There are two kinds of casino patrons: those who are there for the card games and everyone else. Those who don’t hit the blackjack tables or join competitive poker games usually go for the slots, but for those who want something less repetitive and more exciting – not to mention more profitable – the roulette and craps tables are literally your best bet.
When faced with the choice between craps and roulette, though, there are many reasons to pick the latter over the former. What follows are a few of the most important of them.
Better Odds
Roulette has a slightly higher edge for the house to win, but it’s generally much easier to win at least something in roulette. The main reason for this is that while there is really only one way to win at craps, roulette offers tons of different betting options. You may not win big when you bet on odds or evens and black or red, but you have a very high chance of winning – nearly 1:2! You can also bet on rows on the table, as well as corners and specific number sequences. These are more difficult to come to grips with, but the payouts are higher than the near 50/50 odds of betting on evens or reds, and you don’t have to worry about the ball falling on an exact number, which obviously offers the biggest payout, though the worst odds.
Regardless, roulette offers with its premium bets a higher payout than craps and with multiple betting options, it’s also way easier to win at least something. Craps, however, is, as the saying goes, a total crapshoot.
Sheer Enjoyment
Craps, of course, is probably the most glamorous of all casino games and it may be the most thrilling, but roulette is simply a lot more fun. You may be the sort of person who prefers watching dice tumbling across a table, but there’s a reason why the roulette wheel is synonymous with gambling. There’s just something about that spinning ball going slower and slower until it goes from the outer ring onto the main roulette wheel, eventually coming to a standstill on that one number that spells the success or failure of your particular bets. You can also bet however you wish on the roulette table and can adjust your bets with every round. This also gives it an element of strategy that simply isn’t there with the apparent randomness of a game of craps.
User Friendliness
This is a huge point for beginners. Though there are certain intricacies when it comes to the actual betting structures in roulette, it’s a much more intuitive game than craps that literally anyone can just pick up and play. You don’t know about spread bets? Fine. You don’t know the exact odds of each kind of bet available? Sure. But it couldn’t be easier to just sit down at the table and put a couple of bucks on a few of the numbers or try your luck with “betting it all on red”.
Craps may just be about rolling some dice, but the way the game actually works is both difficult to understand and very much unintuitive. You look at a roulette table and it’s immediately apparent how you win, but it’s much less apparent with craps, which relies on a dice falling a certain way in a specific area on specific numbers. Craps is great for established gamblers with tons of money to spare, but roulette is ideal for even the most casual casino patrons.
Easier on the Wallet
Speaking of which, craps is a game that can only really be enjoyed by those who come in with huge sums of money. It’s not so much that craps require a gigantic opening bet, but it’s a game that is only worth playing if you put down a sizable amount of cash. Roulette, on the other hand, is a much more relaxed game that isn’t just more suitable to placing smaller bets, the way you actually maximize your winnings is by not putting all your money on red 26.
A night at the craps table will be either very short or extremely expensive, whereas with roulette, you can have a whole night out playing the game with friends.
Nicer Players and Environment
This is a biggie. Though players heavily invested in the world of craps may thrive under the stress, competitiveness and sheer crabbiness that is all too easily found at a craps table, more casual players will be put off very quickly. Craps may be more glamorous – it’s where all the beautiful people hang out in the movies – but the atmosphere around the game is anything but. The stakes are just much too high.
Roulette, on the other hand, is as close to a family game as you’re going to get at a casino. Obviously, minors under 18 can’t play but for those whose primary purpose at a casino is to have some fun with their friends or significant others, the exciting but much more chilled atmosphere around the roulette table is just so much more inviting. Fellow players will usually be there with the same aims and attitudes so there’s a much more convivial mood between players that absolutely does not exist in craps.
When to Take a Crapshoot
In short, the main reason why someone would play craps over roulette is if that person is either trying to show off (there’s that glamor thing again) or is a seriously, high-rolling gambler, willing to risk it all in front of jeering onlookers. There’s a place for that but if you’re not such a person and you’re looking for a fun night at the casino that doesn’t involve card games with expensive buy-ins or the sheer monotony of slots, roulette is all but tailor made for you.
For novices, nothing beats it, and for more experienced gamblers, roulette is simply the smarter, safer option.
