Roulette Odds — European vs American calculator
The real roulette odds for every bet: exact win chance, payout and house edge on the European wheel (2.70%) and American wheel (5.26%). See why the single zero matters, how true odds differ from payout odds, and spin a provably-fair verifier.
European single-zero wheel (37 pockets). Every bet carries the same 2.70% house edge — the payout is always short of the true odds by exactly the zero.
| Bet | Numbers | Payout | Win chance | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight up | 1 | 35:1 | 2.70% | 2.70% |
| Split | 2 | 17:1 | 5.41% | 2.70% |
| Street | 3 | 11:1 | 8.11% | 2.70% |
| Corner | 4 | 8:1 | 10.81% | 2.70% |
| Six line | 6 | 5:1 | 16.22% | 2.70% |
| Column / Dozen | 12 | 2:1 | 32.43% | 2.70% |
| Even money | 18 | 1:1 | 48.65% | 2.70% |
Provably-fair spin. The winning pocket is derived from a SHA-256 hash of the seeds and nonce before the spin — same seeds always land the same number, and you can't steer it.
Roulette odds explained
Roulette is the cleanest house-edge game in the casino: a ball lands in one random pocket, and every bet pays less than the true odds by exactly the value of the zero. On a European wheel there are 37 pockets (0–36); on an American wheel there are 38 (0, 00 and 1–36). That single extra pocket is the whole story.
Every bet on a European wheel has the identical 2.70% edge, whether you scatter chips on a single number or sit on red. That's unusual — in most games some bets are far worse than others. In roulette the only decisions that change your cost are which wheel you play and, on even-money bets, whether the table offers La Partage or En Prison rules.
Why the zero decides everything
Picture a straight-up bet. There are 37 pockets, so your true chance of hitting is 1 in 37 — but the payout is only 35:1, as if there were 36 pockets. That missing pocket is the house edge, and it repeats on every bet: a red/black bet wins 18 of 37 spins (48.65%), not the "half" the even-money payout implies. Add the American 00 and now you win only 18 of 38 (47.37%) for the same 1:1 payout — the edge doubles to 5.26%.
True odds vs payout odds
The gap between true odds (your real chance) and payout odds (what the casino pays) is the entire house advantage, and it's worth seeing plainly:
- Straight up: true odds 36:1, payout 35:1 → you're short one unit.
- Corner (4 numbers): true odds 8.25:1, payout 8:1.
- Even money: true odds 1.06:1 (European), payout 1:1.
Notice the edge never changes across bets — 2.70% every time on a European wheel. So "safer" outside bets and "riskier" inside bets cost you exactly the same per dollar over time; they only differ in variance (how wild the swings are). Use the Calculator tab to see the win chance, payout and expected loss on any bet and either wheel.
Do roulette systems work?
No system beats the wheel. Martingale (double after each loss), the Fibonacci, D'Alembert, the "law of the third" — they all rearrange your bet sizing, never the 2.70% edge baked into every spin. The wheel has no memory: after ten reds, black is still 48.65%, not "due". Martingale in particular feels like it works right up until a losing streak plus the table limit wipes out every small win at once.
The real strategy is simple: play the European wheel, prefer La Partage even-money bets if offered, set a budget, and treat the guaranteed 2.70% as the price of the entertainment.
Is online roulette fair?
On a provably-fair crypto casino, yes — and it's verifiable. The winning pocket is committed from a hashed server seed, your client seed and a nonce before you spin, so it can be recomputed afterward and can't be altered to beat you. The Provably-fair spin tab does exactly this: it hashes the seeds and derives the number, and the same seeds always land the same pocket. Fair means honest and verifiable — it doesn't remove the 2.70% edge, so over the long run you get back about $0.973 per $1 on a European wheel. Only play with money you can afford to lose. 18+.