The first thing you should know before you learn anything about the bets you can make, is when and how you can make those bets. At this point the dealer will say 'place your bets' and everyone at the table will start throwing chips down like crazy. You trade in your checks (which most people think of as regular casino chips, but they're actually called checks) for roulette chips when a new session starts, and the dealer assigns you a number and denomination. All of your chips of the same color are worth the same amount. Most roulette sessions move at a fairly slow pace, to accommodate the number of people betting, and the variety on which they can bet. The inside bets are made up of specific numbers or combinations of numbers within the number layout, or along the border of it. Straight-up bet - this is the classic roulette bet. Choose any one of the 38 numbers and put your chips down on that number for the chance to win back at 35 to 1. Split bet - you can place a single bet on two individual numbers if those numbers are beside each other on the table layout. Fiver number bet - there is only one five number bet available. When you place an outside bet your bet must meet the table minimum.

We've added blue circled letters to the diagram to point out how to make the not-so-obvious bets (the sets of 2-6 numbers) The house edge is the same whether you make one bet per spin or several. When the ball falls into a slot, the dealer will announce the number and the color, and place a marker on the layout where the winning number is. Then he'll scoop up all the losing bets towards the dealer area. Don't reach for your winnings until the dealer removes the marker, or the dealer will scold you. Each player's chips are a different color. That way, you're not locked in and you always have the ability to change your mind. There's no advantage to limiting yourself to inside or outside. When you buy in, tell the dealer what denomination you want. It most other games a bet usually wins only even money, but Roulette gives you the chance to win 35 times your bet (a winning bet placed on a single number) If Black has come up for the last 10 spins in a row, the next spin is not more likely to be Red. Here's another example: Since there are 38 slots on the wheel, we expect any given number to hit 1 out of 38 spins on average. There have been 152 spins (coincidentally, 4 x 38), and so we expect that each number should have come up 4 times on average. It's more important to know what the house edge is, than how to calculate it, but here's a quick analysis in case you're interested. Your odds of winning a one-number bet are 37 to 1 (37 ways to lose, 1 way to win) If you play Roulette, the most important thing is to find a casino that offers the European wheel (which is called "Single 0" Roulette) In effect, this variation has the ability to turn a loss into a tie.