Roulette odds and payouts explained
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Every roulette bet has a fixed payout that reflects how many numbers it covers. The house takes its edge because the payouts are set as if the wheel has 36 numbers, but European wheels have 37 (or 38 on American wheels).
Complete payout table
Straight up (1 number) pays 35:1. Split (2 numbers) pays 17:1. Street (3 numbers) pays 11:1. Corner (4 numbers) pays 8:1. Line (6 numbers) pays 5:1. Column or dozen (12 numbers) pays 2:1. Even money bets (18 numbers) pay 1:1. These ratios are constant regardless of the casino or wheel type — only the number of total pockets changes.
How the house edge works
On a European wheel with 37 numbers, a straight-up bet covers 1 in 37 outcomes but pays 35:1 as if there were 36. The missing unit (1/37 × bet) is the casino’s average profit per spin. On an American wheel with 38 numbers, the same calculation applies to 2 out of 38 (the two zeros), roughly doubling the house’s margin. The zero pockets are the built-in advantage — payouts simply don’t account for them.
Ben Barber got into the gambling industry through the poker rooms of London in the early 2000s. After building up a solid grounding in casino, sports betting and poker, he made the move to Malta where he spent close to a decade writing for some of the biggest affiliate networks in the region. A few years ago he relocated to Bali, which shifted his focus toward website strategy and affiliate marketing. The casino side never really left, though. He still writes reviews, how-to guides and in-depth pieces on everything from slots and live dealer tables to crypto casinos and sweepstakes sites. His approach is fact-first: help players understand how online gambling actually works before they deposit a cent.