Assuming that each number on the wheel has the same probability of being selected – meaning the wheel is not biased – the maths means the casino will always win. Whatever betting strategy, and money management strategy, you choose, they all suffer from the same fate. The Martingale system is probably the quickest way to bankruptcy known to man. This system is guaranteed to win money as long as you have enough of a bankroll to double your bet after every loss and you do not hit the table limit, which you will quickly do so. Perhaps the best known money management strategy is the Martingale system. Some easy, some complicated, some well described, some not so.Ī system should really be a combination of a playing strategy and a money management strategy. Wikipedia Commons So, can we beat the maths?Ī simple search on Google will return many (possibly millions) of systems for playing (and supposedly winning) roulette. You can place a bet on the whole of the second dozen, with odds of 2-1.Įuropean roulette layout. Second, the sequence 29-7-28-12-35-3-26-0-32 contains no numbers between 13 and 24 (the second dozen).

First, all the low red numbers and black high numbers are on one side of the zero, and the high red numbers and low black numbers are on the other side. On the European wheel there are two other interesting symmetries. But again there are a number of violations of this rule on both wheels. Both wheels also try to distribute odd and even numbers as evenly as possible. It is for this reason that the American wheel is considered not as balanced as the European wheel. On the American wheel, there are many examples where this rule is violated. On a European wheel, this is only violated where the 5 sits next to the 10 (both low numbers). The wheels are also structured so that the low numbers (1-18) and the high numbers (19-36) should alternate as much as possible. On both wheels, the red and black numbers alternate around the wheel, although if you removed the zeroes, the American wheel would have consecutive reds and blacks. The numbers are arranged in a different order on each wheel but there are some similarities in the patterns. On an American wheel you can expect to lose 5.26% (if you are interested in the mathematics of roulette, the video at the end will show you how these odds are calculated). On a European wheel you would expect to lose, in the long run, 2.7% of any money you bet with. This is important as it doubles the advantage for the casino. Notice that the American wheel has two zeroes.

Roulette wheel layout european