The way roulette works the black/red bets are the same expected return as betting on a number, or betting on three numbers or almost any other bet (except of course foolish bets that cancel themselves out)

For example:

The chance of hitting Red is 18/38 or 47.368%

there are 18 red spots, and 38 total. (don’t forget the 0 and 00) And you’ll double (2x) your money. So, your expected returns are:

2 * .47368 = 0.94736

So for every 1 dollar you bet you’ll only get 0.94736 back, in other words you’ll lose 5 cents for every dollar you risk.

The chance of hitting a specific number is 1/38 or 2.6316%

And you’ll multiply your money by 36 so your expected returns are:

36 * .026316 = 0.94736

Notice, your returns are the same, no matter what you bet the odds are the same.

The problem with losing money on average for every spin is that the more you play the lower the variation in your possible return becomes. By playing many small hands you’re increasing the certainty that you will lose money. According to the central limit theorem, the more you flip a coin the more likely the results are to be 50% heads, 50% tails. Well the more you play roulette, the closer the casinos will get to taking on average 5% of your bets.

There’s no way to get around the house edge in roulette, but there is a way to ensure that you don’t fall into the casinos trap of slowly dwindling your cash away. No matter how much money you have, and no matter how much you’re trying to make, it is always a better bet to risk all your money in one bet in attempt to reach your goal. This way, the central limit theorem does not work against you, and even though your odds are the same, the probability of you reaching your goal is much higher.

So if you have 1 dollar and you’re trying to make 2, just risk it all on a color. If you have 10 dollars and you need 360, bet it all on a number.

As always, with any casino game, don’t risk more than you’re willing to lose. Be smart, gambling should be fun, not a source of income.

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