Roulette Bets
Have you ever waddled up to a roulette table and asked yourself the following question: “What is going on with all of these roulette bets”? And that’s just on a standard table. If you then fire up one of the newer online games like Great Rhino Roulette on your mobile or laptop, you might be scratching your head even more.
We’ve all been there. I remember visiting the Crown Casino in Melbourne as a strapping young wombat in my 20s. On my way to the Koka restaurant for a spot of sashimi, I sidled past a Roulette table and thought I’d put a flutter on the wheel.
In those days, my idea of a Neighbour’s Bet was to try and predict when Scott and Charlene were going to get it together in Ramsey Street. Imagine the look on the croupier’s face when I called out “$100 Orphie Black Combo on Green 17 mate”.
Fair play to her, she rustled up a Voisins du Zero for me, the ball dropped in zero and it was free tempura and teppanyaki for the rest of the night. Result!
But you needn’t worry about looking like a schmuck on the wheel my little furry Friends. Oh no.
Not only are we going to teach you all about the main roulette bets, but you’ll be able to practice your moves right here on the Wombat Casino demos once you register. You’ll be strolling up to the wheel like Sean Connery in no time.
The Wheel and the Table
First things first- let’s take a look at the wheel and the table.
There are 2 main types of wheel- the European Roulette wheel and the American Wheel. They both have 18 black and 18 red numbers on them but the European wheel only has one green zero pocket: the “0”. Cross the “Pond” to the US and you will be more likely to see another green pocket opposite the first: the “00” pocket.
Confused already? Stick with it, you can always go for a more simple table game like our live mobile baccarat if your head starts to hurt, but don’t worry- it is pretty simple.
You’ll also notice that the numbers on the wheel aren’t distributed in numerical sequence and the distribution of the numbers on a single zero wheel is different to a double zero wheel. If you are just starting, we’d recommend that you kick off on a European wheel with one zero and get familiar with that one first. The odds are better.
Here’s a 3D European Roulette Wheel We Prepared Earlier
You can play the game here by the way.
Now take a look at the table where you place your chips. These numbers are arranged in a numerical sequence, and they are placed in a 12×3 grid giving you your 36 numbers, with the 0 tagged onto the top.
So if you bet on groups of numbers on the table, they are not necessarily going to be grouped on the wheel, but don’t worry as there are a whole load more other bets called the Call Bets which allow you to cover adjacent numbers on the wheel.
On European tables, you may also see a slightly different layout on French Roulette. The difference is minimal. We’re going to focus on the standard European table here.
Roulette Bets – Inside or Outside?
There are 2 main types of bets. Do you see that 12×3 grid above? Well, anything within that plus the 0 is called an Inside Bet (on an individual number for example). These bets tend to cover less of the table (unless, of course, you sprinkle chips over lots of numbers).
Anything outside is called an Outside Bet (easy, right?). So a bet on the red diamond above covers all of the red numbers, a bet on “1st” covers the first column of numbers and so on. It’s all pretty self-explanatory: we’ll run through them below.
Inside Bets
You’ll have the following options:
Individual numbers or Straight-Up Bets
This is self-explanatory. Bet one chip on a number and if it comes in, you’ll get 36 chips back.
Pay-Out: 35:1 (plus your bet back)
Split Bet
A bet on two adjacent numbers (on the table) like 8/9. You’d get 18 chips back from a one-chip winning bet.
Pay-Out 17:1
Street Bet
A chip placed at the end of a “street” of three numbers like 16-17-18 gets you 12 chips from a one-chip winning bet.
Pay-Out: 11:1
Corner Bet
This is a bet on a square of numbers like 16/17/19/20. You’ll get nine chips back from a one chip winning bet.
Pay-Out: 8:1
Six Line Bet
If you place a chip at the end of 6 numbers like 7-8-9-10-11-12 you’ll see six chips back from a winning one-chip bet.
Now you are starting to cover more of the table.
Pay-Out: 5:1.
Five Number Bet
There is also a bet that covers both zeros and the 1, and 3 in American roulette. That would be the Five Number bet.
Pay-Out: 6:1
On a single zero wheel, the equivalent is a four-number bet.
Pay-Out: 8:1
▷ PLAY ROULETTE ◁
The Outside Bets
Let’s take a look at these. Outside bets are the zones outside the 12×3 grid that include the even money bets, the columns and the dozens. You probably know all about these as they are the most famous roulette bets of all (particularly red/black), but we’ll run through them anyway.
Even Stevens
There are three types of even money bets, so called because you’ll get two chips back on a one-chip bet if you cover these, namely red, black, even, odd, 1-18 (Lo) and 19-36 (Hi). You’ll be covering just under half of the table with the even money bets (there is also a zero pocket remember).
Payout: 1:1
Columns
If you like doing things by thirds rather than by halves, then head for a column bet which sits at the end of the grid. You’ll get three chips back on a winning one-chip bet.
Pay-Out: 2:1
Dozens
These are similar to dozens in that they each cover just under a third of the wheel, but the zones are grouped 1-12, 13-24 and 25-36.
Call Bets (or Announced Roulette Bets)
So that’s it right? For roulette bets? Well, yes and no. On some of the simpler variants and quite a few of our mobile roulette games (just because there isn’t enough space on the screen to accommodate them), that would indeed be it, but there are also several other exotic bets (well, some of them have French names) called the Call Bets.
Can you see the racetrack betting area above on our 3D European Roulette table? That has some of the most popular Call Bets like that Neighbour’s Bet we were talking about earlier.
There are plenty more that you can play if you are on Advanced Mode of European Roulette Pro or Announced Bets European Roulette, for example. If you are in a land-based casino, you can call some of these bets out to the croupier- that’s why they are called the Call Bets.
We’ll cover the most popular Call Bets here and cover them in more details in another guide.
Voisins du Zero
Here’s the bet that started this whole conversation off. Voisins du Zero is French for “Neighbours of Zero” and that’s exactly what it is. You cover sixteen numbers that sit around the zero pocket on the wheel:
22,18,29,7,28,12,35,3,26,0,32,15,19,4,21,2,25.
Most of the numbers are covered with split bets apart from 25/26/28/29 which is covered with a corner bet and 0/2/3 which is covered with a three-number bet around 0/2/3
Tiers du Cylindre
This is a bet that covers a zone of numbers opposite the Voisins bet on the wheel. So 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36 which are covered with Split Bets. It means “thirds of the wheel” which is not strictly true as it only covers 12 pockets out of 37. But it’s almost a third and another option if you like playing the columns or dozens.
Orphelins
The Orphelins bet is a bet that mops up the “Orphans” that aren’t covered by the Voisins or Tiers bets. So there are two groups that include 17,34,6 and 1,20,14,31, plus the 9. Again, the numbers are covered by split bets apart from the bet on 1 which is a single-number bet.
Complete Bet
You might see this one on advanced roulette games. The Complete Bet is a large maximum cover bet that includes all of the inside bets for one particular number. This is a bet that is popular with high rollers, so be careful. You can always make it up with small chips. Also called the Maximum Bet.
Finales a Cheval
We’re back to speaking French again. There are two Finales bets you might see, and the Finales a Cheval bet (or Finales with Splits) is the more complicated with the other option being Finales en Plein. If you make a Finales a Chevel on 2,5 for example, you would make split bets on 2,5, 12,15, 22, 25 and 32, 35. You get the picture. The 2 and the 5 are always at the end (or finale) of the numbers.
Finale en Plein
this bet is similar to the one above above, but only applies to one number and they are individual bets. So, in a “Finale 2 en Plein” you would be betting on 2, 12, 22, 32 for example.
Jeu Zero
This is like a cut-down version of the Voisins du Zero. You bet on the two numbers to the zero’s right and the four numbers to the zero’s left.
It’s another option if you like betting on the green zero, and some people play it as a kind of insurance if they are playing outside bets in case the zero drops in. Of course, it’s cheaper to just cover the zero with a low denomination chip, but this widens your spread and you might win on both bets.
Summary
So that concludes our Wombat Guide to Roulette Bets! May your chip pile be mountainous!