With a spin of that iconic wheel and the hypnotic way the little ball dances along the numbers, roulette has been capturing the imaginations of gamblers for centuries. While novice players know how to place a straight bet on a particular number or color, not many gamblers know how strategic roulette wagers can actually get. 

 

This more nuanced side to this classic game entails a specific type of wager known as “call bets”. While they are more popular in European casinos and conventional French roulette, understanding call bets can still go a long way toward helping roulette novices become more skilled at the game. While it’s ultimately the spin that determines your luck, it’s never a bad thing to play strategically wherever possible. Here’s a look at what call bets in roulette is and how it works. 

The casino industry landscape has changed drastically in the 21st century as iGaming platforms all over the world keep growing and capturing new markets along the way. Luckily, whether you prefer the thrill of a physical casino or the perks and convenience of online roulette, call bets can still be used in either form of the game. 

 

At offshore online casinos, there are plenty of ways to add more excitement to the game since these sites usually offer great perks like instant play, a wider variety of games, and even anonymous play since many now accept crypto as a payment method. However, regardless of the type of roulette you play or where you play it, the basics of call bets remain universally applicable. 

Call bets are also known as “announced bets” and are types of wagers where players ‘announce’ to the croupier (roulette dealer) instead of placing chips on the table to mark their bets. These bets will usually cover specific parts of the wheel, aiming to provide a strategic edge by betting on groupings of numbers rather than single ones.     

 

They entail a formal type of wagering and can be combined with other roulette strategies like doubling down. Once you learn to bet like this, you can pretty much play roulette with the kind of swagger James Bond usually has at casinos. However, this is a bit of an oversimplification of the concept because here’s where it starts to get a little more complicated. 

 

That’s because call bets are broken down into their own categories too. Here’s how these specific call bets work. 

Before we delve into the intricacies of call bets, it’s worth noting that while knowing betting tips like these can provide a slight edge, there’s no such thing as a guaranteed win in gambling so players should exercise caution.

 

The most important lesson in strategic gambling is to play responsibly. Thankfully, technologies like AI are working on ways to make gambling safer.

 

With this type of call bet, a total of 17 different numbers are covered. This category of numbers are those placed closest to the zero on the wheel. They include every number between the 22 and the 25. However, what that means when you break it down is that they span nearly half of the wheel.   

 

To use this type of call bet, you will need nine chips in total to complete the bet. The numbers included are 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, and 25. ‘Calling’ this bet means you are betting on the ball landing on any of these numbers. 

Tiers du Cylindre (Thirds of the Wheel)

This call bet covers an additional 12 numbers of the wheel.  These numbers range from the numbers placed between the 33 and the 27. For this bet, you will need six chips. 

 

The bet includes the numbers 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, and 33. In general, for avid call bet roulette players, this type is typically favored more since it has a lower chip requirement and covers one-third of the roulette wheel.

This bet gets its peculiar name from the fact that it refers to any number not covered by a Voisins or Tiers bet. In total, an orphan bet covers just eight of the numbers on the wheel. 

 

These numbers are 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 17, 34, and 6. These numbers can be found placed in two separate sections of the wheel, meaning they don’t fall into one section of the wheel. Orphelins bets require five chips to use.

 

 

A smaller version of Voisins du Zero, the Jeu Zero bet covers the seven numbers closest to zero, with four chips. The numbers included are 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32, and 15.

 

 

The way a roulette wheel sets out its numbers is by design. Final bets are pretty straightforward as they cover all numbers ending in the same digit. For example, if you take a final bet on a 2, that bet would also cover the 12, 22, and 32. These bets can be placed on any number between 1 and 6 since roulette wheels only go up to 36. 

 

These bets can differ in chip requirements. This is simply because each final bet requires as many chips as there are numbers fitting the criteria.

To place any of these bets, a player simply has to announce the type of bet they want to make. The croupier will then assign the required amount of chips to the exact numbers covered by that particular call. 

 

If you’ve never taken notice of how a roulette table is designed, now that you know how call bets work, you will immediately be able to recognize that these types of bets have their own designated betting areas on the table.

It should be noted that not all roulette tables cater to call bets due to how they can affect roulette odds. American casinos generally don’t so it’s a good idea to see if they do first before trying to use them. Casinos also generally require a minimum wager for call bets so the house isn’t disadvantaged. 

 

The payout for a call bet is determined by the specific numbers that are hit. These depend on the odds as they relate to the chances of a particular number landing. Again, this is to protect the house’s interests and to ensure the game doesn’t become too easy to win.