Virtually all American casinos use a double-zero roulette wheel which has pockets numbered from 1 to 36, plus 0 and 00 for a total of 38 pockets. This is in contrast to Europe where a single-zero wheel is used and the game has always been the most popular in the casino.
There are usually six seats at the roulette table each player that is betting is usually assigned a different color chip. Depending on the amount of money you are playing with you will have different values of chips, $1, $2, $50 etc.
When you opt to play roulette from the virtual lobby of the casino you will be given various options for tables, or minimum bets, there are tables where the minimum bet is $1 usually up to $5. Besides the minimum chip value, there is also a minimum amount that play bazaar must be bet on each spin of the wheel. Once again, the minimums are probably posted on a sign at the Joka Casino table and if it says $2 minimum inside and $5 minimum outside this means that if you are betting on any of the 38 numbers that pay 35-to-1 the total of all your bets must be $2. You could make two different $1 bets or one $2 bet, it doesn’t matter except that the total of all your bets on the numbers must be at least $2. The $5 minimum outside means that any of the outside bets that pay 2-to-1, or even money, require that you bet $5 each time. On the outside bets you can’t make a $3 bet and a $2 bet to meet the minimums – you have to bet at least $5 every time. After you’ve exchanged your cash for colored chips you’re ready to place your first bet so, let’s see what your options are:
You can make a straight bet where you only bet on one number and if it comes in you’ll be paid 35-to-1. The casino advantage on this bet is 5.26% and by the time you’re done with this roulette section I’m sure you’ll be very familiar with that number. Another choice you have is to do a split. This is where you put a chip on the line that separates two numbers. If either number comes up you’ll be paid at 17-to-1. The casino advantage on this bet is 5.26%.
If you put a chip in an area that splits 4 numbers this is called a corner bet and if any one of those 4 numbers comes in you will be paid off at 8-to-1. The casino advantage on this bet is 5.26%.
If you put a chip at the beginning of a row of 3 numbers, this is called a street bet and if any one of those 3 numbers shows up you will be paid off at 11-to-1. The casino advantage on this bet is 5.26%.
You can also put a chip on the line between two streets so that you have a double street covered and if any one of those 6 numbers come in you’ll be paid off at 5-to-1. The casino advantage on this bet is?… you guessed it…5.26%.
The only other bet you can make on the inside numbers is the 5- number bet where you place one chip in the upper left corner of the number 1 box. If any one of those 5 numbers comes in you’ll be paid off at 6-to-1 and what do you think the casino advantage is on this bet? Nope, I gotcha… it’s 7.89%. Actually, this is the worst possible bet on the roulette table and the only bet you’ll come across that doesn’t have a 5.26% house edge on the double-zero roulette wheel. You should never make this bet. One quick word here about “to” and “for” when discussing odds. Whenever the odds are stated as “to” this means that in addition to the stated payoff you also receive your original bet back. In other words, if you won your single number bet in roulette you would receive 35-to-1, which is a 35-chip payoff, plus you’d still keep your original one-chip bet, so you end up with 36 chips. Now if the odds are stated as “for” that means you do not receive back your original bet. If the odds in your single number bet were 35-for-1 you would still receive a 35-chip payoff but the casino would keep your original one-chip bet so you would only end up with