How to Play Roulette
Roulette is pure chance — a ball lands in one of 37 numbered pockets on a spinning wheel, and anyone who bet on that outcome wins. The simplicity makes it immediately approachable, but understanding the different bet types and their payouts helps you play exactly the kind of game you want.
European vs American Roulette
Agena Gaming offers European roulette, which has 37 pockets: numbers 1–36 plus a single green zero (0). American roulette adds a second green pocket (00), making 38 pockets total.
| Version | Pockets | House Edge |
|---|---|---|
| European (Agena) | 37 (0–36) | 2.70% |
| American | 38 (0, 00, 1–36) | 5.26% |
Always choose European roulette. The single zero nearly halves the house edge compared to American. This one choice has more impact on your expected return than any betting strategy.
How a Round Works
Place your chips on the layout before the spin. The dealer (or game engine) releases the ball into the spinning wheel. When the ball settles into a pocket, winning bets are paid and losing bets are cleared. That's one round.
All Bet Types & Payouts
| Bet | Description | Payout | Win Probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight Up | Single number | 35:1 | 2.70% (1 in 37) |
| Split | Two adjacent numbers | 17:1 | 5.41% |
| Street | Three numbers in a row | 11:1 | 8.11% |
| Corner | Four numbers in a square | 8:1 | 10.81% |
| Six Line | Six numbers (two rows) | 5:1 | 16.22% |
| Dozen | 1–12, 13–24, or 25–36 | 2:1 | 32.43% |
| Column | One of three columns | 2:1 | 32.43% |
| Red / Black | Colour of the number | 1:1 | 48.65% |
| Odd / Even | Whether number is odd or even | 1:1 | 48.65% |
| High / Low | 1–18 (low) or 19–36 (high) | 1:1 | 48.65% |
Notice that red/black, odd/even, and high/low all pay 1:1 but win just under 50% of the time — not exactly 50% because the zero belongs to neither colour, neither group. That gap is where the house edge lives.
The House Edge Explained
The math is straightforward. A straight-up bet on one number has a 1-in-37 chance of winning. A fair payout would be 36:1. But roulette pays 35:1 — keeping one unit for the house. That's 1/37 ≈ 2.70%, and it applies uniformly to every bet type on the European wheel.
This means no bet is better or worse than any other from an expected-value standpoint. Straight-up bets are high-variance (big wins, rare); outside bets are low-variance (small wins, frequent). The expected return per dollar is the same either way.
Do Betting Systems Work?
Betting systems like the Martingale (double after every loss) are popular but don't change the house edge. They redistribute risk — trading many small wins for the occasional catastrophic loss — but the average outcome remains the same over time. Every spin is independent; the wheel has no memory of previous results.
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