Read a roulette table in 5 minutes
The layout, inside and outside bets, and how you get paid.
Read the guideWhich wheel to choose?
The house edge by type of roulette: European 2.70%, French 1.35% (on even-money bets thanks to la partage), American 5.26%.
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From stake to payout
Payouts from 35 to 1 down to 1 to 1, and why the average result stays negative (the house edge).
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Set your budget before you play
Bankroll, loss limit, stop point and the share of your bankroll per bet. Good habits to stay in control.
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What strategies really change
They change the rhythm of wins and losses, never the house edge. Comparison table: Martingale, Fibonacci, D'Alembert and Paroli.
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Common myths
“Overdue number”, “red is due”, “hot streak”… Why these beliefs mislead: every spin is independent.
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Analyse your own spins
How to record or import your spins, what you can conclude and what you cannot (frequencies, streaks, deviations).
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Your first time at the casino
Coloured chips, call bets to the croupier, table etiquette and small tips to feel at ease from your first session.
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Playing online: what the law says
The regulator of each country. In France, online roulette is not authorised: only sports betting, horse betting and poker are.
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Roulette glossary (A → Z)
Split, corner, street, six line, neighbours of zero, tiers, orphans, la partage, en prison… Every term explained simply, from A to Z.
Open the glossary
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
- Can you win in the long run?
- Can a strategy beat roulette?
- How do you set a limit?
- Is roulette pure chance?
Read a roulette table in 5 minutes
Back to the guidesThe layout mirrors the 37 pockets of the wheel: the 0, then the numbers 1 to 36, arranged in rows of three. Each number is red or black; the 0 is green.
Inside bets are placed on the numbers themselves. The fewer numbers they cover, the more they pay:
- Straight up (1 number): 35 to 1
- Split (2 neighbouring numbers): 17 to 1
- Street (a row of 3): 11 to 1
- Corner (4 numbers): 8 to 1
- Six line (2 rows, 6 numbers): 5 to 1
Outside bets are placed around them: dozen or column (12 numbers, 2 to 1) and even-money bets — red/black, even/odd, low/high (18 numbers, 1 to 1).
“35 to 1” means: for a winning €10 bet, you receive €350 in winnings and get your €10 stake back. The 0 makes every outside bet lose (except under the partage rule of French roulette).
Which wheel to choose?
Back to the guidesThe house edge is the share of the stakes the casino keeps on average. It comes from the zero pockets, which no payout takes into account.
| Roulette | Pockets | House edge |
|---|---|---|
| European | 37 (a single 0) | 2.70% (1/37) |
| French | 37 (a single 0) | 1.35% on even-money bets (la partage), 2.70% on the rest |
| American | 38 (0 and 00) | 5.26% (2/38); 7.89% on the five-number bet 0-00-1-2-3 |
La partage: when the 0 comes up, half of the even-money stakes is returned. That is what halves the edge on those bets.
Over the same playing time, an American wheel therefore costs nearly twice as much on average as a European one. The simulator lets you compare both over thousands of spins.
From stake to payout
Back to the guidesEvery payout follows the same rule: 36 divided by the number of numbers covered, minus 1. A straight-up bet covers 1 number: 36 − 1 = 35 to 1. A dozen covers 12 numbers: 3 − 1 = 2 to 1.
These payouts would be fair if there were 36 pockets. But there are 37: the 0 is never paid. Hence an average loss of 2.70% of the stake on every spin, whatever the bet.
Example with €10 on red: 18 chances in 37 to win €10, 19 chances in 37 to lose €10. On average: −€0.27 per spin. With €10 straight up on 17: 1 chance in 37 to win €350, 36 to lose €10 — again −€0.27 on average.
For all the bets you place on the layout, the bet calculator shows the result of every number, the maximum win and the average loss.
Set your budget before you play
Back to the guidesYour budget is decided before you play, with a cool head, never during a session.
- Bankroll: money set aside for gambling that you accept you could lose entirely. Never rent money, bill money or a loan.
- Loss limit: the amount at which you stop the session, whatever happens.
- Win stop point: the amount at which you also stop, so as not to play it all back.
- Share per bet: at 5% of your bankroll per bet, 20 losses in a row are enough to lose everything; at 1%, it takes 100.
- Time: set a duration too, and take breaks.
A log of your sessions shows where you really stand. The Bankroll Management page keeps it for you, with your limits and how your bankroll evolves.
What strategies really change
Back to the guidesA betting strategy decides the size of the next bet from previous results. It does not change the probability of the next number.
| Method | After a loss | After a win | What you see |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martingale | doubles the bet | goes back to the base bet | many small wins, rare very large losses |
| Fibonacci | moves one step up the sequence 1-1-2-3-5-8… | moves two steps back | slower progression, losses more spread out |
| D'Alembert | adds one unit | removes one unit | gentle swings, long losing runs still possible |
| Paroli | goes back to the base bet | doubles the bet (up to 3 wins) | small losses, rare winning runs amplified |
They all leave the same average loss: about 2.70% of everything staked (European roulette). With the Martingale starting at €10, 7 losses in a row — about 1 time in 106 — already cost €1,270, and the next bet would be €1,280.
The simulator compares the four methods over 1,000 sessions with your settings.
Common myths
Back to the guidesA roulette wheel has no memory: on every spin, each number has exactly 1 chance in 37 of coming up, whatever came before.
- “This number is overdue, it will come up”: false, its probability stays at 2.70%.
- “After 8 blacks, red is due”: false, red still has 18 chances in 37 (48.65%).
- “This number is hot, it keeps coming up”: over a small number of spins, large deviations are normal.
- “Deviations end up evening out”: no, they fade into the mass of spins without being made up.
- “If I bet more, I'll win it back”: raising your bets mainly raises your possible loss.
The Statistics page shows these effects on real spins: a number's curve gets closer to 2.70% as spins pile up, without ever “catching up”.
Analyse your own spins
Back to the guidesWrite the numbers down in the order they come up, from oldest to newest, or import a record (CSV, TXT or JSON). You can also enter them one by one by tapping the layout.
What you can look at: the frequency of each number, colours, dozens and columns, the longest streaks, and the deviation from the theoretical probability.
What you can conclude: a description of what happened. Over a very large number of spins (several thousand), a very unusual deviation can point to an entry error or a faulty wheel.
What you cannot conclude: which number will come next. Past spins predict nothing.
Your first time at the casino
Back to the guides- Entry: ID is requested, minors are not admitted, and smart dress is expected.
- Chips: you exchange your money at the cashier or at the table. At American-style roulette, each player gets chips of their own colour, to be exchanged before leaving the table.
- Limits: the minimum and maximum bet of each table are displayed.
- Rhythm: you bet after “Place your bets”; at “No more bets”, you no longer touch anything.
- Call bets: you can ask the croupier to place a set bet, such as the neighbours of zero (17 numbers, 9 chips), tiers du cylindre (12 numbers, 6 chips) or the orphans (8 numbers, 5 chips).
- Tipping: leaving a chip “for the staff” after a win is a custom, never an obligation.
Before you go, decide on your budget and leave your bank card at home if you are worried about overspending.
Playing online: what the law says
Back to the guidesOnline roulette is legal only where a regulator authorises it, and only with the operators it has licensed.
| Country | Authority | Online roulette |
|---|---|---|
| France | ANJ | Not authorised: only online sports betting, horse betting and poker are |
| Belgium | Gaming Commission | Only with operators holding a Belgian licence |
| Switzerland | ESBK / CFMJ | Only with Swiss casinos holding a concession |
| Spain | DGOJ | Only with licensed operators |
| Italy | ADM | Only with approved concession holders |
| Portugal | SRIJ | Only with licensed operators |
| Germany | GGL and the Länder | No national authorisation; only a few Länder have granted concessions |
| United Kingdom | UK Gambling Commission | Only with licensed operators |
| Brazil | SPA (Ministry of Finance) | Only with approved operators (.bet.br sites); rules are changing |
Check a licence on the authority's official website, not just the logo shown on the site. On an unauthorised site, you have no recourse in a dispute.
Situation on 6 November 2026: rules change, so always check with the official authority of your country.
Roulette glossary (A → Z)
Back to the guidesC
- Call bets
- Bets announced to the croupier, who places the chips on a sector of the wheel: neighbours of zero, tiers, orphans, zero game.
- Column
- One of the three columns of 12 numbers on the layout. Pays 2 to 1.
- Corner
- A bet on 4 numbers meeting at a corner. Pays 8 to 1.
- Croupier
- The casino employee who spins the ball, announces the result, collects losing bets and pays winning ones.
D
- Dozen
- Numbers 1 to 12, 13 to 24 or 25 to 36. Pays 2 to 1.
E
- En prison
- French rule: when the 0 comes up, an even-money bet stays on the table for the next spin instead of being lost.
- Even and odd
- Even-money bets on even or odd numbers (the 0 is neither).
- Even-money bets
- Red/black, even/odd, low/high: 18 numbers each, paid 1 to 1.
H
- House edge
- Average share of the stakes kept by the casino: 2.70% at European roulette, 5.26% at American.
I
- Inside bets
- Bets placed on the numbers: straight up, split, street, corner, six line.
L
- La partage
- French rule: when the 0 comes up, half of the even-money stakes is returned.
- Low and high
- Low: numbers 1 to 18. High: 19 to 36. Even-money bets paid 1 to 1.
N
- Neighbours of zero
- Call bet covering the 17 numbers around the 0 on the wheel, with 9 chips.
- No more bets
- The croupier's call (“Rien ne va plus”): no more bets are accepted for this spin.
O
- Orphans
- Call bet covering the 8 numbers that are neither in the neighbours of zero nor in the tiers, with 5 chips.
- Outside bets
- Bets placed around the numbers: dozens, columns and even-money bets.
R
- Red and black
- Even-money bets on the colour of the number (18 red, 18 black, the 0 is green).
S
- Six line
- A bet on 2 neighbouring rows, i.e. 6 numbers. Pays 5 to 1.
- Split
- A bet on 2 neighbouring numbers on the layout. Pays 17 to 1.
- Straight up
- A bet on a single number. Pays 35 to 1.
- Street
- A bet on a row of 3 numbers. Pays 11 to 1.
T
- Tiers du cylindre
- Call bet covering the 12 numbers opposite the 0 on the wheel, with 6 chips.
W
- Wheel
- The wheel the ball spins in: 37 pockets (0 to 36), or 38 with the 00 at American roulette.
Z
- Zero
- The green pocket: neither red nor black, neither even nor odd. American roulette also has a double zero (00).
- Zero game
- Call bet covering the 7 numbers closest to the 0 on the wheel, with 4 chips.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Back to the guidesCan you win in the long run?
You can win in a session, but not over time: the house edge makes you lose about 2.70% of everything staked on average at European roulette. The longer you play, the closer the result gets to that average loss.
Can a strategy beat roulette?
No. A strategy changes how wins and losses are spread (often small wins and rare big losses), not the average loss. The simulator compares the methods over 1,000 sessions.
How do you set a limit?
Before you play: a budget you accept you could lose, a loss limit and a stop point per session, and a duration. Do not change them during the session.
Is roulette pure chance?
Yes, on a fair wheel: each number has 1 chance in 37 on every spin, and no skill changes the result. Only your budget and betting decisions depend on you.
Is an “overdue” number more likely to come up?
No. Spins are independent: a number that has not come up for a long time keeps exactly the same probability.
Which wheel gives the house the smallest edge?
French roulette on even-money bets (1.35% thanks to la partage), then European (2.70%). American roulette, with its double zero, is at 5.26%.
Can you legally play roulette online?
It depends on the country. In France it is not authorised: only online sports betting, horse betting and poker are.
These guides are informative and educational. They help you understand roulette, how it works and its statistics. They are not an invitation to gamble.