6 Alternatives That Are Better Than Roulette

Roulette is played in three basic formats. You can play American Roulette, European Roulette, and French Roulette. American Roulette is the most common, and it has terrible returns in comparison to most casino games.

European Roulette is a little better than American Roulette and French tables are superior to either of the other two other roulette variations. The problem is that even French Roulette isn’t that good.

This article includes details about six alternatives you need to consider instead of roulette games. They all can offer higher long term return percentages than all roulette games.

1 – Every Blackjack Game

The title of this section states that every blackjack game is a better option than roulette. This is true when you compare blackjack games to American Roulette, but there are a few blackjack games that are worse than European and French roulette games.

However, the best blackjack games are always better than any form of roulette. While French Roulette has a long-term return of 98.65%, the best blackjack games offer returns of 99.5% and better. The best blackjack players consistently get returns at least 1% higher than French Roulette gamblers.

French Roulette tables require a bet on an even money wager to offer the highest return, but this isn’t really a strategy.

When you play blackjack, you must use the right strategy in every situation if you want the highest return. This requires much more work than when you play roulette, but the higher long-term return makes it worth the extra effort.

2 – Most Mini Baccarat Bets

When you play mini baccarat, you always have at least three options for your wagers. Some mini baccarat tables add a fourth wager option called a side bet. Like roulette, there’s no strategy you can use when you play mini baccarat. All you need to know is which bets you can make and which bets are worse than roulette wagers.

Banker Bet – This is the best bet option when you play mini baccarat. The return is higher than any wager at the roulette table, including French rules tables.

Player Bet – This is the second-best bet option when you play mini baccarat, and it also returns a higher percentage than every roulette bet including French rules bets.

Tie Bet – This is often the worst bet option at the mini baccarat table, and it always gives a worse return than any roulette wager.

Min Baccarat Side Bets – The return on mini baccarat side wagers depends on which side wager is offered, but they’re almost always worse than the return for roulette wagers.

The two best wagers you can make when you play mini baccarat are banker and player. The two bets that are worse than roulette bets are the tie wager and any side bet options.

3 – Two Craps Bets

Craps is a little bit tricky to compare to roulette because there are many different craps wagers that you can make. Just like mini baccarat, there are some craps wagers that are better than roulette wager options, and there are some craps wagers that are worse than roulette options.

The easiest way to learn exactly which craps wagers are better than at the roulette table is to list the wagers that offer higher long-term returns. When you know what these wager options are, you can simply not make any of the other wagers.

Don’t pass – Of the two opening bets you can make on come out rolls, don’t pass is the best option.

Pass – This is the opening wager that most craps players make. It offers a much better return percentage than you can get playing roulette, but don’t pass is a better option.

You can find a couple other wagers at the craps table that offer similar returns as roulette wagers, but there’s not a need to ever make one of these wagers. Just make two wagers from the short list above and you’re going to get better returns than you can get playing roulette.

4 – Most Video Poker Games

American Roulette has a return of less than 95%. Most video poker games offer returns over 95%. If your only options are playing American Roulette and video poker, you should always pick video poker.

After this things get a little more complicated. If you have the option to play roulette using French rules, there are many video poker games that aren’t as good. But there are still some video poker options that give you better returns than when you play French Roulette.

Video poker is harder to play well because you need to know how to play the hands in a way that returns the highest profits mathematically. This takes some work, but you can use a simple tool called a strategy chart to do it.

You also need to learn which games offer the best returns and which pay tables on each game variation offers the best returns. But when you realize that you can play some video poker games with a return over 99%, you know that a little bit of extra work is well worth it.

5 – Traditional Poker Games

Traditional poker games like Texas Hold’em offer much higher returns than roulette games, as long as you know how to play them using the right strategies and know how to find games that are the most profitable.

If you’re looking for an easy gambling option that’s better than roulette, you need to stick with craps or mini baccarat. Even video poker is easier than learning how to win playing traditional poker games.

Every gambler has different skills, so it might take one gambler longer to learn how to win playing poker than another gambler. But you’re probably going to have to invest hundreds and hours’ worth of work into learning poker strategy before you can start making money.

6 – Handicapping Sporting Events

Handicapping sporting events is much like traditional poker in many ways. You can learn how to make a profit, and it’s going to take a lot of time and effort to reach this point.

However, even if you don’t know how to make a profit handicapping sporting events yet, you’re still better off handicapping sporting events than playing roulette.

If you make 100 bets of $11 each when you play American Roulette, your expected loss is over $55. If you make the same number of bets on the point spread by picking teams at random, your expected loss is $50.

This isn’t a big difference, but you can make 100 bets playing roulette in less than two hours. You can make a single bet on a sports event and watch the game and spend a few hours. In other words, you risk a lot less money per hour which, in turn, leads to smaller long term losses.

The other benefit is that you can improve your handicapping skills as you gamble. As you get better at handicapping, your losses go down. And as I mentioned earlier, you can start winning more often than you lose if you get good enough at handicapping sporting events.

Conclusion

Even the worst blackjack game is better than most roulette games, and this is true even when you don’t know all of the right strategies. This says more about how bad roulette is than how good blackjack is, but blackjack is always a better option than playing roulette.

Baccarat and craps also both offer better bet options than roulette, but you have to be careful with both of these games. If you make the wrong bets, these games are actually worse than roulette.

Just like blackjack, there aren’t many video poker games that are worse than playing roulette. In fact, most video poker games are far better.

Poker games and handicapping sports are better than playing roulette, especially if you practice and build your skills.