Guide to Outside Bets in Online Roulette

In roulette, you'll encounter both outside bets and inside bets. These terms refer to where the bets are located on the roulette table, each of which has different odds associated with it. Outside bets have lower payouts than inside bets, but also have better odds of winning. This makes them appealing to beginners who are still getting to grips with the game, but also with Canadian players who just don't enjoy risky bets.

On this page, we'll tell you about some of the outside bets you can place in roulette, as well as their odds and the value of the winnings you can expect to enjoy if you place them and get lucky.

Outside Bets In Roulette

In a game of roulette, these are the five different possible outside bets you can make:

• 1 to 18/19 to 36 – betting on whether the number the ball lands on will be higher or lower than the number 18.
• Red or Black – picking whether the ball will land on a red or black slot
• Even or Odd – guessing the parity of the numbered slot
• Dozen bets – betting on the ball landing between 1-12, 13-24 or 25-36
• Column bets – selecting a group of numbers contained by one of the table's three columns

Of the above, the first three are even money bets. This means that if you bet 5 C$, you'll win 5 C$ and get your original stake back. The final two have 2 to 1 odds, so you'd receive 10 C$ plus your original stake of 5 Canadian Dollars. So, they're a little more dangerous but you stand to win more if you get lucky.

Pairing Outside Bets And The 3:2 Strategy

We've written elsewhere in our column betting section about how you can cover around 70% of the board by betting two units on the 2-35 column and three units on red or two units on 3-36 and three units on black.

This strategy isn't perfect, but it's an example of one of the ways you can pair outside bets to minimise your losses and sometimes even rake in some real cash winnings.

If you're not looking to gamble that much, placing just one unit on a column and another on a colour is a good way to spread your bets with the possibility of winning two ways on several numbers. Even though betting on both black and red or even and odd cancels each other out most of the time, many casinos don't allow it. You can, however, bet on red and even or black and odd (or vice versa) if you want.

"Canadian Roulette is a game of depth with ample strategies and bet options, but it can be learned fast and simply, though it's a game that takes years to master."

The Best Outside Bets For Roulette

This is really down to personal preference. If you're a fan of even money bets, betting on red or black/even or odd will get you pretty close to 50/50 odds. If you prefer a riskier gamble, column bets tick that box and have a higher payout as a result.

If you want to improve your chances of winning beyond 50/50, betting on two columns should see you win over 60% of the time. Of course, because you're betting a higher sum of money and will always lose at least one of your bets, your winnings won't be as high.

Outside bets are best suited to those who believe that slow and steady wins the race. With payouts of over 30 to 1, inside bets on individual numbers are certainly tempting but the risk is extremely high and it's very rare than players win on inside bets unless they're covering multiple numbers. Whether you have a system in place or you're just looking for a quick flutter, outside betting may well be your best option.