Roulette Table Layout Explained: Wheel, Bets and Payouts
7 min read
The roulette table layout has two halves that seem unrelated at first. On the wheel the numbers look scattered at random. On the felt they sit in tidy rows from 1 to 36. Once you know how both are arranged, every bet and every payout makes sense without memorising anything.
The wheel: 37 pockets in no obvious order
A European wheel has 37 pockets: the numbers 1 to 36 plus a single green zero. Eighteen numbers are red and eighteen are black. Going clockwise, the sequence runs:
0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34, 6, 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, 33, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26
There is method in the jumble. Red and black alternate without exception. High (19–36) and low (1–18) numbers alternate almost everywhere, and odd and even are spread as evenly as possible. No section of the wheel is meant to favour a particular bet. A small curiosity: the numbers 1 to 36 add up to 666.
The American wheel adds a double zero for 38 pockets and uses a different sequence. Payouts stay the same, so the house edge climbs from 2.7% to 5.26%.
The roulette table layout: where the numbers sit
On the felt the numbers run in 12 rows of 3, in ascending order from 1 to 36, with the zero across the top. Colours match the wheel, which means they are not evenly distributed on the layout. The third column (3, 6, 9 … 36) holds 8 red numbers and only 4 black, the second column 4 red and 8 black, the first 6 of each.
The layout has two zones:
- Inside bets go on the number grid itself. You back one number, or put a chip on a line or corner to join neighbouring numbers.
- Outside bets go in the boxes around the grid: dozens, columns and the even-money chances red/black, odd/even and 1–18/19–36.
Exactly where the chip sits decides how many numbers it covers.
Every bet with numbers covered, payout and probability
| Bet | Chip placement | Numbers | Payout | Probability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight up | in the middle of one number | 1 | 35:1 | 2.70% |
| Split | on the line between two numbers | 2 | 17:1 | 5.41% |
| Street | on the outer edge of a row of three | 3 | 11:1 | 8.11% |
| Trio with zero | 0-1-2 or 0-2-3 | 3 | 11:1 | 8.11% |
| Corner | where four numbers meet | 4 | 8:1 | 10.81% |
| First four | 0-1-2-3 | 4 | 8:1 | 10.81% |
| Six line | on the edge between two rows | 6 | 5:1 | 16.22% |
| Dozen | 1–12, 13–24 or 25–36 | 12 | 2:1 | 32.43% |
| Column | box at the foot of a column | 12 | 2:1 | 32.43% |
| Red / black | colour box | 18 | 1:1 | 48.65% |
| Odd / even | odd or even box | 18 | 1:1 | 48.65% |
| 1–18 / 19–36 | low or high box | 18 | 1:1 | 48.65% |
The maths behind roulette payouts
Every payout follows one formula. The casino pays as though there were only 36 numbers: payout = 36 ÷ numbers covered − 1. For a corner that is 36 ÷ 4 − 1 = 8:1. In reality there are 37 pockets, and that single extra pocket is the house edge.
An example: CHF 10 on a single number returns CHF 350 plus your stake when it hits. The chance of a hit is 1 in 37. If you hit each number exactly once over 37 spins, you would have staked CHF 370 and got back CHF 360. The missing CHF 10 is 2.7%.
The key point is that this 2.7% applies to every bet in the table. A straight-up bet is not “worse” than red. It simply swings harder. You can check any combination yourself with the roulette odds calculator.
French call bets: betting on wheel sectors
Many European tables have an oval area beside the main grid, known as the racetrack. It mirrors the order of the wheel and lets you bet on whole sectors. Each call bet is a fixed bundle of ordinary inside bets.
Voisins du zéro (17 numbers): the big arc around zero, from 22 round to 25. It costs 9 chips: two each on the 0-2-3 trio and the 25-26-28-29 corner, and one each on the splits 4/7, 12/15, 18/21, 19/22 and 32/35.
Tiers du cylindre (12 numbers): the opposite third of the wheel, from 27 to 33. It costs 6 chips on the splits 5/8, 10/11, 13/16, 23/24, 27/30 and 33/36. Any hit pays 17:1 on one chip while the other five lose, a net gain of 12 chips.
Orphelins (8 numbers): the two “orphan” stretches in between, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9 and 17, 34, 6. It costs 5 chips: a straight-up on 1 and the splits 6/9, 14/17, 17/20 and 31/34.
Together the three sectors cover 17 + 12 + 8 = 37 numbers, the full wheel. Call bets do nothing to the house edge. They are a shortcut for placing chips.
La Partage and En Prison
Two French rules apply only to even-money bets, and only when the ball lands on zero.
- La Partage: half your stake is returned.
- En Prison: your stake is held for the next spin. If it wins then, you get it back without winnings; otherwise it is lost.
Both halve the house edge on even-money bets to 1.35%. They are not offered at every table or in every demo, so check the game rules first.
Practise on the layout
Reading is no substitute for placing chips. In the European Roulette demo you can try every chip position with play money and see which numbers light up. The bet types are summarised in the roulette rules guide, and the guide to roulette strategies shows what betting systems really achieve.
FAQ
How many numbers are on a roulette table? European and French tables have 37 (0 to 36). American tables have 38 because of the extra double zero.
Why are the numbers on the wheel not in sequence? So that colours, high and low numbers and odd and even numbers are spread as evenly as possible and no sector favours a bet.
Which bet has the highest payout? A straight-up bet on one number at 35:1. Its chance of winning is only 2.70%.
What colour is the zero? Green. It counts as neither red nor black, neither odd nor even, which is why all even-money bets lose when it comes up.
Is any bet on the layout better value than the others? Not on a European layout: every bet costs 2.7%. The one exception is even-money bets under La Partage or En Prison, at 1.35%.