The Difference Between The Odds and Payouts This is the -2.7% house edge.Ĭonclusion: It doesn’t matter what you bet. Statistically you are still going to lose the same proportion of what you bet. Player 2 (bets $10 on black for 37 spins) Let’s look at the math: Player 1 (bets $10 on green zero for 37 spins) Statistically, both players will lose exactly the same amount of money after the 37 spins. And the player bets on black for 37 spins. One player bets on a green zero for 37 spins. Putting this into perspective, let’s say we had two players betting on a European table. All bets are affected by the same amount. So it doesn’t make any difference what you bet. So if the house edge is 2.7% and you bet $1, you can expect to lose $0.027. The house edge is the advantage the casino has over players.See the red columns below and you’ll notice the house edge is the same for every type of bet: And you get an unfair payout for every roulette bet. The “house edge” basically means “unfair payouts”. Understanding Why No Bet Is Better Than Another So even when you win, you still lose money. But the payout for a single number bet is an unfair 35-1. Your odds of wining are 100%, which sounds great. This slight difference is called the “house edge”.ĮXAMPLE 2: Now consider betting on all 37 numbers. Specifically, 48.65% of the time you’ll profit $100. So there’s a slightly higher chance you will lose. But on closer inspection, you have a 48.65% chance of winning, and a 51.35% chance of losing. You know you have around a 50% chance of winning, which sounds like good odds. The more numbers you bet, the more likely you are to get get a hit.ĮXAMPLE 1: Consider betting $100 on red for a European wheel. But does better odds mean you are more likely to profit? No, and this is a common mistake players make. In the above table we see the more numbers we bet on, the better the odds of winning. So if the house edge is 2.7% and you bet $1, you can expect to lose $0.027 every 37 spins. 1:1 payout means you receive 1 chip PLUS your original bet 5:1 payout means you receive 5 chips PLUS your original bet.European Roulette Odds (Chance of Winning)Īmerican Roulette Odds (Chance of Winning)

Odds on a roulette table