• The probability of the 32fold repetition of the same color in American Roulette is much more lower: (18/38)32 = 0. And the odds are 24,230,084,485:1. Thus this is even less likely than occurrence of a single number six times in a row.
• For example, the odds of winning on a European roulette wheel are 1 in 37 if you bet on a single number. But with a roulette computer device, you could win as often as 1 in 10 spins. So you will have more than tripled your odds of winning, making the typical roulette odds somewhat irrelevant.

Roulette odds provide you with the information you need to know how likely you are to win any bet. There are many different bets available on a roulette table, and each one has its own odds. These range from even money bets that pay off nearly half the time, to single number bets that are hard to hit, but which will earn you a lot of money when.

With the exception of a tiny handful of punters, no player can beat the tables consistently without taking advantage of great streaks of luck. Beating roulette with streak bets can be both fun and profitable.

Roulette players tend to love their game so much that they adhere to what Nick “The Greek” Dandalos said, “The only thing as good as gambling and winning, is gambling and losing.”

In an effort to find any way possible to supplement or enhance their chances at the roulette table, enthusiasts tend to use betting systems that increase their time at the table without necessarily increasing their overall odds of winning.

The simple fact of roulette is that the house has the advantage and will win one more bet out of every 37 spins than the player. However, roulette betting systems can take advantage of streaks and provide a player with the opportunity to increase their bankrolls in specific situations.

Betting Against a Streak

The Martingale system is one of the best known and easiest to apply betting systems. The player simply doubles their bet each time they lose and waits for a winner. Many roulette players employ this system with an even money bet (odd or even, red or black, first 18 or second 18) after seeing the opposite side hit three times in a row.

The logic that the other side is now due to hit isn’t actually logic at all, it’s the classic gambler’s fallacy that the odds of an event happening are going to even-out quickly by returning a series of events that are the opposite of what has just been observed.

On each spin of the ball, the chance of red coming up is 48.7%. On a single zero wheel, if a bet on red wins .487% of the time, the odds of two consecutive red spins is .237, three in a row is .115, four in a row is .0562, and five in a row is .0274. That means a streak of five happens about once in 36.5 spins, and we’ll round up to 37.

So, if you see four straight black spins, does that mean the next spin has to be red (or green) except in one case out of 37? No. The odds are still 48.7% that black is coming back. However, that’s what keeps Martingale players using their system. They will win their small bet many times before they run into a streak that wipes out their current table bankroll.

A player will see six consecutive black spins about once in 75 spins, seven consecutive about once in 154 spins. That’s why Martingale players can win so many times, build up a little bankroll, and have it in their head that the system is a winner. Because of those long odds, a player may win 100, 200, or even 300 straight betting opportunities.

Want to give it a try yourself? Give Lonnie’s roulette simulations a look – click on bet, make the number of spins 100, and see if you get a streak of over 7 on an even-money bet. The results might surprise you!

Dodging the bullet of casino odds is like Russian roulette and you’ve got five chances out of six of winning, and one chance in six that will blow your bankroll out of the water. The problem with the Martingale and many other roulette systems is that you are constantly risking a small fortune to win a single bet. Give it a shot, win a few bets, and consider yourself lucky. Don’t expect it to always work.

Betting With a Streak

Instead of betting against a streak, some players have had great success by anticipating a streak of even-money outcomes continuing. With this system, the player simply chooses an even-money bet (odd/even, red/black, 1-18/19-36) and places a single five-unit wager. When it loses it is replaced with a new five unit wager. When it wins, let the winnings ride until it wins five straight times for a payoff of 155 units.

If every bet was a win or a loss, the house would win its 2.7% and that would be it. However, due to several small streaks happening before a streak of five straight appears, the bettor will not lose 19 of every 37 spins. However, it can be a good stretch before a winning streak of five straight appears.

An added twist to this strategy is to pull back a single chip after the first three wins of 5, 10, and 20, so 35 rides on the bet. If this wins, two chips are pulled back so 60 rides. If the bet wins again, either the total of 120 is pulled back, or four chips are pulled back and 100 rides. If the 100 bet wins, the entire 200 is now pulled back and the opposite side of the bet (even – now odd, etc.) is made for a single 5-unit wager.

Experiment with your own mixture of these bets to find a happy medium. If you don’t have a wheel at home, try the free online roulette game on the American, European or French roulette pages.

Barring that, you can always take a deck of cards and make your own set-up of 18 even numbers, 18 odd numbers, and an ace to represent the zero, and shuffle away to try a streak system.

Around 20 years ago, when I had no idea about winning roulette, I approached a roulette table with around 10 reds in a row. I thought to myself that black is due to spin next. After all, what are the chances of red winning again, right? Well I lost. Then I said to myself I’d have to be very unlucky to lose again. So I increased my bet, and lost again. This happened for the next few spins, until I eventually blew my entire bankroll. I lost everything that I so proudly won earlier with my dozens betting system. Only many years later did I understand my delusion.

The image shown here looks crazy I know. It was originally published by a player who seemed to want to discredit the casino. But the truth is the casino staff were adjusting the wheel and attached equipment, which gave the strange readings. It is still possible such a sequence will spin, but I’ll explain more about it later.

The odds of red or black spinning in a row

On the European wheel, there are 37 numbers. 18 are black, and 18 are red. So the odds of red spinning are 18/37 = 0.4865. The odds of black spinning are the same. And it’s the same for any “even chance” bet including highs and lows, and odds and evens. The odds do not change no matter how many reds or blacks have spun in a row. Consider again my loss when I bet on black. What I failed to realize is the odds of black or red spinning next are not affected by previous sequences. There is an exception that i wont explain in this article, but the statement is true in the cases of almost every losing roulette system.

Take my situation for example. Some players at the table thought red was on a winning streak, and that it would continue. I saw it differently and expected the streak to end. Who was right? Actually none of us were right. I just happened to get unlucky.

If you want to get technical, the odds of red then black spinning are 1 in (0.4865 x 0.4865). But it’s the same as red then red spinning, or black then black.

The odds of dozens spinning in a row

Odds Of Winning Black Or Red On Roulette

There are three dozens on the table, and 37 numbers. So the odds of a dozen spinning once is 12/37. Again the odds don’t change based on previous dozens. They will always be the same. If you’re new to roulette, it may be hard to get your head around the concept. But keep in mind thinking that streaks will continue or end is one of the most common misconceptions about gambling. It is a concept that is old as history itself. Billions of gamblers have applied the principles and lost. It might be wise to consider what so many people have learned.

The mistakes you don’t know you’re making

If you need convincing of the above, I suggest run hundreds of thousands of trials with automated software. Or even use a simple excel chart. Count the number of times red and red spin, then check the odds that red or black will spin next. the result is the odds are still the same, for both red and black. Actually I created free software to demonstrate this principle. The interface is shown below.

Get the software from http://www.roulettephysics.com/roulette-pattern-detector/

Basically you load as many spins as you want into a text file, then ask the software to find a sequence of numbers like 0,0,0. This will check how many times 0 spun three times in a row. Then check how many times the numbers 23,4,15 spin in this exact sequence. If you test enough numbers (millions or more is advised), you’ll find the odds are still the same. So the odds of 0,0,0 are the same as 1,2,3 or 3,2,1 or 14,12,34 and so on. So next time you see three zeros in a row, don’t be so surprised. Because really it’s the same as any other three numbers. It’s merely more recognizable to you. After all, three zeros seems pretty obvious on the marquee (where winning numbers are displayed).

Maybe you now understand this. But here’s the part you may not understand yet . . .

Most roulette systems use a betting progression. For example, after 3 reds in a row, you bet on black. But this is fundamentally the same as after red,black and red, you bet black. There is no difference. To take it a step further, now consider adding betting progression where you increase bet size after losses. You may think you’re increasing your chance of winning, but all you’re actually doing is changing the amount you risk. Here’s proof:

If you saw red, red and red spin in a row, you may bet $100 on black and lose. For now forgetting the existence of green zero, the odds of you losing that $100 is 50%. Next you double your bet to $200 and hope to win back your $100 and win an extra $200. But the reality is you have just made two completely independent bets as per below:

Bet 1: $100 on red (50% chance of winning)

Bet 2: $200 on red (50% chance of winning)

Roulette Odds Chart

The math is very simple. Nothing has changed except the amount you have bet. You can either get lucky and win back your losses, or lose big. Will the casino owner be upset if you get lucky and win? No because they know for every winner, there’s a loser. And in the bigger picture, there are more losers than winners. In fact casinos actually need people to win sometimes, to keep hope alive.

Conclusion

Roulette Bets And Odds

To win roulette consistently, you need to see past the illusion of sequences and patterns. Patterns like 1,2,3 spinning make sense to us, but really it’s no different to 32,4,10 spinning. And betting progression wont change anything except the amount you win. The only way to beat roulette is by changing the odds of you winning, and this is not done by looking for repeating numbers, or numbers that haven’t spun in a while. It is done by understanding why the ball lands where it does, and using this knowledge to properly assess a wheel and predict spin outcomes.