Betting on Red at the Roulette (Casino Strategies)

One common roulette strategy is to bet on red and then double the bet if you lose the first time, quadruple if you lose the second time and so forth.

This is of course a roulette strategy that would keep you floating for some time in the casino, also at Mr Green's roulette table, but it is really no kicker.

This is because the strategy has some flaws. First - it could become very expensive and you could quickly reach both the house limit and your own cash limit. Secondly, and more important - you can only double your first bet, but you still take a substantial risk and you bet against the mathematics.

The mathematics is simple and evident, as always with the french roulette, but not commonly discussed, why I would like to shed some light on them.

At the French roulette we have 37 numbers, that is 36 plus zero. Zero is - yes you guessed it - green. 18 numbers are red, 18 are black. This makes the calculus for the roulette ball ending up on red look like this: 18/37.

Hence, it is not a fifty-fifty bet, but rather a 48,6486% bet. But the break-even calculus would call for a 50% risk between red and black, since you only double your money on red. That's how big difference that final green zero makes.

Mikael Pawlo
Managing Director
Mr Green