There are several ways to place a bet for roulette. Each one has every chance at the wheel depending on where you place your chips. Roulette is a very simple game once you know how the playing board is set-up. There are two catagories for roulette. Inside and outside bets are the most common in both American and European roulette.
An ouside bet allows the easier winning chance odds for any bet placed. For example you can bet that either red or black will win or if you feel very lucky you can place a bet on zero or double zero. Both versions have the zero with the exception of American roulette which has a double zero on the wheel. You will see the even and odd bets and low versus high bets. Both of these are easy enough but you'll lose if a zero or double zero is landed since they are neither hi-lo or red and black. Then there are the line bets formed in 3 columns.
The inside bets are a little different as these are the meat and potatoes of riskier bets. Here you can bet a single number up to six in a group. Each one may have the chances to land on that number group and will pay according to the pay out odds of that bet.
First time players might feel that playing the colors or even/odds thinking it's the best odds but most don't think to play the column bets that contain 3 groups of 12 numbers each. This pays 2 to 1 on your original bet which is better than 1 to 1 anytime.