How to Play Roulette Online

Where These Rules Apply

The regulations quoted on this page are Pennsylvania's. Chapter 617a of 58 Pa. Code specifies this game for the physical tables Pennsylvania licenses, and it is quoted here because it is the clearest published specification of how the game is dealt and paid. It governs dealers, cards and chips at a physical table, which is not what an online version of the game runs on: an online table is specified by its operator and by whichever regulator licenses it, and its paytable and house rules can differ from the figures below.

One Game, Two Wheels

Roulette is a single mechanism — a ball spun around a numbered wheel — sold in two versions that differ by one compartment. Under Pennsylvania's table-game rule 58 Pa. Code § 617a.1 a single zero wheel must have 37 equally spaced compartments, a green zero plus 1 to 36 coloured alternately red and black; a double zero wheel must have 38, adding a green double zero. The paytable in § 617a.4 is the same for both. That asymmetry — identical payouts, a different number of places for the ball to land — is the whole of roulette's house edge, and it is why no figure for the game means anything until the wheel is named.

The Published Figures

Ontario Lottery and Gaming, the Ontario government's gaming agency, publishes the house edge as 2.7% on the single-zero wheel against 5.26% on the double-zero wheel, and explains the mechanism as a 1 in 37 chance of any one number rather than 1 in 38. Light & Wonder's own iGaming catalogue gives the same split from the supplier's side: 97.3% return on its European Roulette, game ID 500387, and 94.74% on its American Roulette, game ID 500291. Those are the complements of OLG's two edges, and the agreement between a government agency's figure and a supplier's certified figure is the reason both are quoted here.

How the Edge Is Taken

Pennsylvania's regulations state it plainly: when the ball comes to rest in a compartment marked zero or double zero, wagers on red, black, odd, even, 1—18 and 19—36 are lost. Those bets are paid at 1 to 1 as though the wheel held 36 numbers. The inside bets work the same way — a straight-up number pays 35 to 1 on a wheel with 37 or 38 compartments. Every bet on the layout is priced to a wheel slightly smaller than the one actually spinning.

The Bets and What They Pay

Section 617a.4 sets minimum payout odds: 35 to 1 on a single number, 17 to 1 on a split, 11 to 1 on three numbers, 8 to 1 on four, 5 to 1 on six, 2 to 1 on a column or a dozen, and 1 to 1 on red, black, odd, even, 1—18 and 19—36. Because each of those is scaled to the numbers it covers, they all carry the same house edge on the same wheel. The one exception is the First Five Numbers wager on 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3, which exists only on a double-zero layout and is paid at 6 to 1.

A Wheel Used as the Other Wheel

Pennsylvania's rules allow a double zero wheel and layout to be run as a single zero wheel: the 00 betting area is covered, signage has to tell players that the double zero wager is not available, and if the ball lands in the double zero compartment the dealer announces no spin and respins. A player at such a table is playing a single-zero game. It is a reminder that what matters is the rule set in force at the table, not the equipment on it.

Live and Online Roulette

Online roulette is supplied as individual certified games, and the return figure on a supplier's catalogue page belongs to that build. Variants add side bets, multipliers or extra wheels on top of the base game, each with their own maths that the base figures above do not describe. Where a variant's rules page states a return, it states it for the rules on that page.

The Object of the Game

A ball is spun around a numbered wheel and comes to rest in one compartment. Bets are placed on the layout beside the wheel on where it will stop — a single number, a group of numbers, a colour, or odd or even. Winning bets are paid at odds fixed to how many numbers the bet covers.

The Two Wheels

There are two standard wheels and the difference between them is one compartment. A single-zero wheel has 37 compartments: a green zero and the numbers 1 to 36, coloured alternately red and black. A double-zero wheel has 38: a green zero, a green double zero and the same 1 to 36. The payouts are the same on both. That single extra compartment is where the difference in house edge comes from, which is why the wheel has to be identified before any figure is quoted.

Inside and Outside Bets

The layout has an inside area for bets on specific numbers and an outside area for bets on larger groups. Inside bets cover fewer numbers and pay more; outside bets cover more and pay less. Under Pennsylvania's minimum paytable a straight-up number pays 35 to 1, a split 17 to 1, three numbers 11 to 1, four numbers 8 to 1, six numbers 5 to 1, a column or dozen 2 to 1, and red, black, odd, even, 1 to 18 and 19 to 36 pay 1 to 1.

What Happens When Zero Comes Up

Wagers on red, black, odd, even, 1 to 18 and 19 to 36 are lost when the ball rests in a compartment marked zero or double zero. This is the mechanism of the house edge: those bets are paid as though the wheel had only 36 numbers while it in fact has 37 or 38.

How a Round Runs

1. Chips are bought from the dealer. Roulette chips are specific to the table they are bought at and have to be cashed in there before leaving.
2. Bets are placed on the layout. Each player is responsible for the position of their own chips.
3. The dealer spins the wheel and the ball, and calls no more bets.
4. The ball comes to rest and the winning number is announced.
5. Losing bets are collected and winning bets paid. A wager is settled according to where it sits on the layout when the ball falls.

One Bet That Is Priced Differently

On a double-zero layout the First Five Numbers bet covers 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 and is paid at 6 to 1. Every other bet on that wheel is paid in proportion to the numbers it covers; this one is not, and it is the only bet on the layout whose house edge differs from the rest. It is also called the Top Line or the basket bet. It does not exist on a single-zero layout.

What There Is to Decide

Roulette has no decisions during a round. The only choices are which wheel to play and which bets to place, and only the first of those changes the house edge in any meaningful way.

Choose the Wheel First

OLG publishes the house edge as 2.7% on a single-zero wheel and 5.26% on a double-zero wheel. Light & Wonder's own figures for its two games agree: 97.3% return on its European Roulette and 94.74% on its American Roulette. The same bet, placed the same way, costs roughly twice as much on the double-zero wheel. Where both are offered, the wheel is the one decision in roulette that measurably matters.

Bet Selection Barely Moves the Number

On a given wheel the house edge is the same on a straight-up number as on red or black, because every payout is scaled to the numbers the bet covers. Spreading chips across the layout changes how often a round returns something and how large the swings are; it does not change the expected cost. The one exception on a double-zero layout is the First Five Numbers bet, which is paid at 6 to 1 while every other bet is paid in proportion — it is priced worse than the rest of the table.

Systems and Past Numbers

Each spin is settled by where the ball falls, and the wheel has no memory of the previous result. That is a property of the game rather than of any inspection regime, though a physical wheel is checked: Ontario Lottery and Gaming states on its own how-to-play page that "Wheels are inspected frequently to ensure perfect alignment and no bias", which guards against a wheel that favours a section — a different thing from one spin influencing the next. Progressive staking plans such as doubling after a loss change the distribution of outcomes — more small wins, occasional very large losses — but not the house edge, because the edge is a property of each bet and not of the sequence of bets. No bet in roulette has a positive expectation for the player, and no staking plan creates one.

Read the Table's Own Rules

Single-zero tables in some jurisdictions apply a rule that returns part of an even-money bet when the ball lands on zero, which changes the figure above for those bets. No primary rules page both defines that rule and publishes its edge, so no number can be given for those variants. Where a table offers one, its own rules page states it.