Roulette is Random
Roulette is a strictly random game. One decision after another decision has no effect on any of the decisions coming up. That makes it totally unlike blackjack where a card already played does not return to the game until a new shuffle is undertaken.
Blackjack creates new patterns with every round of bets. This allows some players to follow the cards and change the way they play their hands and how much they bet on their hands. Casinos are not in love with such players.
Not so with roulette. Casinos love roulette players. When a number hits, it can hit again and again. There is no limiting factor to the game so it is strictly random.
The player has many wagering choices to make from betting straight-up on the numbers or on numbers in combination with other numbers. There are proposition bets on what color the number will be or whether that number is odd or even, high or low. You can bet groups of numbers from two to all of them.
There are two types of roulette games currently being offered in the casinos. There is the American double-zero wheel (0, 00) with the numbers 1-36 and two green zeroes. That gives 38 possible bets. There is also the European single zero game (0). There are 37 numbers at this game, 1-36 and the green 0.
In a fair American game, the payout for a winning number would be 37 to one and it would be 36 to one for the European game. In such games the casino would have no edge over the player. That wouldn’t be a very lucrative game for the casino to offer because the casino couldn’t make a profit.
Instead, the casino changes the payouts to 35 to one on both games. This gives the casino an edge of 5.26 percent on the American game and 2.7 percent on the European game. Those edges translate into money like this: the 5.26 percent becomes an expected loss of $5.26 per $100 wagered over time and the 2.7 percent becomes $2.70 per $100 wagered over time.
Are these high edges? Yes and no. A roulette game tends to be a leisurely affair and there aren’t more than 40-50 decisions per hour. At a crowded table, fewer decisions occur. The more decisions, the better for the casino. The fewer decisions the better for the players. That’s a good handy rule to remember for the players.
Players can sometimes have a choice between these two games as some casinos use both wheels. Don’t get too happy now because the minimum bets are usually different between them, with the European wheel being more expensive to play.
All the edges at all the bets remain stagnant, although in some few (very, very few) casinos, players who bet the “even-money” bets of red/black, odd/even, or high/low will get back half their wager if the 0 or 00 appears. If the single-zero wheel offers this option then it becomes one of the best bets in the casino with a house edge of 1.35 percent. The house edge on the American wheel goes down to 2.63 percent.
All the best in and out of the casinos!
[Frank Scoblete’s web site is www.frankscoblete.com. His books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries and bookstores.]
Blackjack creates new patterns with every round of bets. This allows some players to follow the cards and change the way they play their hands and how much they bet on their hands. Casinos are not in love with such players.
Not so with roulette. Casinos love roulette players. When a number hits, it can hit again and again. There is no limiting factor to the game so it is strictly random.
The player has many wagering choices to make from betting straight-up on the numbers or on numbers in combination with other numbers. There are proposition bets on what color the number will be or whether that number is odd or even, high or low. You can bet groups of numbers from two to all of them.
There are two types of roulette games currently being offered in the casinos. There is the American double-zero wheel (0, 00) with the numbers 1-36 and two green zeroes. That gives 38 possible bets. There is also the European single zero game (0). There are 37 numbers at this game, 1-36 and the green 0.
In a fair American game, the payout for a winning number would be 37 to one and it would be 36 to one for the European game. In such games the casino would have no edge over the player. That wouldn’t be a very lucrative game for the casino to offer because the casino couldn’t make a profit.
Instead, the casino changes the payouts to 35 to one on both games. This gives the casino an edge of 5.26 percent on the American game and 2.7 percent on the European game. Those edges translate into money like this: the 5.26 percent becomes an expected loss of $5.26 per $100 wagered over time and the 2.7 percent becomes $2.70 per $100 wagered over time.
Are these high edges? Yes and no. A roulette game tends to be a leisurely affair and there aren’t more than 40-50 decisions per hour. At a crowded table, fewer decisions occur. The more decisions, the better for the casino. The fewer decisions the better for the players. That’s a good handy rule to remember for the players.
Players can sometimes have a choice between these two games as some casinos use both wheels. Don’t get too happy now because the minimum bets are usually different between them, with the European wheel being more expensive to play.
All the edges at all the bets remain stagnant, although in some few (very, very few) casinos, players who bet the “even-money” bets of red/black, odd/even, or high/low will get back half their wager if the 0 or 00 appears. If the single-zero wheel offers this option then it becomes one of the best bets in the casino with a house edge of 1.35 percent. The house edge on the American wheel goes down to 2.63 percent.
All the best in and out of the casinos!
[Frank Scoblete’s web site is www.frankscoblete.com. His books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries and bookstores.]
This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.
Roulette is Random
is republished from CasinoCityTimes.com.