Online Roulette: The Wheel, the Payouts and the Zero That Pays the Rent

Online roulette is the same game as the wheel in a casino: a ball, 37 or 38 numbered pockets and a table of bets that pay fixed prices. Choose the European wheel with a single zero, where the house edge is 2.70%, over the American wheel with an extra double zero, where it is 5.26%; everything else about the game is a matter of taste.

The rest of this page sets out what each bet pays, how live roulette differs from the computer version, and why no betting pattern changes the arithmetic. Roulette is for players aged 18+ only.

The roulette wheel: European, French and American

A European roulette wheel has 37 pockets: the numbers 1 to 36, alternating red and black, and a green zero. The American wheel adds a second green pocket, the double zero, for 38 in all. The payouts on both tables are identical, so the second green pocket is pure profit for the house. That is the whole difference, and it is enough to double the cost of playing.

French roulette uses the single-zero wheel with one extra courtesy. Under la partage, an even-money bet (red or black, odd or even, high or low) loses only half its stake when the ball lands on zero. That halves the house edge on those bets to 1.35%. Some tables call the same rule en prison, where the stake is held for the next spin instead. If a lobby offers French rules, they are the best roulette table in the room for even-money players.

Roulette bets and what they pay

Bet	Numbers covered	Pays
Straight up	1	35 to 1
Split	2	17 to 1
Street	3	11 to 1
Corner	4	8 to 1
Six line	6	5 to 1
Dozen or column	12	2 to 1
Red/black, odd/even, 1-18/19-36	18	1 to 1

Every one of those prices is set as if the zero did not exist. A straight-up bet has a 1 in 37 chance on a European wheel and pays as though it were 1 in 36. Work it through with EUR 10 on a single number for 37 spins: EUR 370 staked, one expected win returning EUR 360 (EUR 350 profit plus the EUR 10 stake), and EUR 10 kept by the house. That EUR 10 out of EUR 370 is the 2.70%, and it is the same on every bet on the table. On the American table there is one worse bet still: the five-number bet on 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3, which pays 6 to 1 and costs 7.89%.

Online roulette: computer wheel or live table

There are two ways to play a roulette game online. The first is a computer-generated wheel driven by a random number generator, which spins the instant you press the button. The second is live roulette, streamed from a studio or a casino floor with a real croupier, a real ball and a betting window that closes before each spin.

The maths is the same in both. The pace is not. A computer wheel can run several spins a minute if you let it, while a live table usually manages one spin every minute or so. At the same stake and the same edge, the faster game costs more per hour. Live roulette also tends to have higher table minimums. Our page on live dealer casinos covers the studios and the sites that carry them, and the multiplier versions such as Lightning Roulette have their own entry under live game shows.

No.	Runner	Form	Licence	Verdict	Links
1	KCKaramba CasinoAspire Global International Ltd	1-4-5-4-5	Foreign licence	Each-way	Visit
2	LPLucky Pants BingoRank Interactive (Gibraltar) Ltd	3-5-2-4-4	Foreign licence	Each-way	Visit
3	Midnite CasinoMidnite Europe Limited, Level 3 (Suite 2327) Tower Business Centre,...	2-4-5-5-5	Foreign licence	Watch	Visit
4	MegarushML Entertainment Casino Limited and ML Entertainment Gaming Limited	4-4-4-3-5	Foreign licence	Watch	Visit
5	BEBetnflixL.C.S Limited (C-64070)	4-4-6-4-5	Foreign licence	Watch	Visit

Form reads licence, markets, payments, safer-play tools, terms; 1 is best. How we rate. 18+ only.

None of these sites holds an Irish licence for roulette, because Ireland does not issue online gaming licences yet. Karamba runs its casino under Malta and Great Britain licences according to the operator, Lucky Pants Bingo under Gibraltar's regulator, and Megarush and Betnflix under the Malta Gaming Authority. Midnite Europe Limited holds a GRAI licence for its sportsbook, and that licence does not reach the casino.

Free roulette and roulette simulators

Free roulette, roulette sims and play-money wheels let you see the table layout and the bet types without spending anything. That is all they are good for. A simulator cannot show a pattern worth following, because the wheel has no memory: the chance of red on the next spin is 18 in 37 whether the last ten spins were red, black or a mixture. Free versions on gambling sites may ask for an account and an age check before they load. Treat a free wheel as a diagram that moves, not a rehearsal.

Why doubling systems fail at the table

The best-known betting pattern is the martingale: double the stake after every loss on an even-money bet, so that one win recovers everything plus the first stake. It looks tidy on paper and falls apart in practice. Start at EUR 5 and lose seven spins in a row, and you have lost EUR 635, with the eighth stake at EUR 640 to win back a fiver. On a European wheel seven straight losses on red happen a little under once in every hundred tries. Table maximums and bank balances run out long before the theory does.

No staking plan changes the edge, because each bet carries the same 2.70% on its own. Systems sold as a way around the zero are nonsense, and an app or video claiming to predict the next number should be treated as a scam. Our guide on how slots and casino games really pay goes into the same arithmetic for the machines.

Playing roulette sensibly

Set a stake per spin and a stop for the session before the first spin, and keep both. A deposit limit, set in the account before play, does the job without relying on willpower at midnight. Help that we have checked, from Gamblers Anonymous Ireland to Extern Problem Gambling, is listed on our responsible gambling page.