Roulette Rules: European, American and French Compared

The three roulette variants look almost identical and have very different house edges. Understanding the wheel layout is the single most valuable piece of roulette knowledge.

The wheel decides the edge

European roulette uses a 37-pocket wheel numbered 1 to 36 plus a single zero. The payout for a straight-up number is 35 to 1, which is slightly below the true odds of 36 to 1 – that shortfall is the house edge, and it works out to 2.70% on every bet on the layout.

American roulette adds a second pocket, the double zero, for 38 pockets in total. The payouts are identical, so the edge jumps to 5.26%. Same game, nearly double the cost of play. The 00 is the most expensive symbol in the casino.

Inside and outside bets

Inside bets cover small groups: a straight-up number, a split between two, a street of three, a corner of four, or a six-line. They pay 35:1, 17:1, 11:1, 8:1 and 5:1 respectively. Outside bets cover larger sets – red or black, odd or even, high or low, dozens and columns – and pay even money or 2:1.

All of these bets carry the same house edge on a given wheel, so there is no 'mathematically better' bet in terms of expected value. The difference is variance: inside bets pay rarely and heavily, outside bets pay often and lightly.

French rules and the La Partage advantage

French roulette uses the same single-zero wheel as the European version but adds two favourable rules. La Partage returns half of an even-money bet when the ball lands on zero. En Prison holds the even-money bet for the next spin instead of losing it outright.

Both rules cut the house edge on even-money bets to just 1.35%, making French roulette the most player-friendly wheel in the building – provided you stick to the outside bets that the rules cover.

Frequently asked questions