Unlock Your Winning Potential: Discover the Best Roulette Numbers to Play

Roulette is one of the most iconic casino games there is. Even if you’ve never played it, the name alone conjures up images of that spinning wheel, with the ball bouncing between numbered segments before coming to rest on someone’s lucky number. And when it comes to winning at roulette, it is your luck in picking a number that will be pivotal. So how do you go about picking your preferred roulette number? Hopefully the following information will help you with that.

Top Roulette Numbers

The first thing you’d want to know about the lucky numbers at a roulette table is a simple one. Which comes up more often? The roulette table is divided into 36 numbers, red and black, with one exception in the case of the green section which is occupied by 0. (In fact, on some European tables there is a second green segment, numbered 00). And in truth, there is no slice on the wheel that pays out more often than all the others. Roulette is inherently a game of random chance, and that ball could land on any of the numbers every time it is thrown.

Of course, the vagaries of probability mean that you’ll sometimes be standing at a roulette table, or playing online, and see the ball land more often on certain segments. This is normal - probability asserts itself over the whole of time, in every casino, so 37 spins will almost never see the ball end up on 37 different segments. However, many players have their favorite numbers anyway. There are some numbers which come up more often than others in lists of lucky numbers - 7, 17 and 23 seem to be particularly well-liked - but if you have a feeling for a certain number, there’s no reason not to favor that.

Top Roulette Numbers

It should be made clear at this stage that at online casinos, the roulette games are, like all other games, governed by Random Number Generator (RNG) software. Not only that, they will not be able to get a licence if they cannot demonstrate that thy use this software. So while there are people who will swear to you that a certain game at a certain casino seems to bring up the number 3 more often than any other, this does not mean it is the number you should choose. That person may have played a game and seen the number 3 come up more often than others, but there are many reasons this may be the case:

• It didn’t come up that often, they just noticed it more, this is perception bias.
• It came up more often than would be expected, but had they stayed on for 100 more spins, another number might have then come up more.
• They bet on “3” and it came up a few times, so they remember it more.

In truth, it matters little which number you bet on, every number has an equal chance of coming up. If you have a number you prefer to choose, then it is likely to imbue you with confidence when you play, and you’ll be less distracted by other factors. So if you feel that a certain number is lucky for you, or that you have noticed it coming up more often than others, that’s really as good a reason as any to choose it specifically.

Winning Roulette Numbers

The idea that there are certain numbers which are more likely to win persists despite the absence of any real proof. While you may agree that there is an equal chance of any of the numbers coming up, your smartest move is to play the numbers that make you comfortable. If you speak to enough roulette players, what will emerge is that there are certain numbers that feel right, or feel lucky. The frequency with which players pick number 17, for example, may be because it is right in the middle of the table; nonetheless, it has been lucky for a lot of players.

Some players judge certain numbers on the table to be “cold”. A number that hasn’t come up in a while may seem like it is “due” to win, and on the balance of probability, it should come up before long. What we can say is that repeatedly changing your number because the one you are choosing never seems to win is the worst idea you can have. If you’ve been betting on 4 for several spins and haven’t seen it win, picking another number just means that when 4 eventually does hit - as it must, eventually - you’ll have moved off it and missed out.

Best Numbers to Bet

While we are clear that there is no superior number on a roulette table, we have also established that there is an equal chance of any number coming up, so changing your number regularly is not the way to exploit probability. It is therefore advisable that you choose your preferred number, or numbers, and stick with them. You could choose them completely at random, or you might want to pick your own selection of numbers that are meaningful to you.

If your birthday is the 24th of May, then numbers 24 and 5 might be meaningful to you. If your kids are aged 10 and 12, then those numbers might be your choice. If you loved to watch Michael Jordan, then his playing number (23) is a decent choice. It can also be agreed that when you win playing a meaningful number, the win feels that bit better.

Highest Number in Roulette

Some roulette players like to play higher numbers on the table. There is a certain boldness to picking the highest number, because when it comes to winning at roulette, we all want to be thinking of high numbers. If this works for you, then picking 36 is the way to go. On any standard American or European roulette table, 36 is the highest possible number. You may choose to go in the exact opposite direction, in which case, the lowest number on the roulette table is 0 - along with 00 on European tables.

There is also the option in roulette to pick groups of numbers to bet on. You can bet on even or odd, red or black, on certain rows and columns as they are listed on the table. You can bet on numbers between 1 and 12, 13 and 24, 25 and 36. Some roulette players believe that the higher numbers occur more often. Although this is widely believed to be speculation and superstition, if you feel that this is the case, betting on the Highs (25-36) may be an alternative to simply picking the highest number. Winnings may be a little lower, but there is a better chance of winning.

Roulette Number Frequency

Picking the right number on a roulette table is a question of finding the number that is most likely to come up. It is therefore understandable that people track the frequency of numbers when they are playing, although this is not a winning strategy any more than simply picking at random would be. There are many thousands of roulette tables the world over, and it would be simply impossible to count which number has come up most often historically. Nonetheless, probability insists that each number on an American roulette table has a 1 in 37 chance of being called, and 1 in 38 in the European game.

The frequency of any number is not a guide to how likely it is to come up the next time you play. If the ball lands on 2, this doesn’t mean that 2 is more likely or less likely to come up on the very next spin. It has a 1 in 37 chance, as does 20, or 22, or literally any other segment of the wheel. The only thing that matters is that a number feels right to you.

Picking the Right Numbers

From what we have seen, then, there is no such thing as the best number or the right number to pick. Choosing the most likely winning bet at a roulette table has more influencing factors than just feeling that a certain number is due, for whatever reason. If you want to increase your chances of winning, you might do better to consider the following:

• Betting on groups of numbers, such as all the red numbers or all odd numbers, has a roughly 1 in 2 chance of coming up, and although it pays out less (1x your stake), it will come up more often.
• Betting on columns of numbers or groups between 1-12 and so on, has a 1 in 3 chance of coming up, and pays out a little less often than Odd/Even or Red/Black, but does pay more (2x your stake).
• Certain strategies can deliver more wins, such as the Martingale system, which involves doubling your bet any time you lose. So if you bet on red at $1 and lose, the next bet would be $2. If you lose again, the next bet would be $4. The idea is that when you win, you’ll recoup previous losses and be in profit. Be aware, though, that if you lose six times in a row, you’d have lost $63 this way and need to bet another $64, with a 50/50 chance of winning, to have a chance of recouping.

Numbers to Play on Table

Whatever you choose to do at a roulette table, the most important thing is to understand that you can’t control where the ball lands, so you can’t really increase your chances of winning on a single spin. What you can do is cover more numbers by betting on Dozens (groups of numbers covering 12 segments such as 1-12), or selecting a bunch of numbers that you like the look of; just be conscious that the more numbers you seek to cover, the more you’ll have to spend to come away with the same winnings as someone who strikes lucky on one spin.

In the end, the reason to play roulette is that it is fun, and you can end up with a decent return if you strategize properly. And if you have a lucky number, feel free to back it at the table. It has as much chance of winning as any other.

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