Roulette – Expand Your Expertise with Racetrack Betting Pt. 1

Before we start this piece, we ought to explain that by ‘racetrack’ betting at trusted online casinos we do not mean you should abandon playing at live dealer casinos or elsewhere for that matter and head to the racetrack instead. The ‘racetrack’ when it comes to roulette is a ‘secondary’ betting table where ‘fixed call bets‘ is placed. This feature is only found with European or French roulette. You will not find it when playing American roulette.

You may not even be aware of its existence. You may think that the only betting table when it comes to roulette is the familiar one with thirty-six numbers, the ‘0’ (and ‘00’ if you are playing American Roulette at one of your favourite online casinos in the UK or elsewhere) and outside bets such as red/black, odd/even etc.

Well, if you do play certain versions of European or French roulette, you will find that the secondary betting table is available and it looks like this:

Racetrack Betting Table where “Fixed Call Bets” are made.

What is the Racetrack Betting Table?

The standard betting table is based on numbers in sequence. When you bet on more than single numbers, then the numbers are combined depending on their numerical, sequential positions.

For example, there are limits to how you can bet on four numbers in one single bet. You can bet on 20, 21, 23 and 24 because those four numbers are all adjacent to each other on the normal betting table.

You cannot, though, bet on numbers 5, 13, 27, and 33 at live casinos or software-based casinos using the same single bet, as they are all at different positions on the table. If you want to bet on those numbers, you would have to place four separate bets.

With racetrack bets, it’s different. The numbers still appear in sequence, but they appear in sequence in tandem with their position on the roulette wheel itself. For example, with European roulette wheels, the numbers 31, 14, 20 and 1 all appear together on the wheel, so they appear in sequence on the racetrack betting table too.

So, you are now aware of the existence of the racetrack betting table. The question is, how do you now use it at new online casinos to place bets?

Placing Bets Using the Racetrack Betting Table

There are plenty of bets you can place using the racetrack betting table. These are called ‘fixed call bets’, and they cover multiple numbers. In effect, you are placing a series of single, split, corner or basket bets to cover numbers on a certain section of the wheel.

Voisins du Zero

Literally, ‘neighbours of zero’, here you are placing bets on the zero, the nine numbers to the left of it, and the seven numbers to the right of it, as follows:

• Basket bet on 0, 2, 3 – payout 11-1 (2 chips)
• Split bet on 4 & 7 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Split bet on 12 & 15 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Split bet on 18 & 21 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Split bet on 19 & 22 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Corner bet on 25, 26, 28 & 29 – payout 8-1 (2 chips)
• Split bet on 32 & 35 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)

The total cost of this bet is, therefore, nine chips. The amount you win depends upon the number that comes up. If the ball lands in 32, then you win 17 chips. If the ball lands in 2, then you win 22 chips, and so on.

The odds of winning this bet is just under 46%, which is not bad considering (a) you are covering 17 numbers out of 37 and (b) you will always win more than double your stake should the ball land in a number you have covered.

Jeu Zero

‘Zero games’ – a bet similar to voisins du zero except that it covers fewer numbers but has higher payouts for a lower stake. The numbers covered are positions 12 through to 15 on the wheel, as follows:

• Split bet on 0, 3 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Split bet on 12, 15 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Straight-up bet on 26 – payout 35-1 (1 chip)
• Split bet on 32, 25 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)

Here, you are covering seven numbers for only four chips. If this is a winning bet, then the payout is always 17-1 unless the ball lands in the number 26, in which case the payout is 35-1.

The odds of this being a winning bet are just under 19%. In truth, you betting on the hope that the number 26 comes up as when it does, it’s the biggest payday. The other six numbers are there to keep you afloat and hopefully ahead as this bet will lose more often than it loses, but when it does win you will at least win at a minimum rate of 17-1.

Tiers du Cylindre

‘Third of the Wheel’ – with this bet you are covering the area of the wheel between 27 and 33 inclusive. This is twelve numbers which are not quite a third of the wheel as the wheel contains 37 numbers. The bets placed are as follows:

• Split bet on 5, 8 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Split bet on 10, 11 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Split bet on 13, 16 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Split bet on 23, 24 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Split bet on 27, 30 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)
• Split bet on 33, 36 – payout 17-1 (1 chip)

As you can see, all these bets are split, so should this bet come in for you, you will win 17 times your bet.

Your chances of winning this bet are 32.4%, which is less than a third which again makes sense as you covering slightly less than a third of the wheel.

We will continue our exploration of ‘racetrack’ or ‘fixed call bets’ in our next casino blog. Until then, stay safe and remember that when you play at desktop or mobile casinos, always gamble responsibly and only ever with money that you cannot afford to lose.