on a roulette table.

There are two main types/groups of bets that you can have on a roulete table.

• Inside bets
• Outside bets

Inside bets refer to the bets on the numbers that are in the roulette wheel. This could be a single number or a combination of numbers from 2 to 6 in total.

Outside bets refer to any bets that are outtside the numbers board like red or black, Colum, Dozen, Odd or Even etc.

Depending on the type of roulette wheel you chose to play at i.e. European/French or American Roulette, the odds will change slightly. This is because American Roulette has an extra pocket with a 00.

Roulette Odds Chart

Here is a table with all the bets and the odds and payouts for European, French and American Roulette.

A roulette table has the standard roulette bets we mentioned above but there are even more fixed combinations that savvy roulette players like to bet on.

Check out our European Roulette Odds inforgraphic.

These are also known as “Call Bets” When you play online roulette. The terminology Call bets and Announced Bets is used by high stakes roulette players in land based casinos abroad.

Here is how it works: The player doesn’t put any chips on the table but they just announce their call bet. For example, a high roller that is also known to the land based casino can just announce a 10K bet on a number without actually putting any chiops on the table. This is of course limited to specific players that are regulars to the casino and have proved they can afford the Announced bets they palce.

These bets are not allowed in the UK at any land based casino.

But this terminology has been used for online roulette for years now in order to describe the fixed combination of bets on a roulette table.

We can find these fixed combinations on European or French roulette and this is why there two different names for them depending on the table.

Here are the most well known ones:

• Neighbors of Zero or Voisins du zéro. This is a combination of bets that cover 17 numbers on a section of the roulette wheel. The bet needs seven chips to cover all the numbers. You bet on 0/2/3, 4/7, 12/15, 18/2, 19/22, 25/26/28/29 and 32/25. The maximum winning payout is 17 to 1, 11 to 1 or 8 to 1 depending on the winning number and the roulette odds are 45.9%.
• Orphans or Orphelins. This bet covers eight numbers that you find next to each other on the roulette wheel with five chips. You bet n: 3, 6/9, 14/17, 17/20 and 31/34. The payout for this bet is 35 to 1 or 17 to 1 depending on the winning number and the probability is 21.6%
• Zero Game or Jeu Zero. This roulette bet is just a smaller version of the Neighbours of Zero where only 7 numbers close to the green zero slot are covered. You need four chips to bet on 0/3 12/15, 28 and 32/35 The odds of this bet winnings are 18.9%, and the payout can be 35:1 or 17/1.
• Third of the Wheel or Tiers du Cylindre. This is a bet on the twelve numbers opposite 0. Six chips cover two numbers. YOu bet on: 5/8, 10/11, 13/16, 23/24, 27/30 and 33/36. The maximum winning payout is 17:1. The roulette odds for this bet are 32.4%

When you play online roulette you can place this bets on a click of a button as there is a seperate roulette racetrack.

The roulette racetrack allows you to easily and quickly place bets on groups or sections of numbers on the roulette wheel.

Frequently Asked questions about roulette odds

There is no so called “best bet” in roulette. But if you want to play with the best odds then your best bet is on Outside BEets like Red/Black, Odd/Eve. Low High. All these bets carry a 48.6% probability in European Roulette.

When you play live roulette online or at a reputable land based casino, the roulette tables can’t be rigged. In the UK for example remote operators are required to monitor the performance of the games they offer. The core focus of this monitoring is to ensure random number generator (RNG) driven products are fair and achieving the designed return to player (RTP). This is an instruction by the UK Gambling Commision.

No, the odds reset after every round, as every round is independent from previous rounds

When it comes to gambling at the casino, not all games are created equal. The betting and gameplay dynamics of the different games mean that players are more likely to end up in profit when playing some games than they are playing others.

Those that understand the concept of house edge will avoid some games like the plague, whilst they more than happy to try their luck elsewhere in the casino. Those that don’t will often wrongly assume that they’ll play with the same odds no matter the game.

In the following article, we’ll show you three of the most potentially profitable punts at the casino, as well as those that are probably best avoided.

The Best Bets

Although they’re often a bit more intimidating to players, table games usually give the best odds at casinos. The house edge can be less than 1%! That said, some slots, particularly online ones, can be quite generous too.

Best Odds In A Casino

Blackjack

Blackjack is absolutely synonymous with casino gambling. The card game is easy to understand, is relatively fast-paced, and requires quite a few player decisions. However, these aren’t the only reasons that blackjack is one of the most popular games at both online and real-world casinos.

Blackjack is widely regarded as the casino game with the lowest house edge at most casinos. Depending on the rules played, the player can have a near 50% chance at winning. Whilst many players know this, a lot of players don’t realise that they need to play blackjack perfectly to not surrender an additional edge to the casino.

There is an optimum way to play every hand in blackjack. Deviations from this optimum strategy always increase the house edge. For example, the optimum play with a hand of 13 versus the dealer showing a 6 is to stand without drawing another card. Most inexperienced players will hit here, giving up value to the casino.

It’s also worth noting that you can additionally increase your odds by using bonus offers. Flashcasino.org has composed the ultimate list of the best blackjack bonus offers.

Standout Slots

Slots, on the whole, are usually considered worse bets than table games. However, with the arrival of the internet, these days there are some virtual fruit machines that offer incredibly low house edges to players.

Here are some of the real standout slots offered by many online casinos:

• Ugga Bugga by Playtech (99.07%).
• Rainbow Riches by Barcrest (98%).
• Mega Joker by NetEnt (99%).
• Ooh Aah Dracula by Barcrest (99%).
• 1,429 Uncharted Seas by Thunderkick (98.6%).

Online casinos can afford to offer slightly higher return-to-player ratings than their real-world counterparts. They have much lower overheads to deal with thanks to a lack of venue operating costs, lower staffing commitments, and much lower machine maintenance fees. All this means that running an online casino is a lot cheaper than running a brick-and-mortar one.

Online casinos can offer more generous games and still operate at a profit. Competition between different companies encourages them to stock the most generous games online too.

European Roulette

Another absolute classic of both real-world and online casinos is roulette. There are two main versions of roulette – US and European. Those wanting to play against the lowest house edge possible should always opt for European roulette.

Best Odds Roulette Strategy

Roulette gives the casino an edge by paying out less than the probability of a certain event occurring.

For example, the odds of hitting a single number are 36 to 1 but the payout is 35 to 1.Similarly, the odds on an even money bet are slightly less than 1 to 1. This is because of the Green Zero on the wheel. When the ball lands on Green Zero, all Red/Black, High/Low, and Even/Odd bets will lose. This creates an edge for the house.

American roulette includes a Green Double Zero section as well as a single Zero. This means that there are two sections of the wheel that are neither Red or Black, or High or Low. The addition of Double Zero immediately reduces the return-to-player rating on all bets.

On straight up bets with American roulette, the casino will still pay winners at 35 to 1. However, the probability of hitting your number reduces because there are actually 38 places for the ball to land (rather than the 37 in European roulette). When given the option, always choose European roulette either online or at a real-world venue.

The Worst Plays in the Casino

Some games do not offer anywhere near the same return-to-player ratings as those already mentioned. These propositions should be avoided at all costs since they really are mug bets. Casinos make extra profits whenever you play the following games.

Stingy Slots

As mentioned, real-world slots will usually offer much lower return-to-player ratings that their online counterparts. Online, many slots fall into the 95 to 97% RTP rating range. In brick-and-mortar casinos, they’re often under 90%.

It’s also worth noting that slot manufacturers create different versions of the same game with different return-to-player ratings. This means a casino operator can choose whether to load their venues with potentially lucrative games or not.

Typically, the biggest and most famous casinos around will stock low RTP rated slots. Often based in decadent hotel complexes, the likes of the Bellagio or other Vegas super casinos are not known for their loose slots.

In fact, Las Vegas itself is generally one of the worst places to play slots. People are going to gamble in Vegas regardless of pay out percentages. That’s a given. Casinos don’t need to try to lure players with very generous slot RTP ratings so they don’t try.

Keno

A game that routinely has one of the worst pay outs versus the odds of winning is keno. For those that don’t know what keno is, it’s a kind of private, small-scale lottery. Players will pay to select up to 20 numbers from a choice of 80.

Once selections have been made, a lottery-style draw takes place. Twenty numbers are drawn. The more numbers correctly guessed by the player, the larger the prize will be.

Different versions of keno offer different return-to-player ratings. However, they’re almost always very bad. In some cases, they’re much worse than even real-world slots. It’s not at all uncommon to see keno games with a house edge of between 20 and 35%! Compare that to blackjack and you can understand why so few serious gamblers find themselves taking part in a game of keno or two.

Scratch Cards

Scratch cards in the real world are much more associated with off-licences than they are with casinos. However, online, this isn’t the case. Online casinos often feature a range of scratch cards, which, despite lousy RTP ratings, are still very popular with casino members.

This popularity is certainly related to the top prizes up for grabs on online scratch cards. Just like with real-world lotteries or scratch cards, the odds a punter receives seem to go out of the window when the prizes reach six or seven figures.

Even the industry’s best scratch cards offer much lower RTP ratings than slots do. Take Microgaming’s Lucky Numbers for example. This game offers one of the lowest house edges of all online scratch cards. However, with an RTP rating of 96.57%, it’s a long way off the most generous slots listed above.

Down at the other end of the scale, the gap between slots and scratch cards is even more pronounced. Wolf Gold 1,000,000 is a scratch card with a particularly juicy top prize. Yet, its average return-to-player rating is between 67.03% and 74.48%! That makes even the very worst slots on the planet look pretty lucrative!

In fact, the gambling regulator for Nevada insists that every real-world slot in the state needs to be at least 75%.

Play Smart

As you can see, there’s quite a big difference between the house edges of casino games. With the above advice, you can avoid the worst bets at the casino and stick with those that are most likely to return a profit.

Our best advice, for those wanting to play at as close to break even as possible, is to learn perfect strategy blackjack and stick to it. This will give you the best chance of a winning session!