This is the most famous of all the roulette systems, and also the most simple. The concept involves little more than doubling your bet after each losing spin.

You choose an outside bet, either red/black, odd/even, or high/low. Most people play either red or black, but it makes little difference in the long run. You then simply start with your minimum bet, usually £1, and double it each time until it wins. The idea that this is a good system stems from the notion that ‘it’s got to hit eventually’. With each winning spin, you make your minimum bet as a profit. For example, you bet £1 on red, if it wins you are paid £2, making £1 profit. If it loses, you double to £2, £4, £8 etc. until it wins

When your bet wins, you win your stake back plus the additional £1 which is your profit. You can vary this system in multiple ways, such as waiting until you see three or more of the same colour, then betting against it from that point, or even moving between colours, or waiting for a sequence of high/low, or odd/even numbers.

It is very difficult to make this system work whilst playing the FOBT’s due to the maximum betting limit of £100, although you could spread it over several fixed odds betting terminals if it wasn’t busy. Casinos also have upper limits, but these are usually between £1000 and £10,000 depending on location.

This system has a major issue in that you may eventually be betting many hundreds of pounds just to win your starting bet back.

Imagine seven spins in a row losing, the scenario will look like this:

£1, lose. £2, lose. £4, lose. £8, lose. £16, lose. £32, lose. £64, lose. At this point, you have reached the upper limit on the FOBT’s, as you will need to bet £128 to win £1 profit.

Trying this method in a real world casino, or on-line casino actually has better odds, and higher table limits. For example, if zero hits in a casino (both on-line and real on single zero tables), you win 50% of your stake back if you are on an outside bet. The FOBT’s keep your entire stake unless you have bet on the zero. It is also worth noting that if you were playing at 1p per spin, the scenario above with seven losing spins would mean a loss of only £0.64p! Or you could try 10p per spin, resulting in a loss of £6.40. This allows for a far higher amount of losing spins, but of course the profit is a lot smaller.

This system can also be used in blackjack in the same way as mentioned above.

This is my personal favourite system and involves betting on 50% of the table. I usually choose half the wheel to the left or right of the zero. It works best on a FOBT because of the neighbours betting options. Simply cover every number on your chosen half of the roulette wheel and hope for the best. When the ball comes in to land, you know if you have won or not, so no near misses. You can change the half as many times as you like, add to certain numbers within your 50%, or simply keep repeating the bet.

This system is good in that it doesn’t matter if it is red or black, high or low, or odd or even. All of these outcomes are partially covered, you can also hit many times in a row as you have a 50% chance of winning.

Another variation of this that I like is betting on either high red, high black, or low red, or low black numbers. This gives you a little under 25% chance of hitting a number, and is good for watching the FOBT’s that stop the ball the opposite to where it started. You either know you have lost, or you are not entirely sure once the bet has been placed.

You may also use the past results (hot and cold numbers) to help you decide where you would like to bet. Although they are random, it is still difficult to ignore past outcomes.

The title says it all, and is actually a very popular system with a lot of FOBT players. Simply choose one number, and bet a large amount on it. Then choose various other numbers either near by, or scattered across the wheel, and bet small amounts on these to cover the bet.

This does leave some blank numbers, but it also leaves a big profit number. As an example: Bet £10 on number 11 and £1 on twenty-six other numbers. This will cover twenty-seven numbers for £36, all but one of them will return your bet, with number 11 paying £360. This will also leave you with ten losing numbers, costing you £36 each time you land on one of the ten.

A lot of people who play this system have a set bank roll that they do not go over, so some days they might hit several of their big bet numbers, resulting in large profits. Other times, they may lose their bank roll and go home. Your big bet number can be anything. I’ve always liked number 11, but many people prefer zero. In the end it doesn’t matter, but go with your feeling.

The maximum bet on the FOBT’s is around £14, for a maximum win of £500. But casinos, both on-line and real world have maximum bets per number of usually at least between £25 and £100, and some up to £1000 or more. A £100 bet straight up on a number will pay £3600, which can’t be sniffed at.