Roulette Strategy – How to Win at Roulette More Often by Employing the Best Strategies
15 minutes
Last Updated: May 13, 2022
Roulette Strategy – How to Win at Roulette More Often by Employing the Best Strategies
Roulette is arguably the oldest casino game that still exists today, along with craps. The game as we know it now dates back several centuries and has remained fairly unchanged the entire time.
It’s also one of the most popular luck-based casino games that you’ll find in almost every venue you walk in.
With that said, it’s widely accepted that roulette is purely a game of chance and that you can’t do anything to increase your chances of winning.
Although there’s indeed no legal way to affect the outcome of the spin without cheating, there are some tactics you can employ to give yourself the best opportunities to come out on top in any given session. On this page, we’ll dissect the best roulette strategy tips and tactics that will help you win more often.
How to Win at Roulette – Area There Really Any Foolproof Roulette Strategies?
Before we get deeper into all of the roulette tips and strategies we’ll talk about on this page, we should get one thing out of the way for the sake of objectivity.
Casinos will always have the edge over you in the long game, no matter how good your roulette strategy is. You can still get some big wins if you play it right, but remember that the house always wins.
Besides this, we should also mention that roulette is inherently a game impacted mainly by luck and chance. There are no sure ways to guarantee a win, no matter how much you calculate or strategize.
That’s why it’s crucial not only to master the roulette betting strategies we’ll talk about on this page but also to bet responsibly and know when to step away from the wheel. With all of this in mind, let’s move on to the good stuff.
Best Roulette Strategy Tips & Tricks
There are many roulette strategies out there, and to be honest, most of them are useless or even detrimental to your success.
Unlike in blackjack, your decisions on each particular spin don’t matter that much and won’t influence the outcome.
That said, there’s a handful of working roulette strategies. To make it easier to follow, we’ve divided all roulette strategies into progressive and non-progressive betting strategies.
Progressive Betting Strategies
The progressive roulette strategy is just what it sounds like. It involves progressively increasing or decreasing the size of your bet depending on the outcome of a spin.
These types of strategies are some of the best-known in all casino games. Let’s take a look at the most popular ones.
The Martingale System
The Martingale system is by far the most popular and arguably the best roulette strategy around. It’s also a relatively straightforward tactic, as the logic behind it is simple.
Every time you lose a bet, you increase the size of your next bet. That way, when you eventually land a win, you’ll win back all of your money and make a profit.
The best way to use this roulette betting strategy is to make even-money bets (bets with only two outcomes). This is because these bets have the best winning odds of close to 50%.
The best bets to make with the Martingale system are outside bets like 1-18, 19-39, red or black, even or odd.
With the Martingale system, you should ideally start as low as you can. Keep betting the same amount until you lose. When you suffer a loss, double up your bet and keep doing so until you win again. When you land a win, revert to the smallest bet.
So, for even money bets, your betting process while losing should be like this: 1-2-4-8-16-32-64, and so on, until you win a spin. After that, you restart and start from the minimum bet again. Let’s take a more in-depth look at the system through this detailed betting table:
| Betting Round | Bet | Outcome | Overall Profit |
| 1 | 1 | Lose (-1) | -$1 |
| 2 | 2 | Lose (-2) | -$3 |
| 3 | 4 | Lose (-4) | -$7 |
| 4 | 8 | Lose (-8) | -$15 |
| 5 | 16 | Lose (-16) | -$31 |
| 6 | 32 | Win (+32) | $1 |
| 7 | 1 | Win (+1) | $2 |
| 8 | 1 | Win (+1) | $3 |
| 9 | 1 | Lose (-1) | $2 |
| 10 | 2 | Lose (-2) | $0 |
With only three wins and seven losses, you would be back at zero as long as you can keep up with the progression after every loss.
With this in mind, while the Martingale system can be effective, you should also remember that you need a big budget to back it up, just in case. If you wind up on a ten-spin losing streak and run out of money to increase your bet, the system can’t help you.
The D’Alembert System
The main betting principle behind the D’Alembert is very similar to the Martingale strategy, with one noticeable difference. This system isn’t as aggressive as the previous one, as you’re not doubling down every time you lose.
This makes the D’Alembert system more approachable for casual players and beginners who want to practice roulette strategies without losing too much money.
Like most roulette strategies, this system is designed for even-money bets. The first thing you need to do to use the D’Alembert is to determine what unit you’re wagering. You can select a chip amount or the amount of money you want to bet.
The general rule of thumb is that the betting amount shouldn’t be more than 1% of your total bankroll.
The reasoning behind this system is to gradually increase your bets when losing and progressively decrease them when winning.
For instance, let’s say that you start with the minimum bet amount of one coin. As long as you keep winning, you should keep the bet at one coin per spin.
When you lose, increase the bet to two coins. If you lose again, increase it to three and then to four coins if you lose after that. When you win, decrease your bet for one coin. Here’s how this process would look:
| Betting Round | Bet | Outcome | Overall Profit |
| 1 | 1 | Win (+1) | $1 |
| 2 | 1 | Win (+1) | $2 |
| 3 | 1 | Lose (-1) | $1 |
| 4 | 2 | Lose (-2) | -$1 |
| 5 | 3 | Lose (-3) | -$4 |
| 6 | 4 | Lose (-4) | -$8 |
| 7 | 5 | Win (+5) | -$3 |
| 8 | 4 | Lose (-4) | -$8 |
| 9 | 5 | Win (+5) | -$3 |
| 10 | 4 | Win (+4) | $1 |
The D’Alembert system might not be the most exciting or best roulette strategy to use, but it’s undoubtedly one of the safest ones. Even if you have the same number of wins and losses, you’ll end up with more money than you started with.
Of course, since this is a relatively safe strategy, don’t expect any big wins. When you bet small amounts, you’re only up for small amounts.
The Paroli System
The Paroli system, also known as the Reverse Martingale, is another common strategy in roulette and baccarat.
The logic behind the Paroli System is that both wins and loses come in streaks. So, by betting more when on a winning streak and less when on a losing one, you’re set to win the most money in the long run.
As the second nickname implies, this strategy involves doing the exact opposite of the Martingale tactic.
You start betting the lowest amount on even bets. You keep the same bet while losing. When you win, you double the bet on the next spin and keep doubling it while you’re winning. When you lose, revert to the smallest bet and start again.
Here’s a closer look at how this would work in practice:
| Betting Round | Bet | Outcome | Overall Profit |
| 1 | $1 | Win (+1) | $1 |
| 2 | $2 | Win (+2) | $3 |
| 3 | $4 | Win (+4) | $7 |
| 4 | $8 | Win (+8) | $15 |
| 5 | $16 | Lose (-16) | -$1 |
| 6 | $1 | Win (+1) | $0 |
| 7 | $2 | Win (+2) | $2 |
| 8 | $4 | Lose (-4) | -$2 |
| 9 | $1 | Win (+1) | -$1 |
| 10 | $2 | Win (+2) | +$1 |
The main advantage of the Paroli system is that you can’t lose a lot of money all at once. This makes losing streaks a little more tolerable. On the other hand, if you want to play this system, you should be able to handle the variance that comes with it.
The Fibonacci System
If you want to play it even safer than what the D’Alembert system can offer you, the best way to bet is to use the Fibonacci system.
This roulette strategy is based on Leonardo Fibonacci’s number sequence that focuses on gradually making progressively larger bets.
The basis of the Fibonacci numbers sequence is that every following number equals the sum of the previous two numbers, starting with one as the lowest number.
In a direct example, it looks like this: 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21, and so on.
If you want to start betting with a more significant amount, you can, as long as you follow the sequence at all times. Let’s look at it through the table again:
| Betting Round | Bet | Outcome | Overall Profit |
| 1 | $1 | Loss (1) | -$1 |
| 2 | $1 | Loss (-1) | -$2 |
| 3 | $2 | Loss (-2) | -$4 |
| 4 | $3 | Lose (-3) | -$7 |
| 5 | $5 | Lose (-5) | -$12 |
| 6 | $8 | Win (+8) | -$4 |
| 7 | $3 | Lose (-3) | -$7 |
| 8 | $5 | Lose (-5) | -$12 |
| 9 | $8 | Win (+8) | -$4 |
| 10 | $3 | Win (+3) | -$1 |
As you can see from the table above, the Fibonacci sequence is safe to bet and doesn’t require you to make large bets early in your sessions. Even if you win only three out of the ten total spins, you’ll be looking at a minimal loss.
So, if you win four or five out of every ten spins, you’re potentially looking at very stable low winnings in the long term.
Non-Progressive Roulette Betting Strategies
Unlike progressive betting strategies, tactics that fall under this category employ a flat betting structure. You’re keeping the same amount of the bet through the entire game.
They also allow you to change your bet however you want, as long as you follow a particular betting system. At some online casinos, these strategies can even be used to help you beat the wagering requirements, provided the casino allows it.
Here are some of the best non-progressive betting strategies for roulette:
The James Bond Strategy
Since the James Bond strategy is a non-progressive betting tactic, you’ll bet the same amount on every roulette round you play.
As an example, let’s say you’re placing $50 bets. You’ll bet $35 on 19-36, $12.5 on the 13-14-15-16-17-18 line bet, and $2.5 on 0.
For this betting layout, you’ll cover 25 of the 37 numbers. In other words, if the ball lands on 19-36, you’ll win a total of $20. If it lands on 13-18, you’ll win $25. Lastly, if it lands on zero, you will win a total of $40.
If it falls in any of the remaining 12 numbered pockets you haven’t covered, you lose the bet.
This betting system always works the same, whether you’re betting $50, $500, or $5,000. Overall, while this strategy has a cool name, it’s not anything too fancy or complicated.
The James Bond roulette strategy is one of the best-known in the game and one of the most entertaining ones to play as well.
The Neighbors Bet
The second popular non-progressive type of betting is placing bets on neighboring numbers, or the so-called “Neighbors Bet.”
This roulette betting strategy involves placing a bet on five numbers that are next to each other on the roulette wheel.
This is an excellent tactic to use if you want to bet on a specific number. The logic behind it is that you’ll be covered if the ball misses the number you’ve chosen and lands in a nearby pocket.
The Neighbors Bet is a common bet in European roulette and part of the “call bets” or “section bets.”
When making this bet in European roulette, you don’t have to place the casino chip on each of the desired numbers. Just say that, for example, you’re making a Neighbors Bet on the zero.
If the ball lands on zero, the 3 or 26 pockets to its left side, or the 32 or 15 pockets to its right side, you win the Neighbors Bet.
Extra Roulette Strategy Tips and Tricks
Besides all of the strategies we’ve talked about above, there are some general rules and betting practices you should stick to that will ensure you have an enjoyable and profitable experience. Here are some extra roulette tips and tricks that will help you be a more successful roulette player:
Play Within Your Limits
As we’ve mentioned above, some strategies require you to have a substantial bankroll. If you don’t have such betting freedom, don’t force big bets that you’re not comfortable with or that you can’t realistically afford. Always make sure to have a set bankroll that you’ll stick to no matter what.
Don’t Chase Every Spin
Remember that the house always wins. If you bet spin after spin without thinking, you’ll quickly run out of money. It’s okay to sit out a few spins from time to time to think over your decisions. And, if a number you’ve chosen comes up while you’re taking a break, don’t read too much into it. Roulette is random and unpredictable.
Play European Over American Roulette
There’s not much to talk about this tip, as the reasoning is straightforward. European roulette only has one zero, meaning that the house edge is effectively two times smaller compared to the American version. In pure numbers, the European roulette’s house edge is around 2.7%, while the American version comes with a 5.26% house edge.
How to Win at Roulette – Key Takeaways
It’s easy to get overwhelmed and confused by the sheer amount of numbers and calculations we’ve covered on this page. However, this shouldn’t discourage you from trying out these roulette strategies when playing this exciting casino game.
By reading this entire page, you’ve learned more than most casino players ever will and are well on your way to winning more often at roulette.
Ultimately, there’s no unfailing roulette strategy that will ensure you a win on each spin. The strategy you choose should primarily depend on how big your bankroll is and how aggressively you are willing to bet with it.
Each of the strategies we’ve talked about has its unique strengths and weaknesses. It’s on you to decide which suits you the best. Regardless of which roulette strategy you opt for, remember to play responsibly, and you’re guaranteed a great time at your favorite casino!
And if you ever get tired of roulette and want to switch to a card game, we recommend you check out our Caribbean Stud Poker guide.
