Roulette Odds and Payouts Chart: European vs American

Roulette odds are the numbers a bet covers divided by the pockets on the wheel: a single number wins 1 in 37 (2.70%) on a European wheel and 1 in 38 (2.63%) on an American one, and pays 35 to 1 on both. Every payout is the same on either wheel, so the extra zero on the American wheel is what doubles the house edge, from 2.70% to 5.26%.

Roulette odds and payouts chart

This chart lists what every roulette bet pays and how often it wins on a European wheel (37 pockets) and an American wheel (38 pockets).

A "35 to 1" payout means you keep your stake and receive 35 times it on top. Triple-zero wheels, which have 39 pockets, keep the same payouts and take a house edge of 7.69%.

Roulette odds calculator: any bet, any wheel

Pick a wheel to see the same chart with expected value per unit staked, switch on la partage or en prison, work out streak odds, and play 10,000 simulated spins.

What does roulette pay?

Roulette pays 35 to 1 on a single number, 17 to 1 on a split, 11 to 1 on a street, 8 to 1 on a corner, 6 to 1 on the American five-number basket, 5 to 1 on a six line, 2 to 1 on a dozen or a column, and 1 to 1 on red, black, odd, even, high or low. Payouts do not depend on the wheel or the casino. If you stake $100 on red and it lands red, you win $100 and get your $200 back.

What are the odds of red or black in roulette?

Red and black each win 48.65% of the time on a European wheel (18 of 37) and 47.37% on an American wheel (18 of 38). The rest is the zeros: green is 1 of 37 on a European wheel and 2 of 38 on an American one. Odd, even, high and low have the same chance.

What are the best odds in roulette?

The best odds are on a single-zero wheel. On a European wheel every bet costs the same 2.70% on average, and where la partage or en prison is offered, even-money bets cost 1.35%, the lowest edge on any roulette table. On an American wheel every bet costs 5.26%, and the five-number basket costs 7.89%, the worst bet on the table. No bet beats the house edge, so the choice is the wheel and the rule, not the bet.

How is the roulette house edge calculated?

A fair bet covering n of 36 numbers would pay 36 ÷ n − 1 to 1. Casinos pay exactly that, but the ball can also land in a zero, which no such bet covers. Staking 1 on a bet of n numbers therefore has an expected value of:

EV = n × (payout + 1) ÷ pockets − 1 = 36 ÷ pockets − 1

With 37 pockets that is −1/37, a house edge of 2.70% on every bet. With 38 it is −2/38, or 5.26%, and with 39 it is −3/39, or 7.69%. The edge is the same for a straight-up bet and for red, so the bet type changes how bumpy the ride is, never what it costs. The exception is the American five-number basket (0, 00, 1, 2 and 3), which pays 6 to 1: 5 × 7 ÷ 38 − 1 is −3/38, a house edge of 7.89%.

European vs American vs triple-zero roulette

Every extra zero adds a pocket that beats every bet and pays nothing. The European wheel has one zero, the American wheel adds a double zero, and triple-zero wheels add a third. Per unit staked, the house keeps 2.70%, 5.26% and 7.69% on average, so the American wheel costs almost twice as much as the European one, and the triple-zero wheel nearly three times as much. If you can choose a wheel, choose the fewest zeros.

What do la partage and en prison change?

Some single-zero tables return part of an even-money stake when the ball lands on zero. Under la partage you get half of it back. Under en prison the stake is held for the next spin: it comes back if that spin wins for your bet and is lost if it loses, and a second zero keeps it imprisoned. Worked out exactly, an imprisoned stake is worth −½, the same as la partage. On red or black the house edge falls from 2.70% to 1/74, or 1.35%.

Both rules apply to even-money bets on single-zero wheels only, and tables differ (some let a second zero lose the stake, which nudges the edge to 1.39%), so read the table rules before you rely on it. The calculator applies the half-back rule when you switch it on.

How likely is a streak of reds or blacks?

On a European wheel, five reds in a row happen 2.72% of the time, about 1 in 37, and ten in a row 0.074%, about 1 in 1,347. Those are the chances that the next spins you are about to watch all land red. Over a long session the streak has many places to start, so it is far more common than it looks: a run of ten reds or more somewhere in 100 spins has a 3.5% chance, and in 1,000 spins about 32%. Set your own streak and session length in the calculator.

What a streak does not change is the next spin. After five reds a European wheel still lands red with the same 48.65% chance it always had, because the wheel has no memory. The belief that black is "due" is the gambler's fallacy, and the article on it explains where it comes from.

Can any roulette bet beat the house edge?

No. Every bet has the same expected loss per unit staked, so mixing bets or changing their size does not change what a session costs on average; it only changes how far results spread around that average. Progression systems such as the martingale swap many small wins for a rare large loss, which the martingale calculator shows with your own bankroll and table limit. Sizing rules such as the Kelly criterion calculator only tell you to stake nothing on a bet with a negative edge. For the general picture of how odds, payouts and edge fit together, read gambling odds explained.

This page is arithmetic about classic casino roulette. Gift Club, the site it sits on, has no roulette game.

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