Roulette Payouts and Odds
How it works
Roulette pays every bet as if the zero did not exist, and that gap is where the house edge comes from. A single number pays 35 to 1 although there are 37 pockets on a European wheel, so the bet returns 36 units for every 37 spins on average. The result is the same 2.70 percent edge on almost every bet of the European game, from a straight number to red or black. The table on this page computes each chance and edge from the number of pockets and the payout, so nothing in it is rounded by hand.
The American wheel adds a double zero and has 38 pockets, while the payouts stay the same. That raises the house edge on every standard bet to 5.26 percent, nearly double the European figure. The five-number bet on 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 is the worst bet on the table at 7.89 percent, because it pays 6 to 1 for five numbers. In Canada the provincial lottery sites and most online casinos offer the European wheel, and it is the better choice whenever both are available.
No betting system changes these numbers. Doubling after a loss, spreading chips across the layout or waiting for a colour that has not come up for a while all leave the edge exactly where it was, because each spin is independent of the last one. What a system changes is the size and timing of wins and losses, which is why the Martingale wins small amounts often and then loses a large amount at once. The calculator below the table shows the expected loss per spin for any stake, which is the honest cost of a bet.
How to use it
Switch between the European and the American wheel with the two buttons above the table. The calculator takes a bet type and a stake and shows the payout, the total returned on a win and the average loss per spin. The five-number bet appears only on the American wheel, where it exists. All figures are computed in your browser from the wheel and the payout of each bet.