Inside and outside bets: https://www.roulette-king.com/roulette-king-articles.php?article=36

The casinos set a minimum bet total for inside or outside bets or your total bet. Not complicated, but if you have mixed bets, it could be confusing. You were probably at a place that had a $5 minimum outside. If there are limits they might be different, like $500 outside and $250 inside. (made that up, it could be $1000 and $100 inside)

True, winning free chips is usually more expensive than just buying one and paying someone else to ship it to me. I put down $100 play until I have almost nothing left, which is the most common event, place a bet with the "last" chips (minus what fell into my pocket by accident) watch the spin and walk away. By the time they get to counting all the chips, I'm off somewhere else.

Here's the secret to knowing all about roulette bets. They are all the same, except one that's worse if you play the five up top, so don't ask how to play that one. red/black, even/odds, 1-18/19-36, columns of 12, six, four, three, two, single number, any combination of the same = All The Same odds! If you can find a single zero in the US play there, but after that, 0-00 make up the house edge for any of the "even money" bets.

Part two. The wheel doesn't know what number came up last or what color. Every spin is a separate event and the previous outcome has no effect on the future! Only humans will think it does. Probability says, no!