Katrina Griffiths
Senior editor
Published on: August 27, 2026
Roulette basics: bets, odds, and how the wheel works
Roulette has more bets than any other table game and fewer decisions. Once the wheel is spinning, nothing you do changes the outcome, and almost every bet on the layout carries the same house edge.
This makes the game unusually simple to get right or wrong. One choice decides your return, and you make it before you place a chip: how many zeros are on the wheel.
How the wheel works
A European wheel has 37 pockets numbered 0 to 36. An American wheel has 38, because it adds a second green pocket marked 00. A few online lobbies also carry a triple-zero wheel with 40.
Those extra pockets are the entire house edge. A straight-up bet on a single number pays 35 to 1 on every version of the game, but a European wheel has 37 possible results rather than 36. Hit once in 37 spins, and you get paid as though the odds were 1 in 36. The missing chip is the casino’s, and it never appears on the screen.
The numbers around the rim aren’t in numerical order. Red and black alternate, high and low are spread deliberately, and two numbers sitting side by side on the wheel are usually far apart on the layout.
The bets and what they pay
There are inside and outside bets. Inside bets cover one number or a small group of adjacent numbers on the layout. The figures below are for a single-zero wheel.
| Bet | Numbers covered | Pays | Chance of winning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight up | 1 | 35 to 1 | 2.70% |
| Split | 2 | 17 to 1 | 5.41% |
| Street | 3 | 11 to 1 | 8.11% |
| Corner | 4 | 8 to 1 | 10.81% |
| Six line | 6 | 5 to 1 | 16.22% |
| Column or dozen | 12 | 2 to 1 | 32.43% |
| Red/black, odd/even, high/low | 18 | 1 to 1 | 48.65% |
Outside bets run along the edge of the layout and cover the large groups:
- Red or black, odd or even, and 1 to 18 or 19 to 36 all pay 1 to 1.
- Columns and dozens each cover 12 numbers and pay 2 to 1.
- Zero is not red, black, odd, even, high or low. That’s why an even-money bet wins 48.65% of the time and not half.
Live European tables usually add a racetrack for bets defined by position on the wheel rather than position on the felt: voisins du zéro, tiers du cylindre and orphelins. They’re shortcuts for placing several splits and corners in one click, and they pay no better than the individual bets they’re built from.
Why almost every bet has the same edge
Run the maths on any line in the table above, and you land on the same number: a 2.70% house edge, or a 97.30% return. That holds for a straight-up bet and for red or black, because every payout is short by the same proportion.
What changes between bets is variance, not value. Red or black wins nearly half the time and moves your balance in small steps. A straight-up bet wins once in 37 spins and pays 35 chips when it does. Identical expected cost, completely different session.
The count of green pockets is what actually moves the figure:
- European, single zero, 37 pockets: 2.70% house edge.
- American, double zero, 38 pockets: 5.26%.
- Triple zero, 40 pockets: 7.50%.
- The five-number bet on an American wheel, covering 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3, pays 6 to 1 and carries a 7.89% edge. It’s the worst bet on either layout.
American roulette costs almost twice as much per dollar wagered for the same game. If both wheels are in the lobby, there’s no argument for the American one. Roulette tables are grouped with the rest of an operator’s casino games, and the wheel type is nearly always in the game title, so you can tell which one you’re opening before it loads.
La partage and en prison
French tables add a rule that applies only to the even-money bets. Under la partage, a spin of zero returns half your stake instead of taking all of it, which cuts the edge on those bets from 2.70% to 1.35%. En prison does much the same thing by a different route: the bet is held for one more spin and returned in full if it wins.
1.35% is the lowest edge roulette offers, and it beats most casino bets. It applies to red/black, odd/even and high/low only, so an inside bet at the same table is still 2.70%.
Multiplier variants
Live studios run versions that attach random multipliers to individual numbers, Lightning Roulette being the one most players meet first. Those multipliers are funded by cutting the straight-up payout from 35 to 1 down to 29 to 1.
The published returns reflect the trade: straight-up bets return 97.10% and outside bets stay at 97.30%. The multipliers apply to the bet that costs slightly more, and its variance is far higher than on a standard table. Open the game information panel and read the return rather than assuming it matches the European wheel next to it. Every table at a licensed Alberta site has one, and how easily you can find it is a fair proxy for the rest of an operator’s disclosures. That’s one of the checks behind our safe online casinos page.
What betting systems do and don’t do
The Martingale is the system you’ll be shown first: bet red, double after every loss, and the first win recovers everything plus one unit. It works until the losing run outlasts your bankroll or the table maximum, and both arrive sooner than people expect.
- Seven straight losses on red happens roughly once in every 106 attempts, which is not rare over a session.
- Starting at $5, the eighth bet in that sequence is $640, and you’ll have staked $1,275 to win $5.
- Table maximums cap the sequence, so the recovery bet is often unavailable at exactly the point you need it.
The deeper problem is that spins are independent. The wheel keeps no record of the last ten results, so red is 48.65% on the next spin whether the previous eight came up black or red. A staking pattern can’t change the edge on the bets it’s made of. It only changes the shape of the losses.
Conclusion
If you choose to play roulette, consider playing the single-zero wheel and take la partage when the table offers it. Choose your bet type by how you want the session to feel rather than by expected return, because they all cost the same 2.70%.
Return and house edge across other games are covered on our slots and blackjack pages, and if you want a game where your own decisions move the return, start with video poker. If you’re new to online casinos in the province, the new players guide covers registration and verification.
Remember, question any system that claims to beat the wheel by rearranging losses, not removing them.
You must be 18 or older to gamble online in Alberta. If gambling is causing problems for you or someone you know, the Alberta Health Services Addiction Helpline offers free, confidential support 24 hours a day at 1-866-332-2322, and GameSense is AGLC’s responsible gambling program.
