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Rules & bet guide

Every bet on a roulette table pays off a fixed ratio against a fixed number of pockets. There's no bluffing, no draw, no decision after the bet is down — just the wheel. This guide walks through the felt, every bet type, and the exact math behind each one.

New to the vocabulary? Learn the Lingo — a glossary of casino terms like house edge, pocket, and inside bet, used throughout this guide. Open glossary →

Step 1

Choose your wheel

European (single zero) or American (double zero) — the felt is identical, only the edge changes.

Step 2

Place your bets

One number, a group of numbers, or a simple color/parity bet — place as many as you like before the spin.

Step 3

The wheel spins

A ball drops into one of the numbered pockets. Nothing about your bet influences where it lands.

Step 4

Bets resolve

Every bet covering the winning pocket pays its fixed odds. Everything else loses. Repeat.

There's no "correct play" here the way there is in blackjack or stud poker. Every bet on the table has its own fixed house edge, and no combination of bets, no betting pattern, and no amount of "due" numbers changes it. This guide exists to show you the exact math, not to teach you a winning system — there isn't one.

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Inside bets

Bets placed directly on numbers, inside the number grid. Fewer numbers covered means a bigger payout — the felt below shows a real example of each, highlighted in gold. (This site's bet list keeps 0 and 00 as straight-up-only bets — it doesn't offer the zero-touching split/corner/line combinations some casinos allow, since those vary table to table.)

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Outside bets

Bets on a large group of numbers at once, placed outside the number grid. Bigger coverage means a smaller payout — these are the lowest-variance bets on the table, not a lower house edge.

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Odds & house edge, every bet

This is the whole game, laid out in one table. Notice that the edge column is flat within each wheel — 2.70% on every single European bet, 5.26% on every American bet except the five-number bet. That flatness is the point: picking a "better" bet type doesn't exist on this game the way it does on blackjack or stud.

Win % = numbers covered ÷ total pockets (37 European, 38 American). Fair payout is what the bet would need to pay to break exactly even; the house always pays a little less than fair.