High Roller - A player who plays for big money (with big money).

Roulette Odds

If you have come to this page

looking for roulette odds, you'll soon discover that the game of roulette offers the simplest odds to remember of all casino games. The odds aren't what you need, however, to determine whether you should make a particular bet. The reason for this is that the casinos pay you differently depending on what the odds are that you'll win. What you need to look at is the house edge.

The house edge can be defined as the amount of money that the house will take in over the long run on a particular game or bet. It is most frequently expressed as a percentage, meaning it will be the percentage of your money that you bet, on average, that the casino will take from you. Roulette odds, combined with roulette payouts, see all bets at the roulette wheel coming in at a 5.26% house advantage. The only exception is the five number bet, which has a house advantage of 7.9%.

Let’s look at an example of how to determine the house edge using roulette odds and payout information. Let’s say you’re betting $5 on a straight up (specific, one number) bet. The formula would look like this, assuming we are going with American roulette odds:

(1/38) x 5 + (37/38) x (-1) = -2/38 = -0.052631 (expressed as -5.26%)

This result is negative because it is a calculation of the player expectation. To get the casino expectation, simply reverse the number to positive. All in all, the probability that you will hit a single number is 1 in 38, since there are 38 possible pockets for the ball to fall into, but only one that it will eventually settle in. Said another way, if you bet $1 on a particular number 38 times, the odds are you will win only once. Since the payout for the bet is 35 to 1, you will get $35 and you’ll keep your winning $1 bet. This makes for a $2 loss, which turns out to be 5.26% of 38.

Roulette Odds, Payoffs, and House Edge
(player and casino wins and casino expectation after 38 games)

Bet

Bet on

Payoff

Odds

Games player wins

Games casino wins

Casino expectation

House edge

Inside bets

Straight up

one number

35:1

38:1

1

37

$2

5.26%

Split Bet

two numbers

17:1

38:2

2

36

$2

5.26%

Street Bet

three numbers

11:1

38:3

3

35

$2

5.26%

Corner

four number

8:1

38:4

4

34

$2

5.26%

Five Numbers

five numbers

6:1

38:5

5

33

$3

7.89%

Line Bet

six numbers

5:1

38:6

6

32

$2

5.26%

Outside bets

Column

twelve numbers

2:1

38:12

12

26

$2

5.26%

Dozen

twelve number

2:1

38:12

12

26

$2

5.26%

Red or Black

eighteen number

1:1

38:18

18

20

$2

5.26%

Even or Odd

eighteen number

1:1

38:18

18

20

$2

5.26%

Low or High

eighteen number

1:1

38:18

18

20

$2

5.26%