A casino isn’t a casino without a big beautiful roulette wheel. These have been a staple in gambling establishments for hundreds of years, dating back to 18th century France. In an attempt to make a perpetual motion machine, French mathematician Blaise Pascal created a wheel that, although failed his original goal, was used as a template for roulette.
The game of roulette is simple. The wheel has numbered pockets that range from 1 to 36; each number is coloured black or red, and depending on the version you’re playing, a green 0 and 00 precede the No. 1 and create the house edge. After placing a bet on a corresponding numbered layout, the croupier launches the white roulette ball to roll counter-clockwise against the wheel until it lands in one of the numbered pockets. If you got it right, you win.
As you can see, roulette is mostly a game of chance. There’s no way to influence where the ball lands on the wheel. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying. Over the years, several betting systems have been developed that use the outside bets that pay 1-to-1. These are the bets with close to 50/50 outcomes, such as red/black and odd/even. These have a greater likelihood of winning than say a single number and are well suited for the progressive betting systems.
Betting systems work well in theory, but they often run up against constraints when used in the real world. For example, almost all tables have betting maximums that would eventually put an end to a system. And if they don’t have maximums, most people have their own betting limits that would eventually be exhausted without being able to complete the necessary sequence of bets. If you’re not on the positive when the sequence hits a limit, you’re down a considerable sum of money.
That’s why we always recommend people exercise caution when trying out betting systems. They can be a fun experiment as long as the risk is appropriately managed and entertainment is the end goal. We’ll go over some of the best roulette strategies in the form of betting systems in this educational guide, and then you can test them with a wide variety of roulette games in our casino.
Best Strategies When Playing Roulette
All of the best strategies when playing roulette are betting systems that use games with 50/50 bets. European Roulette is a top contender since it has outside bets that pay 1-to-1 and have 47.37% probability of winning.
It’s important to remember these systems don’t overturn the house edge and guarantee wins, but rather try to capitalize on win streaks or recover losses. The systems, which we outline below, vary in risk level, making each one suitable for a different type of player. For example, the Martingale Strategy is one of the more aggressive betting systems out there, while the D’Alembert has a more moderated progression.
All of these should be tested with bankroll management in mind. As mentioned, there’s a good chance you could run up against a limit before seeing a streak end or recovering your losses. If anything, consider how useful these systems are in changing the way you think about betting on roulette.
The Martingale Strategy
Originating in 18th century France, the Martingale Strategy is one of the oldest and best-known betting systems used in casinos. This one focuses on recovering losses and staying at least one bet ahead. The way it proposes recovering losses is by always doubling your bet after a losing round. If you lost a $5 bet on black while playing roulette, you’d bet $10 on black next round.
If you carry on doubling after every loss and eventually win a round, you’ll have regained all lost bets and be ahead one bet. No need to double up after winning; maintain the same bet size after every winning round.
Pros:
The best part of the Martingale Strategy is that it’s very easy to remember and implement. Simply double up after every loss.
The Martingale would work in short-term betting sessions, as long as there are no prolonged losing streaks.
Cons:
The reality of the Martingale is that you’d need a pretty big bankroll to survive a stretch of losses. If you’re betting $5 a round, seven losses would require you to put down $320 just to recover losses. At that point, you wouldn’t be able to carry on with another loss since it would put you over the $500 betting limit in our casino.
For many people, the level of risk inherent in the Martingale doesn’t justify the small profits that you can gain. Even if you won on the eighth round, you would have $5 in your pocket—not significant enough to warrant potentially wiping out your bankroll.
Reverse Martingale (Paroli)
The Reverse Martingale, also known as the Paroli Betting System, addresses the substantial risk inherent in the Martingale. It focuses on raising bets while you’re winning instead of losing. When you lose, you return to a base wager.
For example, if you started with $5 as a base wager and won three consecutive rounds, you’d be wagering $40 next. If you lost on the fourth round, you’d be down $40 and start again at $5 only to carry on with the system until you reach your pre-determined goal that dictates the number of wins you want to achieve.
Pros:
Unlike with the Martingale, if you win with the Reverse Martingale, you win something substantial. The bigger win potential makes it easier to stomach the risk.
This system makes hot streaks very exciting.
If you end at the right time, you’re likely to leave with a profit.
Cons:
Doubling a bet after every win can get too big too quickly and cause people to run into table limits or personal bankroll limits.
You need to appropriately time your exit from the session during a hot streak, and that can be hard for many of us to do.
The longer you play, the lower the odds of extending a win streak.
D’Alembert Roulette Strategies
The D’Alembert Roulette strategies are more moderate compared to the Martingale. Instead of doubling your wager, you increase it or decrease it incrementally by a single unit. After winning a round, you decrease your bet by one unit and after a losing round, you increase your bet by one unit. Like the Martingale, the D’Alembert system focuses on recovering losses, but it’s not as aggressive.
With $5 as a base wager, we’ll illustrate the D’Alembert with an example. If you lose one round, you increase your bet to $10. If you lose the next round, you increase your bet to $15. If you win the next round, you decrease the bet to $10. All bets have 1-to-1 payouts, like red/black, odds/evens.
Pros:
The D’Alembert system is one of the more moderate progressive betting systems, meaning you generally get a longer gambling session out of it.
It’s simple to add or subtract one unit per round, making this one of the easier systems to trial.
Cons:
Since you subtract just one unit after every loss, it can take a while to recover losses.
On the same note above, if a losing streak goes on for too long, you could exhaust your bankroll before you can recover your losses.
Fibonacci Sequence in Roulette
The Fibonacci roulette system is based on the Fibonacci Sequence in math. You start at a single unit, we’ll say 1, and for the next number, you take the sum of the previous two numbers. For 1, you’d add 0 and 1 together for 1, which we’ll add to the sequence:
1, 1
Then you’d add 1 and 1 for 2:
1,1,2
Next, you add 1 and 2 for 3:
1,1,2,3
For the fifth number, you’d add 2 and 3 for 5:
1,1,2,3,5
For the sixth number, you’d add 3 and 5 for 8:
1,1,2,3,5,8
These betting progressions are applied after every loss for a controlled recovery of losses. This system is fairly successful as long you win at least a third of the rounds in your session. But the assured wins come with substantial risk if you hit a long losing streak.
Pros:
More effective than other progressive betting systems at achieving a net positive outcome.
The style of progression is more player friendly than the more aggressive systems.
Cons:
Harder to keep track of progression due to the more complex nature of the sequence.
The limited profitability comes at the expense of significant risk.
Labouchère’s Roulette System
The Labouchère’s roulette system is different from the previous ones. To implement it, you write down a series of numbers, bet the sum of the first and last numbers, and add and cross off numbers based on the outcome.
After a winning round, you cross off two numbers; after a losing round, you add a number. By following this method, you can win in short sessions as long as you win at least a third of the rounds.
As an example, we’ll say that the player intends to win $100 through their session. You take that number and divide it by 10, and write the quotient 10 times:
10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10
The first bet would be $20 (the first and last number added together). If he loses, he adds what he lost at the end of the sequence:
10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,20
If he wins, he crosses off the first digit and the last digit in the sequence.
10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,20
You carry on with the betting sequence until you win what you set out to win.
Pros:
This betting system is the most customizable, making it well suited for varying bankrolls.
The betting is more structured with this style which appeals to certain types of players.
Cons:
Many people find this betting system harder to implement because of how complex it is.
A stretch of losing streaks can wipe out your bankroll before you can recover.
Play Online Roulette at Bodog
Under the Roulette tab in our online casino, you’ll find 10 different ways to play online roulette at Bodog. For the classic experience, stick with American Roulette and European Roulette; both have traditional and modern versions to choose between. The modern ones are more streamlined and better suited for small screens.
The American and European Roulette VIP Series also fall into the more traditional category with a gorgeous layout that will transport you to a high-end casino. The wheel spins overtop of a big mahogany base.
We also have games that offer a unique spin on the roulette. In Dragon Roulette and Double Dragon Roulette, a golden dragon comes to life and breathes multipliers across the betting board. Vulcano Roulette also has multipliers included that get up to 500X your stake. Lastly, Virtual Burning Roulette feels like Live Dealer roulette. You need to place your bets before a timer runs out, and then the “croupier” (audio recording only) spins the wheel and announces the winning number.
For those who want the real Live Dealer experience with a person running the game, head to the Live Dealer section of our casino. Here, you’ll see a list of dealers/croupiers who are running tables in real time. A chat box makes it possible to communicate the dealer and other players at the Live Dealer tables.
All of these games have the same basic bets that include the ones with a 1-to-1 payout (red/black, even/odd) ideal for progressive betting systems. You can try out the systems we outlined on Practice Play mode to get a feel for the sequences, or with Real Play if you’re ready to dive in with real cash on the line. We hope you enjoy the new approach to roulette and leave the session a winner.
We’ve even taken it upon ourselves to put together a blog explaining the 666 system for you roulette enthusiasts. We’ve got your back here at Bodog Casino.