Roulette is French for “little wheel.” But as you probably know, this small wheel can change your life for good. A lucky spin at roulette can turn $1000 into $35,000. And if playing lightning roulette, you could win up to 500x your stake.
Now, winning at roulette is one thing. Doing it over and over so that you can become rich quickly is an entire thing altogether. Roulette is a game of pure chance. You can use strategies to increase your odds of winning regularly.
But ultimately, your best chance lies in learning about the probabilities of winning through different roulette bet types.
Contents
Top Roulette Bet Types
Roulette is a simple game to play. The casino gives you the chance to place one of these popular inside and outside bet types:
- Single Number/Straight Bet
- First Four Numbers
- Three Consecutive Numbers
- Two vertical or horizontal numbers
- Bet on 0, 1, 2, 3
- Column Bets
- Even/Odd
- Black/Red
- Low/High
- Dozen Bets
Note: Inside bet types are wagers on numbers on the roulette wheel. For example. A single number bet type is an inside bet. A five-number bet, split bet, Street, Trio and basket—all which cover specific numbers on the wheel—are inside bets.
Outside bets refer to general categories. For example, a bet on black means you’re backing on any number painted black. A column bet means you’re predicting the ball will land on a specific column.
There’s a unique probability of winning every of the bet types mentioned above. With that information, you might feel inclined to bet on black (higher probability) or a single number—lower probability but a bigger pay-day.
Before we talk about probabilities in roulette bet types, it’s also essential to know different types of Online roulette:
Popular Online Roulette Types
Contrary to popular belief, online roulette comes in multiple variants. There’s European Roulette. Then there’s the American version. These are the two most famous roulette variants. Hint: European roulette gives you a higher probability of winning in all major bet types.
- French Roulette
French Roulette is a version of European roulette characterized by two rules: En Prison and La Partage. These rules are enforced when playing even money bets like black/red or low/high. The rules help lower the house edge from 2.7% to 1.35%, making French roulette the best paying roulette variant.
- Lightning Roulette
This variant also follows the European (single zero) roulette format. But it works like a live TV show. It has a host and an LED wall with numbers that can be highlighted. Some of these numbers have multipliers, so that if you bet on 22 and it has a 500x multiplier, your profits increase 500 times.
On the downside, lightning roulette pays out 29 to 1 for straight bets. As such, it’s best for having fun with its multipliers: 50x, 100x, 200x, 300x, 400x and 500x.
- Mini Roulette
Mini roulette features a small wheel with numbers 0 to 12. It’s an exciting game to play but pays out at 11 to 1. That’s despite having a house edge of 7.89%. For clarity, this translates to a much lower probability of winning in comparison to normal, European and American roulette.
- 3D Roulette
- 20p Roulette
- Deal or No Deal Roulette
- Multiplayer Roulette
- Multi-player Roulette Diamond Edition
In case you’re wondering, you can find a guide on the best online roulette sites in Canada at roulettesites.org. The websites are safe and trustworthy. Many of them are pretty generous too, welcoming newbies with up to $1000 in bonuses.
Bet Types, Probabilities and Payouts
The table below sums up payout ratio and probability of winning different types of roulette bet types:
| Bet Type | How to Win | Probability | Payout |
| Single Number | Any number (0-36) | 2.63% | 35 to 1 |
| Split | Any two adjusting numbers (vertically or horizontally) | 5.26% | 17 to 1 |
| Street Line | Any three consecutive numbers (horizontally) | 7.89% | 11 to 1 |
| Corner | Any four numbers forming a corner | 10.53% | 8 to 1 |
| First Four | 0-1-2-3 | 10.% | 8 to 1 |
| Basket | 0-00-1-2-3 | 13.16% | 6 to 1 |
| Low | Any number from 1 to 18 | 48.7% | 1 to 1 |
| High | Any Number from 19 to 36 | 48.7% | 1 to 1 |
| Odd | Bet on an odd Number | 48.7% | 1 to 1 |
| Even | Bet on an Even Number | 48.7% | 1 to 1 |
| 1ST Column | 1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34 | 32.4% | 2 to 1 |
| 2nd Column | 2,5,8,11,14,17,20,23,26,29,32,35 | 32.4% | 2 to 1 |
| 3rd Column | 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36 | 32.4% | 2 to 1 |
| Six Line/Double Street | Bet on six consecutive numbers forming two rows | 16.2% | 5 to 1 |
How to Calculate the Probability of Winning at Roulette
We’ll agree—smart investors risk their money only after figuring out there’s a decent probability a risk will turn into a profit. Betting on roulette is certainly a risk. But how do you calculate the probability of winning?
Straight Number Bets
European roulette has 37 numbers on its wheel. The number zero occupies a green pocket. The remaining numbers—1 to 36—occupy black or red pockets. European roulette has the same setup as European roulette except it features an extra pocket with a double zero slot.
In light of that information, probability of winning varies depending on whether you’re wagering on European or American roulette. All the same, the formula for figuring out the probability is as follows: Divide the number of ways to win by the sum of number of ways to win and number of ways to lose.
Here’s an example of a straight bet:
- European Roulette: 1/ (1 +35) x 100
- American Roulette: 1/ (1 + 37) x 100
One (1) stands for the number of ways you can win. But first, you need to add the number of ways to win to the number of ways to lose. In European roulette, the result is 2.7% while the probability in American roulette is 2.63%.
Even Money Bets
Assuming you want to bet on black. What’s the probability of winning? There’s only one way to win: the ball lands on black. But there’s also the chance the ball lands on red. Based on our formula, here are the results:
- Number of ways to win: 1
- Number of ways to lose: 1
- 1/ (1+1)100= 50%
Now, we made an intentional mistake. We said you lose if the ball lands on red. But that’s not the only way to lose. What if the ball lands on the (0) or (00) pockets? You’ll still lose, right? In light of that information, roulette doesn’t give you a fair 50/50 chance when betting on even money bets.
Instead, these are the real probabilities:
European roulette: 18/ (18+19)100 = 48.6%
American roulette: 18/ (18+20)100 =47.3%
18 stands for the 18 black slots in roulette. 19 stands for the 18 red slots and an extra 0 pocket in European roulette. In American roulette, 20 stands of the 18 red pockets, a zero-number pocket and a double zero pocket.
Conclusion
In this age of the Internet, you don’t really need to grasp the formula for calculating the probability of winning at roulette. However, it’s essential to understand the chance of winning at different bet types.
Importantly, also learn about the pay ratio of different bet types. That way, you won’t just bet on red because it comes with a probability of 48.6%. You’ll also know that the payout is 1 to 1.
