This image was created by that "Mother of all super spies," James Bond, who, with a beautiful woman nearby, preferred to play this fast-paced game, when not beating the bad guys at Baccarat. Although a game favored by Europeans, Roulette has managed to gather a strong following in North America, most likely for its simplicity and the chance to win big money. Roulette means "little wheel" in French. They fall under one of two categories: "inside" bets and "outside" bets. Inside bets are made on the individual numbers, one through 36, and the zeros. Betting on a single number is called a "straight-up" wager. This "split" bet pays off at 17-1. You can bet on three numbers at a time, paying 11-1, four numbers (8-1), five numbers (6-1) and six numbers (5-1) Those are all the inside bets. Outside bets are the wagers made on the outside of the layout. These are the bets on red-black, odd-even, and high-low. If you place your chips in the even box and the ball drops into the number 24, you win. Simple as that. The first 12, second 12 and third 12 all pay 2-1. If you give the dealer a $20 bill, he'll give you back 20 wheel chips worth $1 each. The player next to you might be betting with brown chips worth $5 each, and the player next to him might be using white wheel chips worth $25 apiece. Wheel chips allow for a practice that's unique to Roulette: the co-mingling of different players' bets. Unlike other casino games where bets must be kept separate, Roulette players can stack their bets on top of one another's. There will be a table minimum and a chip minimum. The table minimum applies to all bets on the table. A $2 table minimum and 50-cent chip minimum, means that you must bet a minimum of $2 on any outside bet, but you can combine four 50-cent bets to satisfy the minimum requirements for your inside bet. It has a whopping casino edge of 7.89%. Some casinos provide reader boards that track the last 20 to 30 spins. While interesting to observe and look for patterns, they don't provide much information of practical use.

Roulette Tips

The only excuse for not playing the standard European version is ignorance, because the American version produces a higher House Edge.  European roulette does not offer the 00 on the wheel, thereby taking one more bet out of the equation, and lowering the House Edge to approximately 2.6% - the lowest edge at the table.

Tip - Place more even money bets than other wagers

The even money wagers will give the player the lowest House Edge at online roulette.   These are the Red/Black, High/Low and Even/Odd bets, which have a 50/50 chance of winning. With these bets, a 1.3% House Edge is obtainable, and will help a bankroll hold out longer with more positive return.  Additionally, it is only the even money bets that qualify for the "en prison" rule (see tip #3), which will bring the House Edge down even more.

Tip - Play a roulette table that offers the en prison or la partage rule

With this rule in place, which not all casinos offer, (and so therefore is a subject worth looking into when picking an online casino to play roulette at) the House Edge can be brought down to 1.35%.  It states that when a 0 (and 00 for the American version) is landed by the roulette ball, all even money bets are not lost, but are rather afforded the opportunity to stay on the board for the next bet, or be taken back by the player.  In the long run, this rule can be the deciding factor on whether a player ends in the red or not.  It may not even come into play during a round of roulette.  the fact that it can be exercised is quite reassuring, made evident by a House Edge reduced by half.  Las partage, called the Surrender rule, governs even money wagers in the same fashion, except that it returns half of the wager, thereby returning a 2.6% House Edge.

Tip - Do not place the five-number bet

The five-number bet, simply put, gives a House Edge of 7.3%.  This is the highest casino advantage of any other roulette wager, and should always be avoided.  With 5 to 1 payout odds, a player is better off taking the 8 to 1 payout on a corner bet.

As one can see, an approach to playing roulette can still be based on the numbers, as few as they might be.  The Casino advantage and odds still change from bet to bet, but do so in such a way that making a wise wager choice is easy to not second-guess oneself over.