Several Groups of Numbers Can be Had on the Inside

Author: Mark Pilarski

Dear Mark: In your most recent column on roulette, you mentioned, “Your inside bets are the numbers, including groups like 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.” I am perplexed. What did you mean by “including groups like 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6?” Sarah D.

I am sure, Sarah, you have seen what I wrote about the game of Roulette numerous times, so I most likely confused you with the wording “groups like 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.”

With any inside wager, you can bet a number straight up, or multiple numbers by choosing a combination (groups) of numbers. Here, Sarah, are those wagers, an illustration of each, and the payouts:

Straight Up bet is a wager on a lone number (for example 22). It pays 35 to 1.

Split Bet is a wager that joins any two contiguous numbers (such as 22, 25) and pays 17 to 1.

Street bets or line bet (for instance 10, 11, 12) pays 11 to 1. Here, the chip straddles the first number in the row.

Corner bet or Quad bet (you might choose 1, 2, 4 and 5) pays 8 to 1. You make this bet by placing a chip, so it touches the four corners of the numbers you are betting.

Basket bet is a five number wager on 0, 00 and the numbers 1, 2, and 3. It pays 6 to 1, but Sarah, on a double-zero wheel, this wager has a house edge of 7.89%, making it the most unfavorable bet in roulette.  

Finally, Sarah, the Double Street bet is a wager on this group of six numbers (e.g. 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36), and it pays 5 to 1. As you would for the Street bet, you place your chip(s) on the line dividing the outside and inside area, making sure it also straddles the row above or below.

Dear Mark: I noticed on your twitter page (@markpilarski) that as a background photo, you conspicuously display Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall in Las Vegas. If I am not mistaken, it has been closed for some time now. Anyhow, besides your weekly column, I follow your tweets daily. Dave D.

It remains featured as my background image, Dave, chiefly for sentimental reasons. A Caesars Entertainment property, I worked for then Harrah’s Corp. Bill’s Lake Tahoe in the 80’s and 90’s. As to your comment, Dave, yes, Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall on the northeast corner of the Strip and Flamingo Road has been closed for almost a year now for redevelopment.

Caesars Entertainment Corp is pouring $185 million dollars in renovations into an upscale boutique hotel-casino called The Cromwell. This is the same building that at one time housed the Barbary Coast and then Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall. Scheduled opening is May 21. Oh, and they are hiring more than 900 workers over the next few months. A pleasurable sight as unemployment is bordering at 9% in Las Vegas.

The Cromwell was actually the second choice for names in that it was originally going to be called The Gansevoort Las Vegas, but a marketing deal with the New York City-based Gansevoort Group fell apart after Massachusetts gaming regulators raised questions regarding one of the Gansevoort investors.

Thanks, Dave, for following my tweeter-twatter in the twitosphere.

Gambling Wisdom of the Week: Remember that Fortune does not like people to be over-joyed at her favours, and that she prepares bitter deceptions for the impudent, who are intoxicated by success. – Andrew Steinmetz, The Gaming Table (1870)