Roulette Odds Explained – Guide to Roulette Payouts, Strategies, and Stats

Odds in roulette primarily revolve around numbers covered by the bet – the wider the bet, the better the odds are that it will win. However, truly knowing how to calculate odds in roulette takes a bit more skill and knowledge. After all, the ability to combine different bets is one of the joys of this game, and players are free to complicate things as much as they want.

That's why this guide to roulette odds is here – to help you understand the underlying statistics and probabilities.

In this guide, we'll explain how roulette odds work and how they relate to the payouts of the game. We'll also draw conclusions based on these stats, such as how knowing the odds can help you win.

Before we begin, we'll point out that this tutorial assumes a certain level of knowledge about the game. While the guide is suitable for beginners, we still expect you to understand how roulette works at its most basic level. If you don't, no worries – you can start by checking out our roulette tutorial.

Roulette is completely a game of chance, yes. However, knowing your odds of winning before risking any real money is crucial. Never bet on anything without knowing the odds!

What are the Odds in Roulette?

The odds of winning a bet in roulette depend entirely on the type of bet you are making. The more numbers your bet covers, the higher the chances of winning are.

That much is easy to understand, or at least it should be. However, things become more complicated once you begin to factor in the house edge, payouts, bet combinations, and other details. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. We’ll start with a simple answer to the most basic question – what are the odds of winning roulette?

You can refer to the table below to find out. It contains information for every common type of bet in roulette. Besides the odds or probability of winning, it features the payout and amount of numbers covered for each type of wager. A table such as this one is the roulette fan’s bread and butter. You have to know how every bet works, what it does, and how much it pays. You won’t get far with this game unless you don’t. While going into the nitty-gritty of every type of bet in roulette is not what this guide is all about, we already have a detailed beginner’s guide to all bets in roulette – you can find it here.

Roulette Payout Chart

Bet	Numbers Covered	Payout	Winning Odds
Inside Bets
Straight Up	1 number	35:1	2.70%
Split	2 numbers	17:1	5.40%
Street	3 numbers	11:1	8.10%
Corner	4 numbers	8:1	10.80%
Line	6 numbers	5:1	16.20%
Outside Bets
Dozen/Column	12 numbers	2:1	32.40%
Red/Black	18 numbers	1:1	48.60%
Even/Odd	18 numbers	1:1	48.60%
Low/High	18 numbers	1:1	48.60%

Calculating Roulette Odds

While knowing the table by heart can be useful, it’s not necessary. However, if you want to know how to calculate odds in roulette, you’ll just need a few simple formulas.

For starters, let’s note that the standard European roulette wheel has 37 pockets. That’s 36 regular red and black pockets and a single green zero, which totals 37 possible outcomes in every round of roulette.

That means that, statistically, every number has 1 in 37 odds of being the result. That’s how we got the percentages – 1/37 = 2.7%.

To calculate the odds of winning any bet in roulette, all you have to do is multiply that percentage by the number of pockets covered for the bet.

For example, a Corner bet covers four numbers. 4 x 2.7 = 10.8, so the Corner bet has a 10.8% chance of winning, no matter which numbers it covers.

We can use a similar formula to calculate payouts in roulette as well. Again, we have to remember the fact that one pocket represents the house advantage. Therefore, we don’t use it when calculating payouts. Essentially, what you want to do is divide take the number of regular pockets (36), divide it by the number of pockets covered by the bet, and then subtract 1 because that’s your stake. This means the formula is:

36/Bet -1 = Payout

For example, let’s we don’t know what the payout of a Corner bet is and we want to find out. 36/4 – 1 = 9 – 1 = 8. Indeed, the payout for Corner bets is 8:1.

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American Roulette Odds

Anyone with any experience with roulette will tell you that you don’t want to play American roulette, ever. It’s strictly a worse version of European roulette (or French roulette, for that matter.) There are no advantages to playing American roulette, hidden or otherwise. Don’t do it.

Why? Because the odds in American roulette are worse. It’s as simple as that. This version of the game boasts two zero pockets. This means that all bets in the game are slightly less likely to win while offering the same exact payouts. This further translates into a bigger house advantage and weaker RTP.

For the sake of diligence, we’ll include a payout chart for American roulette as well. If nothing else, it will illustrate why you should avoid it like the plague.

Bet	Numbers Covered	Payout	Winning Odds
Inside Bets
Straight Up	1 number	35:1	2.60%
Split	2 numbers	17:1	5.30%
Street	3 numbers	11:1	7.90%
Corner	4 numbers	8:1	10.50%
Line	6 numbers	5:1	15.80%
Outside Bets
Dozen/Column	12 numbers	2:1	31.60%
Red/Black	18 numbers	1:1	47.40%
Even/Odd	18 numbers	1:1	47.40%
Low/High	18 numbers	1:1	47.40%

House Edge in Roulette

Every casino game ever made was designed so that the casino has an advantage. That’s just the nature of gambling – the house has an edge in every bet which tends to be more noticeable the more you play. Different casino games have different ways of giving that advantage. If you want a deep dive into how RTP and house edge work in casino games, check out this article.

The first thing to understand is that the main ‘culprit’ for the house advantage in roulette is the green zero pocket. It boils down to one important point – your chances of winning are always slightly smaller than you might think. That’s the advantage of the house in roulette – the 2.7% chance that the ball will land on the zero. And yes, you can bet on the zero, but there’s more to it than that.

Essentially, all payouts in roulette are structured as if the Zero didn’t exist. Payouts are calculated based on 1-in-36 odds for every pocket, even though there are 37 pockets on the wheel.

This is perhaps easiest to see if we look at even money bets like Red and Black. People assume they have a 50/50 shot at winning, and the payout of 1:1 would be a “fair” reward. However, your chances are actually 48.5%, but the payout isn’t slightly bigger to reflect that. This built-in disadvantage tends to compound the more you play. Moreover, having two zero pockets means that American Roulette has twice the house advantage of its European counterpart.

We have another example that explains house advantage in roulette perfectly. It’s a bit strange but bear with us.

Let’s imagine we are putting equal bets on both Red and Black. In most rounds, you wouldn’t win or lose any money this way. One bet loses, the other one wins, and both will double your stake if they win, which leaves you back at square one. However, once every 37 spins or so, the ball will land on green and you will lose both bets. That’s the house advantage at work.

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Risk vs. Reward

Stop thinking about roulette bets in terms of good vs. bad. Instead, think of them in terms of risk vs. reward.

The Best Bets in Roulette

All of this leaves us with a few questions. Namely, what are the best bets in roulette, according to the stats and odds?

In short? None of them are the best. No bet in roulette is the “worst”, either. All bets in roulette are equal in terms of how “good” they are. In other words, the house advantage is the same for every bet in the game. The only exception is the Top Line bet in American roulette, which is somewhat weaker than the rest. However, the Top Line is a particularly terrible wager in a particularly terrible variant of roulette that we strongly advise against playing. We won’t give it the time of day.

However, that doesn’t mean that picking the right (bet)s in roulette is not important. In fact, it’s crucial. It’s one of the major decisions every roulette player faces. However, no bet is going to help you win more or less in the long run.

Stop thinking about roulette bets in terms of good vs. bad. Instead, think of them in terms of risk vs. reward.

If you want to play things safe, play even money bets like Red/Black. If you want to chase big wins through big risks, go with something like a Straight Up bet. At this point, it’s more of a question of finding a suitable strategy for roulette. Do you want constant small returns, massive infrequent wins, or something in between? Statistically, all of these are viable choices, so you’ll need to decide for yourself.

Conclusion

Odds in roulette tell us exactly what chance we stand at winning a bet. In the long term, roulette statistics can also tell us the average return we can expect from using a certain wager or combination of wagers.

All of this means that knowing roulette odds is crucial for anyone who wants to play this classic casino game. To sum up, the bigger the betting odds on a given wager, the riskier it is. Truthfully, there is no “big secret” behind this information – most people find it to be pretty obvious. However, the stats tables above are still useful because percentages are easier to understand at a glance compared to the usual betting odds formats.

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FAQ

Is roulette 100% luck?

Generally, yes, roulette is completely based on luck because players cannot influence where the ball will land. However, skillfully combining bets and carefully managing your bankroll can help you lose less in the long term.