One spin of the wheel against one full house. Which long shot is the longer shot?
The Verdict
—
—
Roulette
Straight-up bet · pays 35:1
2.70%
≈ 1 in 37 spins
Pockets on wheel37
House edge2.70%
Return per $1 staked$0.973
Expected value / $1−$0.027
BINGO722415968319★52711127334863
Bingo
First full house · winner-take-all
1.00%
≈ 1 in 100 games
Your share of cards1 / 100
Your stake$1.00
Expected return$0.50
Expected value / $1−$0.500
It's not just the odds — it's the payout
Roulette almost always gives you the better chance of winning. But because the bingo jackpot can dwarf your stake, its expected value per dollar can swing far higher (or lower) than roulette's fixed house edge. Tune the jackpot and watch.
Roulette · EV per $1
−$0.027
A 2.7% leak on every dollar.
Bingo · EV per $1
−$0.500
Depends entirely on the prize pool.
From the flyers · Outer Melbourne, VIC
What's actually on the board
Two real community bingo centres run on the same legal framework — yet advertise wildly different prize pools. Every figure below is read straight off a weekly flyer. Roulette games pay the winning number's value; the marquee jackpot is the night's headline.
The headline that almost never pays
The rolling-jackpot trap
A "$50,000 @ 40 calls or less" flyer dangles a life-changing number — but to claim it, a single card must complete all 15 numbers inside the first few balls. The maths is brutal, which is exactly why these jackpots roll over for weeks. Each ball in Australian housie is one of 90; a full house needs all 15.
One card, by call limit—
Whole hall hits it this session—
Mean calls to a full house≈ 85 of 90
—
Expected weekly sessions before the jackpot is hit at all — assuming this many cards every week.
Venue economics · The law, in cents
Where every dollar goes
Victoria sets no fixed "percentage to charity" for bingo. Instead it brackets the money three ways: prizes must total 50–90% of takings over any 7 days; a bingo-centre operator may keep up to 60% of what's left plus a 2% fee; and whatever remains is the community organisation's. Slide the prize generosity and watch the charity's slice collapse.
PrizesOperatorCharity
Players win back —Operator keeps up to —Charity gets at least —
Player's expected loss is simply the inverted prize return — here — of every dollar staked. "Operator" is a legal maximum: real expenses can be lower, which pushes the slice to charity. A self-run session with no commercial operator skips that crimson slice entirely.
The parameters a Victorian bingo centre actually plays inside — the limits that shape every flyer above.
Parameter
Limit
Source
Prize floor, single game
≥ 20% of that game's takings
Reg 73(1)(a)
Prize band, any 7 days
50% – 90% of takings
Reg 73(1)(b)
Operator expenses, per session
≤ 60% of proceeds*
Reg 77
Operator fee, per session
≤ 2% of takings
Act s 8.4.6
Fixed % to the charity
none prescribed
Act / Regs
Session size
≤ 30 games / 8 hrs
Act s 8.1.2
Jackpot pools live at once
1 per session
Reg 73(2)
Jackpot / ticket-price cap
none (price uniform per game)
Rule 5.4
Prizes ≥ $1,000
cheque/EFT only, 24 hr hold
Act s 8.4.7A
Session prize value > $20,000
notify VGCCC ≥ 3 days prior
VGCCC
Annual gross receipts > $50,000
auditor's certificate required
Reg 69(4)
Standard game
90-ball, 15 numbers, full house
Rules of Bingo
*Proceeds = takings − prizes paid (Act s 8.1.2). In a rolling-jackpot sequence the 60% is taken after the carried-forward jackpot contribution is set aside (Reg 77).
The flyer, decoded
Snowball
A progressive jackpot you must win inside a tight call limit. Nobody hits it → it grows and the limit eases next time.
Rolling-jackpot flyer
The big headline (e.g. $50k @ 48 calls). Includes a guaranteed in-house prize for the player who finishes after the limit, so the game always pays something.
Roulette game
Same odds as any game — but the prize is set by the winning number: 1–50 pays a flat $50, above 50 pays its face value. "Triple Roulette" = ×3.
Book · flyer · set
A book is a pad of tickets (one per game); a flyer is a one-off special ticket sold on top; a set is a discounted bundle of books.
PET
Personal Electronic Terminal — a tablet that auto-marks numbers. Capped at 10% of tickets in play under the house rules.
Full house
All 15 numbers on a ticket. Your chance of winning ≈ your cards ÷ all cards in play; ties split the prize.