Minimum and maximum bets in roulette: The complete guide

Most casino games are designed for you to understand them quickly. After all, the operators want you to sit down and start gambling rather than standing around scratching your head.

Blackjack is straightforward, slots are easy on the brain cells, and roulette is simple enough to comprehend. Only baccarat and craps take a little getting used to. Yet while games like roulette are accessible, there is a risk you might end up spending a lot more than you bargain for.

Casinos want to protect themselves as much as they want you to play sensibly within your limits. They will, therefore, introduce stakes, or bet limits, specifically so that you know where you stand and will spend what you can afford.

That means there will be a max bet on roulette and a table minimum.

Roulette max bet explained

When you visit a live casino, you will find various roulette tables. They will be split into variants of the game, like European or American Roulette, and into stakes levels.

You will typically see the minimum bet to determine the stake levels. This might be $5, meaning you must bet at least $5 per spin of the wheel. There might be other tables reserved for the high rollers, who might want to bet $100 or perhaps as much as $1,000 per round. In a live casino, the highest of high rollers, or whales, will come to an arrangement with the house where they might agree to much higher limits.

In online casinos things will be a little different. At the live dealer roulette tables, you are not restricted by standing room, so countless people can play virtually at the same time. To cater to such a wide audience, you will see a huge range between the roulette minimum bet and the maximum bet. It might be as little as 25 cents up to $50,000!

The difference between inside and outside bets

The rules will change from one casino to another – and sometimes from one table to another. So look out for signs at the table or table rules you can access online. Check to see if there are any limitations for the inside bets, which come with much higher odds.

Outside bets

These are the popular bets like red or black, or odd or even, which have shorter odds (evens in these two cases). With short odds, the casino will be more generous with the maximum bet you can make. Let’s say you want to stake $50,000 on red or black (okay, it’s unlikely, but stick with me). In this case, the casino knows it stands to lose a maximum of $50,000 if you win, and will allow it.

Inside bets

Inside bets like corners and especially straight-up single numbers come with much higher odds because they are not so likely to win. Imagine trying to place your $50,000 on a single number, at odds of 35 to 1. If you get lucky, you will win $1.75 million! Even the biggest casinos in the world would feel the pain of that payout. For that reason, some casinos will limit the size of inside bets. If the outside max bet on roulette is $50,000, inside bet limits might look something like this:

It won’t matter to most of us

The majority of us won’t need to worry about any roulette table limit for inside bets, simply because our pockets will never be deep enough to play with that amount. And if they were, we probably wouldn’t care too much anyway. What matters is the minimum bet because that determines which tables we can actually play.

Online is no problem because any number of people can play at a single virtual table of roulette. But at a live casino, you have a limited number of roulette tables and must jostle for position with other bettors. The lower stakes tables are always more popular, so don’t be tempted to join a higher minimum stake table. Play within your bankroll, and you will have fun and enjoy your casino experience.

If you have not already done so, sign up with BetAmerica Casino today and try out the roulette tables. You can play the traditional computerized tables for free if you wish so that you can get the hang of the game. But it’s much more fun to play at the live dealer tables, where real dealers use a proper roulette wheel. For this, you must make your first deposit, collect your new player bonus, and play with real money.