Roulette Rules Explained Simply — Flow, Bets and Payouts
How a roulette round works, every inside and outside bet with its payout, and why the European wheel always beats the American one.
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Roulette has fewer rules than almost any other casino game — yet most players lose more than they need to because they pick the wrong wheel or bets. This guide covers the rules in the order they actually matter at the table.
How a round works. The dealer opens betting, players place chips, the ball is spun and the dealer calls "no more bets". The ball lands, the winning number is marked with the dolly, losing bets are cleared and winners paid. Only then may chips be removed from the layout.
The wheel: 37 or 38 pockets. European roulette has 37 pockets (0–36), American roulette 38 (with an extra double zero). That single pocket nearly doubles the house edge: 2.70% versus 5.26%. There is no situation where American roulette is the better choice.
Inside bets and payouts. Straight up (one number) pays 35:1. Split (two) 17:1. Street (three) 11:1. Corner (four) 8:1. Six line (six) 5:1. All inside bets carry the same 2.70% edge — payouts are always set exactly one number short of fair.
Outside bets and payouts. Red/black, odd/even and 1–18/19–36 pay 1:1 with an 18/37 = 48.65% hit rate. Dozens and columns pay 2:1 at 12/37 = 32.43%. Same house edge, different variance.
La Partage and En Prison. Some European tables return half your even-money stake when zero hits (La Partage) or lock it for one spin (En Prison). That halves the edge on even-money bets to 1.35% — the best roulette table mathematics allows. It is in the table rules, not the marketing.
Why systems cannot beat the rules. Every spin is independent. No betting pattern changes 2.70%. We work through why Martingale, Fibonacci and the rest fail in Roulette systems: the mathematical truth.
Probabilities at a glance. A full table of every bet with hit probability, payout and expected loss per €100 is in our roulette probabilities table. The house edge calculator turns that into an hourly figure for your own stake level.
Bottom line. The rules take five minutes. What matters: a European wheel, ideally with La Partage, no betting systems, and a budget set before the first spin.