- Fact-checked by Josh Miller
- Edited by Diana Westfield
Search for a roulette strategy and you’ll find dozens, all selling the same dream: follow this pattern and the casino’s edge disappears. Put any of them through the CasinoCalcs system tester further down this page and none of them manage it. That’s not to say nothing matters, though. Some choices really do change what roulette costs you, and they’re far more boring than the systems. This page tests the famous systems against the maths and then gives you the parts that hold up.
Why no roulette strategy beats the wheel
Count the pockets on a European wheel and you’ll get 37, yet a winning number only pays you 35 to 1 rather than the 36 to 1 that would make it a fair game. That missing unit is the house edge, 2.70%, and it’s on every bet on the table: red, dozens, splits, corners, the lot. On an American double-zero wheel it’s 5.26%.
A betting system only changes how much you put on each spin. It can’t change what each spin pays. So whatever pattern you follow, your expected loss is 2.70% of the total you wager. Bet £10 a spin for 100 spins and you’ve wagered £1,000, expected loss £27, with or without a system. What the system does change is the shape of the results: lots of small wins and an occasional disaster, or the reverse.
The famous systems, one by one
Martingale. Double after every loss on an even-money bet, so one win recovers everything plus one unit. It works brilliantly right up until a run of reds when you’re on black. Eight losses in a row from a £5 start needs a £1,280 bet, and on a European wheel that run comes up about once every 200 sequences. Table limits often stop you first. The Martingale calculator shows the bust chance for your bankroll.
Fibonacci and D’Alembert are the Martingale with the brakes on. After a loss the Fibonacci player moves one step along 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and so on, and the D’Alembert player just adds a unit. You’ll have fewer disasters and a much slower climb back, and the edge doesn’t care either way.
Labouchère players walk in with a list of numbers on a beer mat, stake the first plus the last, cross them off when they win and add a number when they lose. It’s satisfying, which is half its appeal. Hit a bad run, though, and the list and the stakes balloon faster than anyone expects.
Paroli and other “let it ride” systems. The reverse: increase after wins. Small regular losses, rare good runs. Probably the most honest of the lot, because it’s clear what it’s doing.
James Bond and the other coverage bets scatter chips across most of the layout so that nearly every spin pays something. It feels great until the ball drops into one of the gaps, and then a single spin takes back an evening’s worth of small wins. The roulette system tester runs any of these for thousands of spins, and the betting systems simulator puts them side by side.
What actually helps
If you remember one thing, make it this: walk past the American wheel. Its double zero nearly doubles what you pay, 5.26% against 2.70%, and no system ever sold saves you that much. Better still, if you like red and black, hunt for a French table where la partage or en prison applies, because then a zero only costs you half your even-money bet and the edge falls to 1.35%. The French roulette calculator shows the difference. Third, decide in advance how much you’ll spend and how long you’ll play. That’s the only number you control.
How do you win at roulette, then?
On any one night, by getting lucky, and lots of people do. Keep coming back, though, and the zero slowly takes its 2.70p from every pound you bet. If you’d rather see that than take our word for it, the roulette simulator lets you see it without paying for the lesson, and how roulette works covers every bet and payout.
Roulette is entertainment with a known price. BeGambleAware.org can help if it’s costing more than that.