Every bet on a roulette table costs the same, except for the one choice nobody puts in front of you: which wheel you are sitting at. A single zero wheel keeps 2.70 percent of everything you stake. A double zero wheel keeps 5.26. Same bets, same payouts, twice the price.
The sum is short enough to check yourself. On a single zero wheel a straight up number pays 35 to 1 and lands once in 37 spins. Cover every number with a euro and you stake 37, the win pays you 36 back, and the house keeps one. One divided by 37 is 2.70 percent. Add a second zero and the same 36 payout sits against 38 pockets, which is 2 divided by 38, or 5.26 percent.
Here is the part that should bother you. Not one of the casino reviews on this site names the wheel its roulette tables run, because no lobby publishes it. The single number that doubles the cost of your session is the one you have to find by opening the table and counting the pockets.
Every figure below is arithmetic you can repeat yourself, or a number with a named source beside it. No casino has paid to appear here or to soften what the tables say.
What Each Wheel Costs
| Wheel | House edge | Cost per €100 staked | Where the figure comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| French, even money bets | 1.35% | €1.35 | La partage returns half your stake when the zero lands, which halves the 2.70 percent |
| European, single zero | 2.70% | €2.70 | One zero among 37 pockets, which is 1 divided by 37 |
| American, double zero | 5.26% | €5.26 | Two zeros among 38 pockets, which is 2 divided by 38 |
| American, the five number bet | 7.89% | €7.89 | Zero, double zero, 1, 2 and 3 paid at 6 to 1 when they land 5 times in 38 |
These are the same roulette rows that appear in the house edge table on the casino games page, so the two cannot disagree. The five number bet exists only on an American layout.
Read the first and third rows together. On a hundred euros of stakes the gap between the two wheels is nearly four euros, and it repeats on every hundred you stake after that. Nothing else you do at the table moves the number that far.
Every Bet Pays the Same Price
| Bet | Pays | Chance on a single zero wheel | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight up, one number | 35 to 1 | 2.70% | 2.70% |
| Split, two numbers | 17 to 1 | 5.41% | 2.70% |
| Street, three numbers | 11 to 1 | 8.11% | 2.70% |
| Corner, four numbers | 8 to 1 | 10.81% | 2.70% |
| Six line, six numbers | 5 to 1 | 16.22% | 2.70% |
| Column or dozen, twelve numbers | 2 to 1 | 32.43% | 2.70% |
| Red, black, odd, even, high or low | 1 to 1 | 48.65% | 2.70% |
Each chance is simply how many pockets the bet covers divided by 37. The payout shrinks at exactly the rate the chance grows, which is why the last column never moves.
This is the quiet answer to most roulette advice you will read. Covering more numbers does not make a bet safer in the sense that matters, and covering fewer does not make it better value. You are choosing how your money behaves, not what it costs.
What la Partage Actually Does
French tables add one rule worth more than every betting system ever printed. When the ball lands in zero, an even money bet is not lost outright. Half of it comes back, which turns a 2.70 percent edge into 1.35 on those bets.
Some tables use en prison instead. The stake is frozen for one more spin rather than halved, and over time it works out to the same saving. Both rules apply only to red, black, odd, even, high and low. A straight up number still costs 2.70 percent, whatever the sign on the table says.
So the cheapest roulette in any lobby is a French table played on even money bets. It is also the hardest to find, which tells you something about how these lobbies are arranged.
Why No System Changes the Number
The edge is applied to every spin on its own. Nothing you do between spins reaches backward or forward, so no order of stakes can turn a losing average into a winning one. The systems do not fail because they are badly designed. They fail because there is nothing in them to design.
The Martingale is the clearest example. Double after every loss and you win one unit each time a sequence ends, which feels like a machine for printing small wins. Then count the other side. Eight even money losses in a row happen about once in every 207 sequences on a single zero wheel. By then you are 255 units down, the ninth bet is 256, and the table maximum is usually already in the way.
That is the whole purpose of a table maximum. It is not there to stop you winning. It is there to make sure the sequence ends while the house is still ahead.
If you want the longer version, the roulette tips and tricks page works through why every bet on the layout carries the same price, and what that leaves you to actually choose.
Roulette and the Bonus Terms
Here is where roulette collides with the rest of this site. It is one of the cheapest games in the lobby, and the bonus terms are written to keep you away from it.
Seven of the casinos I review state plainly that table games count nothing at all toward a wagering requirement: National Casino, Spinanga, HellSpin, DragonSlots, BillyBets, SafeCasino and Spinline. Stake a thousand euros on red at any of them while a bonus is live and your requirement has not moved by a cent.
Playfina is the only one that gives roulette any weight, at 5 percent. That sounds generous beside zero until you price it. Twenty euros staked on a roulette table counts as one euro of turnover, so clearing a 100 euro bonus at 35 times would take 70,000 euros of roulette. The reason is not hard to see. A game that costs the house 2.70 percent is a poor place to send borrowed money. If you want the full version of that arithmetic, it is on the page about whether to take the bonus at all.
Where Roulette Runs Live
Twelve of the casinos I review list live roulette in the lobby: Zet, Nomini, 22Casino, 1Bet, GreatWin, Playfina, Asino, BetLabel, StoneVegas, Winnerz, AzurSlot and WinRolla. Live tables and software tables pay the same odds on the same wheel, so neither is fairer than the other.
The real difference is speed. A software table can spin three or four times a minute with nobody to wait for, and the edge is charged on every spin. The same 2.70 percent costs more per hour at an RNG table than at a live one, purely because more happens.
What none of those twelve publish is the wheel. Until a lobby prints it, the only reliable method is the one that costs nothing: open the table in demo mode and look for the double zero.
How I Checked These Numbers
The edges in the first two tables are division rather than research. Take how many pockets a bet covers, divide by 37 or 38, and compare the payout to the true odds. You can repeat every figure here on paper, which is why none of them carries a last checked date.
The casino facts are different. Each one comes from a full review on this site, read out of the operator’s own terms, and each review carries the date it was last read. Where a casino does not publish something, such as which wheel its tables use, this page says so rather than filling the gap.
Where to Go Next
Roulette is one line in a longer table. These pages carry the rest of it.
Where to Play Roulette for Real Money
The wheel pays the same odds in every lobby, so the operator is the only variable left for you to choose. Each casino below is ranked by the score it earned across four published criteria.
FAQ About Online Roulette
Which roulette wheel should I play?
The single zero one, always. A European wheel keeps 2.70 percent of what you stake and an American wheel keeps 5.26 for the same bets and the same payouts, so the double zero version costs you twice as much per spin.
What is the house edge on roulette?
On a single zero wheel it is 2.70 percent, on a double zero wheel 5.26 percent, and on a French table with la partage it drops to 1.35 percent for even money bets only.
Is any roulette bet better than the others?
No. Every bet on a single zero wheel carries the same 2.70 percent, from a straight up number to red or black. Only the shape of the outcome changes, not the price.
What is la partage?
A French table rule that returns half your even money stake when the ball lands in zero. It halves the edge on those bets to 1.35 percent and does nothing for the rest of the layout.
Does the Martingale system work?
No. Losing eight even money bets in a row happens about once in every 207 attempts on a single zero wheel, and by then you are 255 units down chasing one, with the next bet at 256 and the table maximum in the way.
Does roulette count toward a bonus wagering requirement?
Almost never. Seven of the casinos I review state that table games count nothing at all, and only one counts roulette at 5 percent. The arithmetic behind a bonus explains why that matters.
Is live dealer roulette fairer than the software version?
Neither is more or less fair, because both pay the same odds on the same wheel. A live table lets you see the spin, while an RNG table runs faster, which means more spins per hour and more exposure to the same edge.
Can I try roulette without depositing?
Yes, the demo tables run on the same rules with play money. There is a full library of free games on this site, and a demo round is the cheapest way to learn the layout before any money is at stake.
How can I tell which wheel a table uses?
Count the pockets or look for the double zero on the layout. Not one of the casino reviews on this site names the wheel, because the lobbies do not publish it, so the table itself is the only place to check.
How often are these figures checked?
The edges here are fixed arithmetic rather than operator terms, so they do not expire. The casino facts beside them come from reviews that each carry their own last checked date in the review index.
Who Wrote This
I came to this from finance, which is probably why I read a casino the way I read a contract. Roulette is the one game where the whole price sits in a single design choice, and the lobby hides that choice behind one word on a tile.
I am responsible for everything published here. Every figure on this page is either arithmetic you can repeat yourself or a number read out of an operator’s own pages. If you find one that no longer holds, write to me.
18+. Gambling can be addictive. Every house edge on this page is a long run average. It describes thousands of spins and tells you almost nothing about tonight. No wheel can be beaten by a system, and the only reliable way to control what a session costs is to decide the amount before you start. If gambling has stopped being entertainment, free and confidential help is available in Slovenia through NIJZ.
