A good rule of thumb is to know the game. This means learning the odds in this game of luck. Each and every spin is unrelated to the previous spin and there is always a 50/50 chance (barring the green zero) that black or red will come up. Playing these colours generally guarantees a win half of the time. This goes for odds & evens, hi-low, rows & columns etcetera. There is no failsafe system to employ, but one can limit the house advantage by choosing European over American Roulette. European Roulette has a lower house edge.

Roulette wins are big on single numbers where gamers are often low on luck. It’s advisable to go in with a budget and stick to it. Play first for free, get used to roulette gaming before using real money. Deposit your winnings and play with your original stake. The best part is online roulette tables don’t fill so you’ve always got a spot to play. For example placing $1 bets on all four corners of a number will cover more of the table than placing a $5 bet on that same number. And remember that your guess is as good as anyone else’s, so it’s worth a shot.

But there are ways of putting the percentages in your favour. Firstly you’ve got to decide what version of roulette you’re playing. European Roulette offers better odds because unlike the American version, there is no 00 meaning there is less chance your number won’t come up.

Players get their own colored chips

In order to get gaming, players are given different colored chips. If you win, you simply exchange your chips for cash. Playing is really easy. You take a look at the table and decide which numbers, odds or evens, or color you feel is going to come up. That’s it essentially. But there are many, many betting options where bets are divided or multiplied depending on how much you wager, where your chips are placed and how lucky you are.

Get spinning

The croupier waits for players to place their bets and then gives the wheel a big turn. Momentarily before the ball is about to drop into a slot, the croupier will announce ‘no more bets’. Once the croupier has placed the dolly on the number the ball has landed on, everyone but valid winners will lose their chips and the winners will be rewarded.

What are the odds and rules in roulette?

In European Roulette the house advantage is 2.7%; on American Roulette tables the advantage is 5.26% and a whopping 7.9% on the 5-number combo 0-00-1-2-3. It is important to note that there are no guarantees in roulette. Say for instance the ball lands on red 25 times in a row, there is no greater likelihood that it will land on black next spin around other than 50% (barring the green 0).

Crunching the numbers

• A wager on one number only typically pays 35 to 1
• A two-number wager, known as a split bet, pays 17 to 1
• A three-number wager, known as a street bet, pays 11 to 1
• A four-number wager, known as a corner bet, pays 8 to 1
• A six-number wager pays 5 to 1
• A wager on the outside dozen or column, pays 2 to 1
• A wager on the outside even money bets, pays 1 to 1

Some rules to look out for

Things like the ‘En Prison’ rule and ‘La Partage’ rule are common lingo in roulette. On even-money bets that show results on a zero, some casinos allow players to take back 50% of the bet or let the bet rollover – ‘En Prison’ for another spin. If the second result is zero the bet is lost. The ‘La Partage’ rule differs somewhat. If the player loses half the bet, the player has no recourse of leaving the bet ‘En Prison’ for a second spin.