Roulette ledger · variants, payouts, systems · repriced 2026-09-30
Every mainstream online roulette variant with its actual house edge, the full payout table for every bet on the European wheel, the call bets (voisins, tiers, orphelins, jeu zéro) explained, and the six systems that get sold as guaranteed winners — none of which change the math. Read the ledger, pick a variant, ignore the systems.
| Variant | Wheel & rule | Best bet | House edge | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| French roulette | Single zero + la partage | Even-money bets | 1.35% | La partage returns half your stake when the ball lands on zero. Only offered on even-money bets — non-even bets still run 2.70%. |
| European roulette | Single zero | Any bet | 2.70% | The standard online build. Every bet shares the same expected edge — bet whatever is fun. |
| European (en prison) | Single zero + en prison | Even-money bets | 1.35% | Alternate to la partage: on zero the even-money bet stays "in prison" for the next spin. Same math, different UX. |
| Live European | Physical single-zero wheel | Any bet | 2.70% | Evolution / Pragmatic Play Live. Streamed dealer, real ball, identical mathematics to the RNG version. |
| Lightning roulette | Single zero + random multipliers | Straight-up (with multipliers) | 2.90% | Evolution live variant. 50-500× multipliers on 1-5 straight-up numbers per round — increases variance and raises the edge on straight-up bets. |
| American roulette | Single + double zero | Any bet | 5.26% | Double zero doubles the house take. Avoid whenever a European wheel is available on the same lobby. |
| Mini roulette | 0 through 12 only | Any bet | 7.69% | 13 pockets, straight-up pays 11:1. The worst online roulette variant — treat as entertainment only. |
Edges apply to the stated bet type. The zero pocket collects everything on non-even-money bets regardless of variant — the only lever the game offers is la partage / en prison on French tables. Live variants share the same math as their RNG counterparts; multiplier variants (Lightning, XXXtreme, Quantum) raise the edge on straight-up bets in exchange for potential 500× payouts.
| Type | Bet | Covers | Pays | Prob (European) | Prob (American) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inside | Straight-up | 1 number | 35 : 1 | 2.70% | 2.63% |
| Inside | Split | 2 adjacent numbers | 17 : 1 | 5.41% | 5.26% |
| Inside | Street | 3 numbers (row) | 11 : 1 | 8.11% | 7.89% |
| Inside | Corner | 4 numbers (square) | 8 : 1 | 10.81% | 10.53% |
| Inside | Six line | 6 numbers (2 rows) | 5 : 1 | 16.22% | 15.79% |
| Outside | Dozen (1-12, 13-24, 25-36) | 12 numbers | 2 : 1 | 32.43% | 31.58% |
| Outside | Column | 12 numbers | 2 : 1 | 32.43% | 31.58% |
| Outside | Red / Black | 18 numbers | 1 : 1 | 48.65% | 47.37% |
| Outside | Even / Odd | 18 numbers | 1 : 1 | 48.65% | 47.37% |
| Outside | Low / High (1-18, 19-36) | 18 numbers | 1 : 1 | 48.65% | 47.37% |
| Call bet | Voisins du zéro | 17 numbers around zero | varies | 45.95% | — |
| Call bet | Tiers du cylindre | 12 numbers opposite zero | 17 : 1 per split | 32.43% | — |
| Call bet | Orphelins | 8 orphan numbers | varies | 21.62% | — |
| Call bet | Jeu zéro (0-spiel) | 4 numbers next to zero | 35 : 1 on straight | 10.81% | — |
Call bets exist only on European / French tables (Evolution, Pragmatic Play Live, Playtech offer them as preset racetrack chips). They are pre-composed splits and straights around a specific arc of the wheel — convenient shortcuts, not edge reducers. The zero game (jeu zéro / 0-spiel) is the smallest of the four: 4 straight-up on 12, 35, 3, and a split on 0-3. It hits 10.81% of the time on European.
Every European roulette table splits the layout into three arcs and a stray cluster. The four call bets wager on those arcs directly rather than picking pockets individually.
Call bets do not change the house edge — the underlying straights and splits still resolve at their standard payouts against the 2.70% European edge. They exist because the physical racetrack layout at brick-and-mortar tables made these clusters faster to bet than picking pockets one by one. Online tables inherited the UI as a convenience.
Any roulette system that promises to beat the wheel is selling the same product: rearranging the shape of the equity curve while leaving the underlying negative expectation intact. Below are the six most commonly sold, with the specific failure mode of each.
The pitch: Double on every loss
The reality: A €10 base with a €10,000 table cap busts after 10 straight losses — a run that hits roughly once per 200 hours of play at a fast table. When it does, you lose €10,230 chasing a €10 profit. The zero still keeps the house edge intact regardless of bet sequence.
The pitch: Double on every win
The reality: Extends winning streaks and caps losses at the base — but three-in-a-row on even-money hits only 12.5% of the time on a European wheel. The zero still applies. Long-run EV is negative.
The pitch: Raise one unit on loss, drop one on win
The reality: A mechanical smoothing of the equity curve — makes sessions feel calmer but does nothing to the underlying negative expectation. Every unit wagered loses 2.70% on average.
The pitch: Progress bets by the Fibonacci sequence on losses
The reality: Same failure mode as Martingale, with slower drawdown. Fibonacci grows fast enough to hit table limits inside 12-15 consecutive losses. The math doesn’t care which sequence you use.
The pitch: Write a sequence, bet outer numbers, cross off on win
The reality: Popular because it feels bookkeeping-precise. In practice, one bad streak forces the sequence to grow beyond table limits. Expected loss per spin is unchanged.
The pitch: Track "hot" numbers over 30-40 spins and bet them
The reality: Requires the wheel to be biased. Modern online RNG and audited live wheels aren’t. The last 40 spins carry zero information about the next spin — the gambler’s fallacy in system form.
The bottom line is that the zero (and the double zero on American wheels) is designed to make every betting sequence — regardless of order, size, or pattern — carry the same negative expectation over the long run. Roulette is entertainment; treat it as such and set a session bankroll before you sit down. See the bankroll management guide for the math.
Demo mode uses the same audited RNG as the real-money build — same house edge, same payouts, no cash at risk. See the demo-mode guide for how demo differs from real-money play, and the NetEnt catalog for their audited European Roulette build.
French roulette with la partage or en prison at 1.35% edge on even-money bets. If la partage isn’t offered, European single-zero at 2.70% is the next-best table. Avoid American double-zero (5.26%) and mini roulette (7.69%) whenever a European wheel is available on the same lobby.
No. Every published system — Martingale, D’Alembert, Fibonacci, Labouchère, Andrucci, Reverse Martingale — leaves the house edge unchanged. They rearrange the shape of your equity curve (fewer bigger losses, more small wins, or the opposite) but the long-run expectation stays at −2.70% per unit wagered on European and −5.26% on American.
Jeu zéro is a call bet covering the four numbers closest to zero on the European wheel — 12, 35, 3, 26, and 0 itself (0 as a split with 3). It’s a French-table shortcut for a common cluster around the zero pocket, commonly offered as a preset chip on Evolution and Pragmatic live tables.
A French-roulette rule: when the ball lands on zero, even-money bets (red/black, odd/even, low/high) return half the stake instead of losing it all. It halves the house edge on those bets from 2.70% to 1.35% — the single biggest rule advantage available in mainstream online roulette.
On €1,000 of turnover, European costs you €27 in expected losses; American costs €53. Nearly double. The wheel layout looks similar, but that extra double-zero pocket collects a full second house edge without changing any of the payout ratios.
No. Online RNG tables use audited random number generators — every spin is independent, no memory, no bias. Live-streamed physical wheels are audited weekly by studios (Evolution, Pragmatic, Playtech) precisely to detect and correct wheel bias before it can be exploited.
Barely. Most operators credit roulette at 0-10% toward wagering — a €4,000 requirement becomes €40,000+ of turnover. Even-money bets are often excluded entirely as low-risk hedging. Clear bonuses on slots; play roulette with a clean balance. See the wagering guide for the math.
35 to 1. Bet €1 on a single number, win €35 profit (return €36) when it hits. The true odds on a European wheel are 36 to 1 (37 pockets, 36 losing) — the missing unit is the house edge. On American, true odds are 37 to 1 for the same 35:1 payout.