Understanding Your Lucky Roulette Numbers
By
Kevin Lentz
Writer at Casinos.US Updated: 05/08/2024
Kevin has been involved in the gambling industry since the ‘80s. From winning tournaments to casino management, he’s ultimately done it all. Throughout the years, he’s written for various iGaming publications on topics such as the legal landscape of online casinos and strategies behind winning. His favorite game is blackjack.
Exploring the Best Numbers to Play In Roulette
One of the beautiful things about roulette is that anything can happen. That ball can land on your number over and over. Of course, the trick is picking that lucky number that will cause fortune to smile on you. That roulette table is laid out before you, where does your eye go first? What series of numbers are you going to be to try to lure fate, and more importantly what do those roulette numbers you pick say about you?
Understanding Roulette Numbers
There are two main types of wheels that both land-based casinos and online casinos use for roulette. We will talk about the roulette numbers on both single and double zero roulette, as well as look at how players decide on which are their lucky roulette numbers as well as take a look at some stats on what numbers people actually bet and why.
- 7️⃣ How Roulette Numbers Appear On The Wheel
- 7️⃣ What Are The Best Roulette Numbers To Bet?
- 7️⃣ What Are The Most Played Roulette Numbers?
- 7️⃣ Conclusion
How Roulette Numbers Appear On the Wheel
There are two main roulette wheel heads used in casinos today, though in all fairness, it is extremely unlikely you will encounter the European or single zero roulette wheel outside of a high-limit room in any brick-and-mortar casino in the US.
By far the most common roulette table in US casinos is the American or double zero wheel. Aptly named for its two green zeros, denoted 0 and 00. This classic wheel head dates back towards the very beginning of the game, hundreds of years ago in France. Because you may wager on not only red and black, but also even and odd, and high and low, the numbers around the wheel head need to avoid setting any patterns.
00, 27, 10, 25, 29, 12, 8, 19, 31, 18, 6, 21, 33, 16, 4, 23, 35, 14, 2, 0, 28, 9, 26, 30, 11, 7, 20, 32, 17, 5, 22, 34, 15, 3, 24, 36, 13, 1 is the order of the numbers on the American Wheel. Notice that the numbers alternate red and black except for the two numbers on either side of the zeros. 1 and 27, which flank the double zero, are both black, and 2 and 28 on either side of the single zero are both red.
The numbers, also for the most part alternate even and odd and high and low though there are some exceptions, this avoids the chance that certain sections of the wheel might favor one outside bet over another. That way if for some reason such as a slight tilt or wear and tear on the wheel, or just plain shenanigans, if the ball isn’t landing randomly across the wheel it will still be difficult to make outside bets that take advantage of this.
Because the US wheel has 38 sections for the ball to land in but pays exactly the same as the European or Single zero wheel with only 37 segments, the single Zero wheel has a much lower house edge of 2.7% vs. 5.26% for its much more common American cousin.
But as legal online casinos have swept the country the Single Zero wheel has proven to be wildly popular with internet betters, and so there is always the chance that you will encounter if you play real money roulette online, and who knows, perhaps even in US land-based casinos one day. If you are interested in playing roulette online you can find a list of real money casinos in your state here.
5, 24, 16, 33, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34, 6, 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10 is the order of the numbers on the single zero wheel head and while they again attempt to avoid clumping red or black or even and odd together, their order bears no semblance to the double zero wheel.
What both wheel heads do have in common is their betting layout. The zero or two zeros are always at the top and the numbers are then on a layout of three across by twelve deep. The number one is red and then they alternate in color until you get to 10 and 11 which are both black and are adjacent on the same street or three-number row. Note that the 18 and 19 are both red but don’t fall on the same street or row. Then the 28 and 29, both black again and on the same street.
What Are the Best Roulette Numbers To Bet?
So, when we look across the roulette layout, we need to decide what are the best roulette numbers for us to place our wagers on. One common misconception is that betting the outside numbers has a different house edge than betting the inside numbers. But the odds on all roulette bets are the same except for a peculiar double street bet on the five numbers 0,00,1,2,3 on American roulette, which is even worse than the usual 5.26%.
The honest truth is that the numbers you choose tell a lot more about you than they do about what might happen in the game. The roulette wheel and its decisions are completely random, and even if 17 hits 8 times in a row, or black numbers roll 20 times in succession, the odds of another 17 or another black number don’t change.
But your approach to the best roulette numbers is what is fascinating. Sit at the roulette table for a while and watch. Ask your fellow players about their number choices, especially about winning numbers. Some people are sentimental. They like birthdays and anniversaries. Others are random droppers. They move their stacks over the table, dropping chips over random numbers as the mood hits them.
Others are statisticians, noting the hot numbers and the cold ones, sections of the wheel that appear to be hitting repeatedly, then often using that information to concoct even more elaborate reasons on why that trend may or may not continue. Others spend the entire day on the lookout for random numbers in their day-to-day life. Did they get 27 cents back in change from the buffet? Well, the universe has got to be trying to tell them something.
The best numbers to play in roulette are the ones that make you happy. That fit your personality. The numbers that you believe in, no matter how you came up with them. Ideally, they are also the ones that are going to be hot that night, but in the long run, you are stuck for somewhere between 2 ½% and 5% of all your bets no matter what. Take a chance on the numbers that you feel. The odds on the lottery are long, but somebody always hits it. It might as well be you.
We find playing roulette online to be the easiest due to the very low minimum bets required. It’s quite simple to learn how to play online roulette. And well worth your time when you consider not only the lower bets required but the bonuses and other offers.
What Are the Most Played Roulette Table Numbers?
You are probably thinking that’s all well and good but what roulette numbers hit the most? What are the lucky roulette numbers? We think it will surprise no one to find that casinos spend a lot of money tracking these things and making sure that every wheel is level, repaired, and producing random results.
But it also allows us to get a sense of what numbers do other people believe are lucky roulette numbers. What numbers are bet more than others and if possible, why? Studies are pretty similar, including one from the Netherlands that looked at hundreds of thousands of roulette bets.
The most popular numbers in roulette are 7, 8, and 17. This is due to the cultural biases in the West of seven being a very lucky number, and in the East that the number 8 brings prosperity. The 17 is almost certainly due to its nature of being in the exact center of the roulette layout. These studies suggest that numbers like 17 and 23 that are in the center are bet much more than those at the end of the layout. 34 and 35 are the least bet numbers in roulette studies.
They also found marked preferences for smaller numbers over large ones, odd numbers over even ones, and oddly that multiples of 10 are even less bet than other even numbers. The zeros are not particularly preferred but prime numbers are bet more than non-primes.
They theorize that the smaller numbers are preferred due to their use in birthday and anniversary dates and that the odd numbers and the general disdain for the round numbers like 10,20, and 30 is due to a search for “randomness” that those numbers don’t provide.
Conclusion
Whatever your favorite lucky roulette number, and however you came by it, the fun is in betting it. But the next time you are on a busy roulette game, make sure and strike up a conversation with the other players, about their best roulette table numbers, and how they decided that was the number for them.
Ask about their stories about lucky roulette numbers, and we guarantee you may not find any more roulette numbers you want to play, but you are going to learn a lot about that person by the numbers they play.
