Every betting system in roulette is flawed. In other words, any betting system you come up with is guaranteed to fail at some point. If this happens often enough, you will run out of money and the casino will thank you for paying their bills. The key to staying in the game is controlling your impulse to “win back” your losses. The only way to do this is to use a conservative betting system. However, your expectation should be that you will eventually lose, no matter how conservative your betting strategy.

1. there is a “best” bet.

Many players prefer the outside bets in roulette despite their low odds. The math is simple: the lower the odds, the more likely you are to win. While there is no mathematical advantage to choosing one of the even money outside bets, you can improve your odds by placing two 2:1 bets (12 numbers each, called “two dozen bets”) at once. This way you cover 24 numbers instead of 18. You can still lose, but you improve your chances of winning by 33%.

2. the aggressive minimum bet

The Aggressive Minimum Bet is really a conservative system. This simple method carries a bit more risk than the simple “two-dozen bet” described above. Make three 2:1 bet. This way you cover all but the green squares. Note that three of the same bets that pay 2:1 always lose money. You will need to vary the bet amounts. Here’s how to place your bets:

Triple the table minimum

Double the table minimum

One time the table minimum

In European roulette, there is a 36 to 37 chance that the ball will land on one of your numbers. You hope that it will hit a number in the first or second set. You make a profit on the spin and keep one of your two higher bets in play. If your lowest bet is in your net loss is only three times the table minimum. In the worst case, the wheel hits zero and you lose all three bets. As long as you are near the table minimum, that should be enough. That’s $30 on a $5 table and $150 on a $25 table.

So, what’s is it about? It’s a random game. There is no “statistically even distribution of winnings” in roulette. Don’t put too much faith in simulations and statistical models. This betting method can make you more money than the simple “two dozen” bet described above, but it is riskier.

3. all bets are independent and valid only for you.

The house edge seems low when you look at the roulette math. So, why do casinos love roulette? When more players participate in a game, casinos use their losses against their winnings. Casinos only want to pay out players’ winnings from other players’ losses. Therefore, calculating a “house edge” can lead you astray.

This extreme example shows why “house edge” is not that important. Five players each bet the minimum on a different single number in European roulette. Their odds of winning are 37 to 1. If one of them wins, he gets 36 to 1. The casino uses the losses of the other 4 players to reduce its own loss. Thus, our five players continue to place single bets. It is always guaranteed that the casino will take at least four bets. It really doesn’t matter that the casino’s odds of winning all five bets on each spin are 32 out of 37. The casino only needs 7 wins to come out ahead in the first 36-to-1 payout. Players are less likely to win again during this period.

The “house edge” on a single bet play less of a role in the casino’s accounting than yours. Therefore, it helps the casino to offset its losses against you by making more bets. Therefore, you should spread your bets only on low-risk choices.

4. betting the maximum is just as good as betting the minimum.

There is no more aggressive betting strategy than setting the table limit on a single spin. If that is all the money you have, go home soon if you lose. Some players just go for broke and set the table limit every time. This takes courage, deep pockets, and a whole lot of faith in your luck. Hopefully, you are just playing the game for fun and not using the mortgage payment. Still, your chances of winning this spin are just as good as if you were just betting the table minimum.

5. the “James Bond Strategy” is nonsense.

In the “James Bond Strategy” you place $140 on an even bet (Odd or Even, Black or White, 1 to 18 or 19 to 36), $50 on any 6 numbers (a line bet) and $10 on the zero. 6 number bets pay 5:1, but only have a 6 in 37 chance of hitting. You have better chances to play the “two dozen” bet mentioned above. And just don’t bet on zero.

6. martingale strategy is a waste of money.

The idea behind this strategy is to double your bet on the next spin, every time you lose. Anyone who does the math realizes that after 8 losses in a row, you can’t double your bet because you’ve reached the table maximum. Increasing your bets increases your risk. The game is designed to use your risk against the casino’s risk. In other words, the more risk players take, the less risk the casino takes.

7. The best strategy is consistency.

When playing roulette, choose an amount that you will bet on each spin. It should be low enough to help you survive some losses and large enough to make you happy when you win. Then choose the bets that represent the amount of risk you are willing to take.

As long as you stick to your chosen strategy, you’ll always know when you’ll be sent home in the worst-case scenario. Since you are gambling, you are already hoping for something better than that.

8. There is more bias in the spinner than in the wheel.

You may have read somewhere that roulette wheels can develop “bias”. The idea is that if a wheel develops wear in certain areas. Also, some wheels may have inherent flaws due to the manufacturing process. Some mathematicians have proven that portable computers can be used to calculate where the ball will land on a biased wheel.

Casinos, of course, prohibit people from using devices to analyze games. But you may still be tempted to look for biases in hopes of “guessing” the outcome of the spin. This is, frankly, the longest of all long shots. But if you are looking for bias, watch how the person spins the wheel. Although casinos should train their croupiers to vary their actions, you can discover someone who is consistent.

9. don’t play the “Announced Bets.”

The “Announced Bets” (sometimes confused with “Called Bets”) are those special bets offered on the European roulette table. They are also sometimes referred to as “French Bets”. These are complicated bets and you increase your risk by playing them. These are not the bets you are looking for.

10. the difference between an announced bet and a called bet is….

When you play an “Announced Bet”, you tell the croupier that you want to play “Voisins du Zero” / “Neighbors of Zero” or “Tiers du Cylindre” / “Third of the cylinder” or whatever bet you want. You must place the correct number of chips for that bet and the croupier will place them for you. When you play a “call bet”, you tell the croupier what bet you want and you keep your chips until you lose. This is called “gambling on credit” in some sources and may be illegal in your jurisdiction.

11.Some people are naturally better at math and spatial analysis than others. We now believe that gender bias in mathematics is mainly due to social or cultural influences. But some people seem to be intuitively better at math and related skills. That’s how their brains evolved.

It is reasonable to say that some people might be able to detect biases in roulette wheels. Like people who are better at remembering long, complicated numbers than others, these few players have a special ability that can give them an advantage. But the truth is that most of us will never be able to reliably detect “bias”.

12. online roulette games work differently than physical roulette games.

Online roulette games rely on random number generators to simulate all the conditions of a live table game. However, one thing that is not included in the simulations is the wear and tear on the wheel. You always play with a perfect roulette wheel in a computer game. If you think you can detect bias and you see it in an online game, it’s probably a sign that you can’t detect bias