Straight Bets in Roulette
You can make a straight bet where you only bet on one number and if it comes in you’ll be paid 35-to-1. The casino advantage on this bet is 5.26% and by the time you’re done with this roulette
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Another choice you have is to do a split. This is where you put a chip on the line that separates two numbers. If either number comes up you’ll be paid at 17-to-1. The casino advantage on this bet is 5.26%.
If you put a chip in an area that splits 4 numbers this is called a corner bet and if any one of those 4 numbers comes in you will be paid off at 8-to-1. The casino advantage on this bet is 5.26%.
If you put a chip at the beginning of a row of 3 numbers, this is called a street bet and if any one of those 3 numbers shows up you will be paid off at 11-to-1. The casino advantage on this bet is 5.26%.
You can also put a chip on the line between two streets so that you have a double street covered and if any one of those 6 numbers come in you’ll be paid off at 5-to-1. The casino advantage on this bet is?... you guessed it...5.26%.
The only other bet you can make on the inside numbers is the 5- number bet where you place one chip in the upper left corner of the number 1 box. If any one of those 5 numbers comes in you’ll be paid off at 6-to-1 and what do you think the casino advantage is on this bet? Nope, I gotcha... it’s 7.89%. Actually, this is the worst possible bet on the roulette table and the only bet you’ll come across that doesn’t have a 5.26% house edge on the double-zero roulette wheel. You should never make this bet.
One quick word here about "to" and "for" when discussing odds. Whenever the odds are stated as "to" this means that in addition to the stated payoff you also receive your original bet back. In other words, if you won your single number bet in roulette you would receive 35-to-1, which is a 35-chip payoff, plus you’d still keep your original one-chip bet, so you end up with 36 chips. Now if the odds are stated as "for" that means you do not receive back your original bet. If the odds in your single number bet were 35-for-1 you would still receive a 35-chip payoff but the casino would keep your original one-chip bet so you would only end up with 35 chips. The only place in a casino where the odds are always stated as "for" is in video poker. You might also come across it on a couple of craps bets where the odds are stated as "for-one" rather than "to-one" in order to give the casino a slightly better edge.