Which is the Smartest Roulette Bet to Make in a Casino

So what’s the secret, what’s the smartest bet you can make in roulette ?  There’s much discussion on this, a single number, a range of outside bets and some betting systems have extremely complicated options.   Well, it’s quite logical really, the best roulette bets have to be the ones that the casinos dislike the most.   Remember in all casino based games including roulette there is a negative expectation, that is there is a probability that the player will eventually lose.

It’s obviously difficult to find roulette strategies that work when the odds are that you will end up losing.   Of course this doesn’t always happen sometimes people will win fabulous amounts of money and defy this expectation.  One of the tricks to playing roulette is to walk out of the casino when this happens – quickly. In fact if you’re up big time then you should be ready to run away the minute that ball lands.   You can work through one of the many systems, like the dreary Oscar’s Grind  or the hit or miss martingale but without an exit strategy it will all end the same way.

Always play European Roulette if you have a choice

Before considering which bet to place, it’s actually crucial to consider where you place it.  There’s a vital decision to be made whether you’re playing in a real casino or playing online and that’s the type of roulette wheel you use.  There are two main types commonly described as American Roulette and European Roulette – irrespective of your nationality always play on a European roulette table if you have the chance.  It has one less zero which significantly reduces the house edge (it’s built in advantage in all casino games).  It might sound trivial but playing on the wrong wheel makes you much more likely to lose money on all your options including even money bets.

Time is a Factor in Any Casino

Have you ever forgotten a watch and tried to find out the time in a casino? It’s not easy, there’s rarely any clocks on the walls and very few windows.   It’s easy to lose hours playing roulette games in the early hours.  There’s a reason for that – the simple fact is that the longer you play, the more you are subjecting your bank roll to this negative expectation of the house edge and it will eventually catch up with you.   Roulette odds and pay outs are carefully designed to help the house not the player.  That generous 35 to 1 pay out is not so great when you consider the actual odds.   Nor is red black and even money bet despite usually being described like that.  Again the single zero on European roulette and the two zeros on the American roulette table skew the odds in the house’s favour.

The less actual bets you make the more chance you have of being a winner.   This is crucial to remember, don’t be too concerned with what’s the best bet on roulette table, more important is how many bets you should place.

Many of course would argue (with some justification) that the minimum number of bets is actually none at all.  But it is true that to maximise your odds of winning you’d be best to walk into the casino, place one large bet then leave immediately.    It really doesn’t sound much fun and it would make for a pretty dull evening although of course that could really depend on the result of your one single large bet.

You see the casino are well aware that in the short term there will be fluctuations.   You will see lots of weird results and strange winning streaks in the short term, but experience tells them that  these never last very long.

The longer someone plays the more likely the expectation will be realised, if you bet indefinitely whatever your bank balance you will eventually lose.  It’s the large, I mean really large single bets that really worry a casino – in a short term anything can happen, a few spins could easily go against the odds.   This is what keeps the casino owner sweating at night and with lady luck behind you how to win at roulette.

So the Best Roulette Bets are Large Single Stakes

In essence yes, the way to maximise your potential of winning is to minimise the number of bets.  Walking into a casino, putting your entire bankroll down on an even money number spin and walking out whatever the result is the way to play.  There is no doubt that this is one bet system is the best roulette betting strategy, although perhaps a little short on fun.   The casino seeks to outlast the player and ride out these small variations, one off large bets don’t allow them chance to do this.   It is the very simple reason why a house has table limits, so they can reduce their risks to individual spins.  The casino would much rather take your cash off you with a 1000 – $2 dollar bets than win it all of you in a single spin.   For the simple reason they are far more likely to win in the long term scenario and less likely to hit a big roulette payout.

But of course knowing this is not likely to change most people’s behaviour in a casino, after all who wants to put one bet on and then leave.   Playing roulette online or off is supposed to be fun but knowing these expectations can make a difference to how people play.    If half way through the evening you find yourself way up, then think to yourself the expectation at the start of the night was that you would lose.  If you carry on playing you are giving that expectation more chance to happen. That simple piece of knowledge is worth more than any free roulette strategy, believe me.

How many times have you heard about some huge wins, when a player takes a casino for millions.    These luck streaks happen but the only reason a casino needs to worry is if the winners stop playing, their negative expectation will catch up to them if they carry on.   Of course they might continue their gambling at a different casino – but the player’s expectation will still be reached.

No you can’t enjoy roulette or most  games by playing purely with these sort of tactics.  Of course you can minimise the negative expectation against you, the advantage known as the house edge.  As mentioned, in the case of roulette always play on European roulette tables if possible, as they have one less zero than the American roulette wheel plus they normally allow En Prison or La Partage rules which further reduce the house advantage.

What is the Smartest Bet in Roulette?

If you’re playing online then you used to be able to take this a step further.   There was one roulette game which actually had no advantage – it was completely equal 50-50.  It used to be very popular on the Betfair casino site and was called zero edge. It offered by far the best odds of any online casino site on even money, outside bets and single number gambles.  Unfortunately it’s long gone, I presume it started to lose money.   There’s often rumours about another zero edge roulette game that is one that has no zero on the wheel but they they don’t seem to last long.  I was told that Casino.Com had a zero edge wheel but there’s no obvious sign when I checked last.

Anyway, perhaps getting too involved with the mathematical odds of roulette is a mistake. The majority of casino games should be played primarily as entertainment not as investment.  After all as explained the smartest bet in roulette is not exactly exciting!  If you’re more interested in profit than fun, then there are better options to maximise your return.

It’s worth playing around with the test games and wheels if you are unsure about a particular brand. With  most you can play for free for a while before you try for real money, often this is a great way to try out any systems.  Remember though the algorithm which calculates on the free games may be different.   It’s wise to only use ‘live casinos’ though for any systems, computer roulette can be easily adjusted to ensure a maximum level of payout.