Roulette
Last update: June 8, 2010
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Roulette is one of the easiest games to play and
understand in the casino. As usual the easier a game is to
understand the greater the house edge, and roulette is no
exception. If you are looking for a easy to understand and
slow paced table game, and are willing to sacrifice on the
house edge, then you may like roulette. If you want
something more stimulating or with a decent return I would
suggest looking at other games.
One difference between roulette and all other table games
is that roulette chips have no value denomination printed on
them. This actually is the true definition of a chip, one
which indicates its value is technically called a check. The
roulette table comes with six to eight sets of different
colored chips, each set consisting of 300 chips. When a
player buys-in they get their own color and the value would
be the buy-in divided by the number of chips received. The
dealer will place a token on top of the dealer's stack of
that color of chips to indicate the value.
United States Rules
A U.S. roulette wheel consists of 38 numbered slots:
numbers 1 to 36, a zero, and a double zero. The betting
layout consists of every individual number as well as a host
of "outside" or combinations of numbers. After the players
make their bets the dealer spins the wheel and a ball and
after several seconds the ball will land in one of the
numbered slots.
The following table displays the available bets, the win (on a "to one" basis), and the probability of winning under U.S. rules. All casinos in the U.S. follow these rules except for in Atlantic City. The house edge on all bets is 1/19, or 5.26%, except for one bet. The exception is the 0-00-1-2-3 combination, which carries a house edge of 7.89%.
| United States Roulette Rules |
| Bet |
Pays |
Probability Win |
House Edge |
| Black | 1 | 47.37% | 5.26% |
| Odd | 1 | 47.37% | 5.26% |
| Even | 1 | 47.37% | 5.26% |
| 1 to 18 | 1 | 47.37% | 5.26% |
| 19 to 36 | 1 | 47.37% | 5.26% |
| 1 to 12 | 2 | 31.58% | 5.26% |
| 13 to 24 | 2 | 31.58% | 5.26% |
| 25 to 36 | 2 | 31.58% | 5.26% |
| Sixline (6 numbers) | 5 | 15.79% | 5.26% |
| First five (5 numbers) | 6 | 13.16% | 7.89% |
| Corner (4 numbers) | 8 | 10.53% | 5.26% |
| Street (3 numbers) | 11 | 7.89% | 5.26% |
| Split (2 numbers) | 17 | 5.26% | 5.26% |
| Any one number | 35 | 2.63% | 5.26% |
Single Zero Rules
Most high-end casinos in the United States have single-zero wheels. This includes Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Foxwoods in Connecticut. The Grand in Tunica used to, but I don't know if Harrah's kept it after they took over. The limits on the single zero wheels are usually higher than the double zero wheels. A noteworthy exception is the Nevada Palace in Las Vegas, which has a single zero wheel with a 25-cent minimum. The house edge on an American single-zero wheel is 1/37, or 2.70%.
Atlantic City Rules
In Atlantic City any all even money bets (red, black,
odd, even, 1-18, 19-36) follow a variation of the European
imprisonment rule (see below). In the event the ball lands
in 0 or 00 the player will lose only half of any even money
bet. This lowers the house edge to 2.63% on these bets. This
rule does not apply on single zero wheels.
European Rules
European roulette is played on a single wheel and also
features a favorable "en prison" rule. Under this rule if
the player makes any even money bet (red, black, odd, even,
1-18, 19-36) and the ball lands in zero the player either
gets half the bet back or it becomes inprisoned. If an
imprisoned bet wins on the next spin it is released and the
player gets it back, without winnings. The similar "La Partage" rule offers half back only, without the option to imprison. What is subject to debate, or rule variation, is what happens to an imprisoned
bet if the ball lands in zero on the next spin. I have heard
of four different rule variations and each are explained
below.
Hamburg: At a casino I visited in Hamburg follows the "La Partage" rule, in which half of even money
bets are returned if the ball lands in zero. This house
edge is 1.3514%.
Berlin: At a casino I visited in Berlin even money bets
became imprisoned if the ball landed in zero. The bet was
returned if it won on the next spin. If a zero occured on
the second spin the bet lost. The rule card in Berlin
said the player may request the croupier to move the
imprisoned bet from one even money bet to another. This
house edge is 1.3879%.
France: According to my interpretation of the of roulette rule-book (PDF, 1161K) at Casinos Barrieres, a casino chain found mostly along the coasts of France, the bet is put on an "even chances line." For example, if the player bets on red, and the ball lands in zero, then the bet is put on the line below the red diamond. If the next spin is red the bet is freed, if black it is lost. If the next spin, or spins, are green the bet stays on the line until a red or black spin resolves it. The player may also choose to lose half. Both options have a house edge of 1.3514%.
Holland: According to a dealer from Holland who wrote to me, if two zeros occurs in a row, then the bet becomes double imprisoned. In this case, two wins in a row must occur to release it. If a anything else occurs, including more zeros, the bet is lost. This house edge is 1.3706%. The dealer said that the player also has the option to get half back immediately, which is the better option.
Spain: I have an unconfirmed report that in Spain a bet can become imprisoned an unlimited number of times. If the ball lands in 0 n times in a row, then it must win n times in a row. I assume that another zero, trying to work off the layers of imprisonment, would cause the bet to lose. The house edge under these rules is 1.3704%.
Las Vegas: Most high limit rooms at the nicer Strip casinos have a European roulette wheel. These invariably follow the half-back Hamburg rule, with a house edge of 1.3514%.
Galewind: The European roulette game at Internet casinos using Galewind software have a rule where if the ball lands in zero the player may choose to lose half or imprison the bet. If the player chooses to imprison the bet, then a win on the next spin will release the bet, resulting in a push. If another zero occurs on the next spin, then the player will lose half the bet. Both options have a house edge of 1.3514%.
Bally Gaming Rules
Bally Gaming has an electronic representation of roulette, on a long vertical monitor. Every time I have seen it, a single-zero wheel was pictured. Sometimes the pay-offs are standard. However, be warned that sometimes a single-number win pays 31 to 1 (shown on the game as 32 for 1), and a two-number win pays 15 to 1 (shown as 16 for 1). This increases the house edge on both bets to 15.79%.
Best Roulette in the West
Best in Nevada: The Bellegio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Mirage, Rio, and Wynn all have European roulette, with a house edge of 1.35%. Usually such wheels are in the high-limit rooms, but the MGM and Mirage also have a European wheel in the main casino at a $25 minimum.
Best in California: It is my understanding that the only single-zero roulette in California is at the Barona casino, with a house edge of 2.78%.
Las Vegas Rules Survey
I am proud to present my Las Vegas roulette survey at my companion site Wizard of Vegas.
Number Placement
To the casual observer, it would appear that the numbers
on the wheel are not organized and seem to be distributed
randomly. The only obvious patterns are that red and black
numbers alternate and that usually two odd numbers alternate
with two even numbers. However the distribution of numbers
was carefully arranged so that the sum of the numbers for
any given section of the wheel would be roughly equal to any
other section of equal size. Most numbers are part of a
pair, with one number between them. These pairs add to
either 37 or 39.
For what it is worth, the sum of all the numbers in roulette is 666.
Wheel Tracking
Some people and books claim that roulette wheels are biased, with a heavy side and a light side. Gravity causes the numbers in the heavy side to hit more often. This, I believe, used to be true when the quality of the equipment was poor. However, modern roulette wheels are much better and very rigorously tested. Only in a casino using a very dated wheel, may you be able to find a biased one by testing many thousands of spins. Based on stories I have heard, your odds of finding such wheels are probably best in Europe.
Betting Systems
Ugh. If you think you can beat roulette with a betting
system please read my section debunking
betting systems. If you don't believe what I say there, here is what the Encyclopedia Britanica says under the
subject of roulette:
The oldest and most common betting system is the Martingale or "doubling-up" system,
in which bets are doubled progressively. This probably dates back to the invention of the Roulette wheel, but every day of the week some gambler somewhere reinvents it, or some variation of it, and believes he has something new. Over the years hundreds of "sure-fire" winning systems have been dreamed up, but regardless of what system is used, in the long run it cannot overcome the house's advantage of the 0, or 0 and 00. This house advantage is the only system that consistently wins in the long run.
"No one can possibly win at rolette unless he steals money from the table while the croupier isn't looking." — Albert Einstein
San Diego County Roulette
The California Constitution prohibits a ball and wheel alone to determine the outcome in roulette. In San Diego County the casinos have thought of some creative ways to offer roulette anyway. Visit my page on
San Diego County roulette to see how they do it, and who offers the best odds.
Precision Spinning
I get asked a lot about whether I believe dealers can influence the spin to a certain area of the wheel. I flatly disbelieve that any dealer can do this, and still follow the usual casino rules for the force of the spin. Many dealers evidently do believe that they can indeed influence the spin. However, if they could, it would be easy to cause a confederate to win, and other players to lose, all while looking completely legitimate. Yet, somehow, you never hear about this actually happening. Nobody is getting caught or selling out, despite the alleged ease of which this is to do, what are the odds of that?
Play for Free
Play roulette for free with this Flash game. I finally found a Flash game for my site which downloads quickly.
Other Roulette Pages
- 1,000,000 simulated spins (2.67 MB). These spins were created using a Mersenne Twister random number generator. The results are based on a double-zero wheel. For a single-zero wheel, simply ignore the 26,432 double-zero outcomes.
- Diamond Roulette: roulette variant seen in Atlantic City
Links
For a simplified explanation of roulette, please see my companion site Wizard of Vegas.
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