Roulette Odds and Payouts Chart: Every Bet and the Real House Edge
You put $10 on red. The ball drops into the green 00 pocket and the dealer sweeps it. That green pocket is the whole story of roulette odds. On an American wheel there are 38 pockets, 18 red, 18 black and 2 green, so a red bet wins 47.37% of the time while paying even money. Every bet on an American wheel carries the same 5.26% house edge, and a single-zero European wheel cuts that to 2.70%.
Roulette odds and payouts chart
This is every standard inside and outside bet, with the payout, the chance of winning on each wheel, and the true odds you would need for a fair game. We calculated every number from the pocket counts, so they hold at any casino using a standard wheel.
| Bet | Numbers | Pays | Win %, American | Win %, European | True odds, American |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight up | 1 | 35 to 1 | 2.63% | 2.70% | 37 to 1 |
| Split | 2 | 17 to 1 | 5.26% | 5.41% | 18 to 1 |
| Street | 3 | 11 to 1 | 7.89% | 8.11% | 11.67 to 1 |
| Corner | 4 | 8 to 1 | 10.53% | 10.81% | 8.5 to 1 |
| Top line (American only) | 5 | 6 to 1 | 13.16% | n/a | 6.6 to 1 |
| Six line | 6 | 5 to 1 | 15.79% | 16.22% | 5.33 to 1 |
| Dozen or column | 12 | 2 to 1 | 31.58% | 32.43% | 2.17 to 1 |
| Red, black, odd, even, high, low | 18 | 1 to 1 | 47.37% | 48.65% | 1.11 to 1 |
Notice the pattern. Each payout is set one notch below the true odds, and the gap works out to the same 5.26% on every American bet except the five-number top line, which pays 6 to 1 when the true odds are 6.6 to 1. That makes it the worst bet on the layout at 7.89%.
Roulette house edge by wheel and rule
The math behind the 5.26%: bet $1 on a single number 38 times and hit once on average. You collect $35 plus your $1 back, but you staked $38, so you are $2 short, and $2 divided by $38 is 5.26%. On a single-zero wheel you stake $37 and get $36 back, a $1 loss, which is 2.70%.
La partage, used on many single-zero tables in Europe, returns half of an even-money bet when the ball lands on zero. En prison holds the bet for one more spin instead, and works out to the same 1.35%. Single-zero tables are harder to find in the United States, and some casinos run triple-zero wheels (0, 00 and 000) with 39 pockets, where the edge jumps to 7.69%. Read the layout before you sit down. Our ranking of Vegas casino games by house edge puts roulette next to blackjack, craps and baccarat.
What the house edge costs you per hour
The edge is a percentage of everything you bet, not of what you bring. At an illustrative 40 spins an hour with $10 on each spin, you put $400 into action. The table shows the expected cost.
| Game | Edge | $10 x 40 spins | Per $100 bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| American roulette | 5.26% | $21.05 | $5.26 |
| European roulette | 2.70% | $10.81 | $2.70 |
| European, la partage | 1.35% | $5.41 | $1.35 |
| Blackjack, basic strategy | 0.28% to 0.80% | $1.12 to $3.20 | $0.28 to $0.80 |
Single-zero roulette costs about half as much as double-zero for the same action. If you want the lowest edge in the building, blackjack with basic strategy beats any roulette wheel.
Roulette streaks: how often red hits five in a row
Every spin is independent. The wheel does not remember the last result, so a run of reds does not make black more likely. Streaks still happen more often than most players expect, and they are exactly what betting systems run into.
| Streak | American wheel | European wheel |
|---|---|---|
| Same color 5 times in a row | 2.39% | 2.73% |
| Same color 7 times in a row | 0.54% | 0.65% |
| Same color 10 times in a row | 0.057% | 0.074% |
| Lose 7 even-money bets in a row | 1.12% | 0.94% |
| A given number hits at least once in 38 spins | 63.7% | 63.7% (in 37 spins) |
A 1.12% chance of seven straight losses sounds rare until you play a few hundred spins. That is the problem with the Martingale, the system of doubling after every loss. Starting at $10, seven losses in a row cost $1,270, and the next bet would be $1,280, well past the maximum on most $10 tables. The system wins small amounts often and loses large amounts occasionally, and the house edge is unchanged.
How to get the best roulette odds
If you also bet sports, the same idea applies: the margin built into the price is what you are fighting. Our guide to the vig in betting shows how a sportsbook builds its edge into a -110 line, and the sportsbook comparison helps you find the lowest one.