Craig,

Your statement, copied verbatim for the ease of others following this thread, was as follows:

>It may have the best payout, but the odds are best betting the color at Roulette. Just under
50/50.

This is simply not the case. THERE IS NO "BEST ODDS" ON THE ROULETTE TABLE, AND THE ODDS FOR ROULETTE ARE NOT THE "BEST" IN THE HOUSE. With the exception of the 5-line, the odds *ARE THE SAME* whether you bet the color, the odd/even, an individual number, or groups of numbers. It was this assertion, AND ONLY THIS ASSERTION, to which my response was addressed.

If this was not what your statement intended to infer, please clarify your statement. Also, this is *not* personal, Craig -- I respect your statements and opinions. My only concern is for all to be certain "what we intended".


>Go back and reread what I said. I am correct.
>
>
>>
>>Craig,
>>
>>Not so. The house has a 5.26% advantage on American roulette wheels (38 spots counting the zero and double-zero) on all bets on the board except the 5-line bet, which carries a house edge of 7.29%. If you can find a European wheel with only a single zero, the house advantage drops to 2.63% on the board.
>>
>>Contrast that with craps, playing a single pass line bet with a 1x odds bet behind it -- the house advantage is only 1.41%. At 2x odds, the house advantage drops to 0.85%. At 100x odds (the largest odds bet available in Vegas), the house advantage is only 0.02%. You also generally make fewer bets per hour in craps (about 30 pass line bets/hour versus about 50 spins/hour in roulette), so your "expected loss" per hour with craps is about 20% of roulette played on American wheels. Blackjack is an even better gamble, with an expected loss amount almost identical to craps, more hands per hour (about 100) and a house edge of 0.50% playing basic strategy (which, BTW, varies based on the different rules of each house AND as each card comes out of the deck -- but that's another discussion -bg-).
>>
>>If you want to check these numbers, go to www.vegasreference.com and click any game link.