Roulette is the simplest game in the casino to play and one of the easiest to choose badly. The wheel you pick sets the price. A single-zero European wheel costs you 2.7% of everything you stake over time. A double-zero American wheel costs 5.26%, nearly twice as much, for an identical experience. A French table with the right rule can halve the European cost on some bets. Nothing you do after choosing the table, no bet type and no staking plan, changes those figures.
Three wheels, three prices
| Version | Pockets | House edge | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| European | 37 (1 to 36 plus a single zero) | 2.70% | The standard at UK casinos and the sensible default |
| French | 37, same wheel as European | 2.70%, or about 1.35% on even-money bets with la partage | Half your even-money stake is returned when zero lands |
| American | 38 (adds a double zero) | 5.26% | Same payouts as European with an extra losing pocket. Avoid |
The arithmetic is short. A straight-up number pays 35 to 1. On a European wheel there are 37 pockets, so a fair payout would be 36 to 1. The gap is the house edge, and it is the same proportion on every bet on the layout. Add a second zero and the fair payout would be 37 to 1 while the casino still pays 35.
French roulette uses the European wheel with a differently arranged layout and, usually, the la partage rule: if the ball lands on zero, even-money bets such as red or black lose only half. A related rule, en prison, holds the stake for the next spin. Either brings the edge on those bets down to about 1.35%, the best roulette deal you will find. Not every table labelled "French" applies the rule, so read the help screen.
American wheels do appear in UK lobbies. There is no upside to the second zero. If you see 0 and 00 on the layout, pick another table.
The bets and what they pay
Inside bets go on the numbers themselves. Outside bets cover large groups.
| Bet | Covers | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Straight up | 1 number | 35 to 1 |
| Split | 2 adjacent numbers | 17 to 1 |
| Street | 3 numbers in a row | 11 to 1 |
| Corner | 4 numbers | 8 to 1 |
| Six line | 6 numbers | 5 to 1 |
| Dozen or column | 12 numbers | 2 to 1 |
| Red or black, odd or even, high or low | 18 numbers | 1 to 1 |
On a European wheel all of these carry the same 2.7% edge. The choice between them is about volatility, not value. Even-money bets win a little under half the time and keep your balance fairly steady. Straight-up bets lose 36 times in 37 and pay well when they land. Spreading chips over many numbers does not improve your odds. It just blends several bets with the same edge.
The racetrack bets on French and many European layouts, voisins du zero, tiers and orphelins, are bundles of ordinary bets covering sections of the physical wheel. They cost and pay exactly what their component bets do.
There is one exception. On American tables the five-number bet covering 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 has an edge of nearly 8%, the worst on any standard roulette layout.
Why betting systems do not beat the wheel
The Martingale is the famous one: bet on red, double after every loss, and the first win recovers everything plus one unit. It feels like it works because it wins small amounts most of the time. Then a losing streak arrives. After seven straight losses from a 1 pound start you have lost 127 pounds and need to stake 128 pounds to win back a single pound. Before long you hit the table maximum or the end of your money, and one such streak wipes out many evenings of small wins.
Seven losses in a row on an even-money bet is not rare. It happens roughly once in every 106 sequences on a European wheel, and a regular player will meet it.
The Fibonacci, D'Alembert, Labouchere and the rest are gentler versions of the same idea, and the reverse systems that raise stakes after wins have the mirror-image flaw. The mathematics is settled. Each spin has an expected loss of 2.7% of the stake on a European wheel. A system is only a sequence of such bets, and adding up negative numbers in a clever order does not produce a positive one. The wheel has no memory, so a run of reds makes black no more likely.
A system can shape a session, in that it decides whether you get many small wins and a rare big loss or the other way round. It cannot change the cost. Anyone selling a roulette system as a way to make money is selling something that does not exist.
Software, live and auto roulette
Software roulette uses a random number generator and an animated wheel. Minimum bets are the lowest you will find, often pennies a chip, and you set the pace, subject to the UK rule that non-slot games take at least 5 seconds a round with no autoplay or turbo.
Live roulette streams a real wheel and a dealer from a studio or, in some cases, from the floor of an actual casino. Grosvenor, for instance, lists roulette tables streamed from its Victoria casino in London and from clubs in cities including Nottingham, Sheffield and Glasgow, where online players bet alongside people in the room. Rounds take longer because of the betting window and the spin, which slows your spending as well as the game.
Auto roulette sits between the two: a physical wheel spun by a mechanism, no dealer, quicker rounds. The result comes from a real ball in a real wheel, which some players trust more than software.
Multiplier variants such as Lightning Roulette add random boosted payouts on a few numbers each spin. They pay for the boosts by cutting the ordinary straight-up payout, to 29 to 1 in Lightning Roulette's case, so the house edge is no lower and the game is far more volatile. Good theatre, and no bargain. Our live casino guide has more on these.
Picking a lobby for roulette
European roulette, in software and live form, is standard across the casinos we review. What separates them is the range of live tables, the minimum bets and whether a French table with la partage is on offer, which is worth a minute's search in any lobby. For live roulette we rate LeoVegas and Grosvenor highly, and bet365 and Sky Vegas are strong all-round choices. See the full list of reviews for the rest.
If you plan to play with a bonus, be aware that roulette often contributes little or nothing to wagering, and betting on both red and black to grind through a requirement is typically banned in the terms. The wagering requirements guide explains how contributions work.
Roulette is quick to learn and easy to play for longer than you meant to. Decide the budget first, set a deposit limit to match, and treat the 2.7% as the price of the show. For a game with a lower edge and more decisions, read our blackjack guide, or go back to the games hub.
Questions people ask
Which roulette has the best odds?
French roulette with the la partage rule, where even-money bets lose only half when zero lands, giving a house edge of about 1.35% on those bets. Standard European roulette is 2.7% and American is 5.26%.
Can a betting system beat roulette?
No. Systems such as the Martingale change the pattern of wins and losses but not the house edge. Every spin has the same negative expectation whatever you staked before it.
Is online roulette rigged?
At UK licensed casinos, software roulette must use a tested random number generator and live roulette uses a physical wheel on camera. The casino does not need to cheat because the zero gives it a built-in edge on every bet.
What is the difference between live roulette and auto roulette?
Live roulette has a dealer who spins the wheel and calls the result. Auto roulette uses a real wheel spun by a machine with no dealer, so rounds are a little quicker. Both are streamed from a physical wheel.
Do slot stake limits apply to roulette?
No. The 5 pound and 2 pound caps are for online slots only. Roulette tables set their own minimum and maximum bets.