Play Like a Roulette Pro and Don’t Bet The Basket

Roulette is one of the most popular table games in the world, featured in myriad movies we can’t recall the names of, but we’re pretty sure roulette has been in movies, so just go with it.

The house advantage, or “edge,” in roulette is 5.26%. That’s for the most common version of the game, American roulette. You can tell American roulette from European roulette because: 1) it has a zero and double zero, rather than just a zero, and 2) it doesn’t use the metric system.

The bet to avoid in roulette is called a “basket bet.” This bet is placed strategically on the roulette layout in a way that screams, “I am a tourist, I have too much money, and I would like to give some to this casino!”

Basket bet at roulette
Behold the basket of suck.

The basket bet covers five numbers, the 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3. Super convenient, right?

Well, yes, but that convenience costs a lot. The house edge for the basket bet is 7.89%, the worst bet on a roulette table.

So, it’s best to avoid this particular sucker bet and stick to the regular, less-sucky bets.

Another way to ensure you won’t look like a roulette novice is to always wait for the dealer to remove the marker (called a “dolly,” below) from the layout before placing new bets. It’s no fun having your hand slapped in public, even metaphorically, trust us.

Roulette dolly
Well, hello.

Good luck, and we look forward to hearing how you gave it to The Man at the roulette table. And by “gave it to,” we mean “took it from,” of course.