What is a basket bet in roulette? The five number bet explained

One of the great joys of roulette is the number of different bets you can make. There are countless choices, from the high-risk inside bets to the lower risk outside bets, or combinations of both.

But while most players understand the wagering options available to them, there is one type of bet that few are aware of, not least because it’s not available to players of European roulette, only American roulette.

The Basket Bet Explained

Unlike European roulette, where there is one green zero segment at the top of the table, there are two segments in American roulette: the zero and the double zero. This means you can elect to place a bet covering the zero, double zero, and the top line of numbers, which are 1, 2, 3.

It’s a combination of five numbers you hope to hit; hence the basket bet is also known as the five-number bet.

There is actually nothing complicated about this type of bet. Regular roulette players at TwinSpires Casino will know you can already bet on a row of three numbers, known as a street bet (for example, 1, 2, 3, or 10, 11, and 12). You can also bet on a line bet, where you cover a total of six numbers covering neighboring rows. For example, 1-6, or 13-18.

The basket bet follows the same idea, but with the aforementioned five numbers – zero, double zero, 1, 2, and 3 as your choice.

Basket Bet Odds

With a total of 38 numbers in play – 1 through 36, zero, and double zero – and five chances of winning, the odds of landing a basket bet are 13.16%. However – and this is a big however – the odds you get from the casino are only 6/1. With the chances of hitting at around 13%, you might expect a payout closer to 7/1 to make it worth your while.

This means the roulette house edge for the basket bet is a whopping 7.89%, well above the average for roulette, so you have been warned.

How to Place the Five Number Bet

You carefully place a chip (or chips) on the line that straddles the outside edge of the 1 box and the single zero box at the table. It’s a similar method to the line bet, which straddles two rows. Remember, you have to be playing an American Roulette game to place a basket bet.

All that remains is for you to then sit back, watch the white ball whizz around the roulette wheel, and hope 0, 00, 1, 2, or 3 comes in. You get a nice payout if it does. But just remember to take those odds into account – your expected payout does not reflect well enough the low chance of you actually winning.

The best piece of advice is to remember that gambling on roulette is meant to be fun. In this respect, it’s fine every now and again to add a basket bet to your play as it gives you something a little different to shout for, after all. But with the unfavorable house edge, it is not a bet you should be making every spin of the wheel because you will soon lose your money.

Play Online Roulette Now

You can try the basket bet out for yourself at TwinSpires Casino, where you will find the American roulette table from NetEnt. If you have not already done so, sign up for your account, claim your welcome bonus, and then head for the table games section.

Good luck at the tables!