How to play roulette: rules, odds & payouts
A ball spins around a wheel of numbered pockets. You bet on where it will land. You can bet on a single number or on big groups like "red" or "the first 12". The fewer numbers you cover, the more a win pays. This guide shows every bet, where to put your chip, what it pays, and the real odds on European and American wheels. Then try it all for free in our roulette simulator with play money.
📚 Contents: jump to a topic
1The basics in 30 seconds
A wheel of numbers
Numbers 1–36 are red or black. There's also a green 0 (and a 00 on Las Vegas wheels).
Place chips
Put chips on the table layout to choose which numbers you're backing.
The ball drops
The wheel spins one way and the ball the other. Where it stops is the winning number.
Winners get paid
Every bet that covers the winning number pays out. All other chips are lost.
2European vs American roulette wheels
Both wheels have the numbers 1 to 36. The only difference is the green pockets, and that one extra pocket matters more than you'd think.
European wheel
37 pockets: 1–36 plus a single 0.
House edge: 2.70%
Las Vegas (American) wheel
38 pockets: 1–36 plus 0 and 00.
House edge: 5.26%
The numbers aren't in order around the wheel. They're arranged so reds and blacks alternate, and so highs, lows, odds and evens are spread out. Payouts are identical on both wheels, but the extra 00 gives the Las Vegas wheel one more way for you to lose. If you can choose, the European wheel gives you better odds.
3The roulette table layout
The table is split into two zones. Inside bets go on the numbers themselves and pay big. Outside bets go in the boxes around the edge, cover lots of numbers and pay less.
4How a round works on this site
Buy in
Choose your bankroll, table limits and chip values under Buy-in & limits.
Pick a chip
Click a chip in the rack under the table. It lifts up to show it's selected.
Place bets
Click the table to drop a chip. Click again to add more, or right-click to take one off.
Spin
Vegas mode gives you 30 seconds, then spins automatically. In Simulator mode you press SPIN whenever you're ready.
Collect
Winnings go straight to your balance. Use Rebet to repeat your last bets, or 2× to double them.
5Inside bets in roulette
Inside bets cover 1 to 6 numbers. They are harder to win but pay the most. On the diagrams, gold marks the numbers you're covering and the chip shows exactly where to click.
6Outside bets in roulette
Outside bets cover 12 or 18 numbers, so you win much more often but for smaller amounts. None of them cover 0 or 00. If the ball lands on green, every outside bet loses (unless La Partage is on, see Special rules).
7Roulette payouts explained
Payouts are written as "X to 1". For every $1 you bet, you win $X and get your $1 back.
Example: $10 on Black (pays 1:1)
Your bet
Example: $10 on 17 (pays 35:1)
Your bet
8Combining bets
You can place as many bets as you like in a single spin. Each one is paid separately, so one number can win several of your bets at once.
Example: $10 on the 1st dozen + $10 on the street 1-2-3
The ball lands on 1. That number is in both bets:
- 1st dozen pays 2:1 → +$20 (and your $10 back)
- Street pays 11:1 → +$110 (and your $10 back)
Total: $150 back from $20 bet, a profit of $130.
Had it landed on 7, only the dozen would win: $30 back from $20 bet, a profit of $10.
Had it landed on 20, both bets lose.
Try it with the 🎓 Tutorial button on the table. It walks you through combined bets step by step.
9Roulette odds and payouts chart
"Chance" is how often the bet wins on a single spin.
10The roulette house edge
Payouts are set as if the green pockets didn't exist, and that tiny gap is how a casino makes money. The house edge is the average share of each bet you can expect to lose over many, many spins. In the short run anything can happen. In the long run, the edge always wins.
Example: betting $10 a spin for 100 spins ($1,000 in total), you'd expect to lose about $27 on a European wheel and about $53 on a Las Vegas wheel. Your actual results will swing a lot either way.
11Special rules
🇫🇷 La Partage (European only)
When this option is on and the ball lands on 0, you get half of every even-money bet back (red/black, odd/even, 1–18/19–36) instead of losing it all. That halves the house edge on those bets to 1.35%, the best odds in the game. Turn it on with the checkbox above the wheel.
🎰 Vegas mode vs ⚡ Simulator mode
Vegas mode plays like a real casino: a betting timer counts down, then the ball spins for up to 20 seconds. Simulator mode drops the timer and shows results instantly. Use it to practise or test strategies quickly. Both modes use the same random number generator, so speed never changes your odds.
12Roulette strategy, tips & myths
The wheel has no memory. After 10 reds in a row, black is not "due". The chance is exactly the same as always. Believing otherwise is called the gambler's fallacy.
The Results panel shows recent numbers for fun. Short streaks happen all the time by pure chance and predict nothing.
Doubling after a loss (Martingale) and similar systems change how you win or lose, not how much on average. The table maximum and your bankroll eventually stop every progression.
Curious about Martingale, Fibonacci or D'Alembert? Try them here first, risk-free. Set your bankroll and table limits in ⚙ Buy-in & limits, play a few hundred spins, then check 📜 History to see how the system really did.
It has half the house edge of the Las Vegas wheel for the same payouts. Add La Partage for even better odds on even-money bets.
Want to play longer? Outside bets win often. Chasing a big hit? Inside bets pay more but win rarely. Every bet loses at the same rate in the long run (except the top line).
Open RNG engine & fairness tools at the bottom of the game to verify any spin, or run a million test spins.
13Glossary
- Straight up
- A bet on a single number.
- Split
- A bet on two neighbouring numbers, placed on the line between them.
- Street
- A bet on a row of three numbers (e.g. 4-5-6), placed on the outer edge of that row.
- Corner (square)
- A bet on four numbers that meet at one point.
- Six line (double street)
- Two neighbouring streets: six numbers.
- Trio
- A three-number bet that includes 0 (or 00).
- First four / Basket
- 0-1-2-3 on European wheels. On Las Vegas wheels the five-number 0-00-1-2-3 is called the basket or top line.
- Dozen
- 12 numbers in a row: 1–12, 13–24 or 25–36.
- Column
- One of the three long rows of 12 numbers, bet in the "2:1" box at its end.
- Even-money bet
- Any bet that pays 1:1: red/black, odd/even, low/high.
- House edge
- The casino's built-in average advantage, as a percentage of each bet.
- Table limits
- The minimum bet per spot and the maximum total bet per spin.
- Rebet
- Place exactly the same bets as on the last spin.
- Provably fair
- A system that lets you check, after the fact, that the game didn't change results. See the fairness tools in the game.
- Diamonds
- The metal deflectors on the wheel's track that knock the ball around before it drops.
14Your game screen explained
A map of the game page. The numbers on the map match the descriptions underneath, so you can find any button fast. On phones the same parts stack top to bottom.
Top bar
- 1Your numbers
- Balance: the chips you have left. During the tutorial it shows "practice".
- On table: the total you've bet on the coming spin.
- Last result: how much you won or lost on the last spin.
- Table limits: the minimum bet per spot and the maximum total per spin.
- 2Sound
🔊 FX turns the wheel, ball and chip sounds on or off. 🎵 Music turns the lounge music on or off. The slider sets the volume. Browsers only allow sound after your first click on the page. Your choice is remembered.
- 3❓ Help & Rules
Opens this page in a new tab, so your game stays put.
- 4🎓 Tutorial
Three guided practice rounds with speech bubbles. You play with practice chips and your real balance is set aside until it ends. Press Skip tutorial or Esc at any time.
📜 History opens your activity history: every bet, every winning number, every setting changed, every visit and every reset, newest first and grouped by day. Filter it (Spins, Bets, Settings, Visits & resets), search it (try 17 or Red), see your totals (spins, total bet, net result, biggest win, most frequent number), download it as a CSV spreadsheet, or clear it. It is stored only in this browser.
- 5⚙ Buy-in & limits
Opens the settings window (see below) to buy in, change table limits and set your chip values.
Wheel area
- 6Wheel choice & La Partage
Switch between the Las Vegas wheel (0 and 00), which is where the game starts, and the European wheel (single 0), which has better odds. Your choice is remembered. Switching hands back any bets on the table. La Partage (European only) returns half of your even-money bets when 0 hits.
- 7The wheel
The ball circles the track, hits a gold diamond and bounces into a pocket. The winning number is already decided by the RNG when the ball is launched. The animation just shows it.
- 8Result
The winning number and its colour, odd/even and high/low, plus what you won or lost.
- 9Results history
The last 24 numbers on this wheel. Click any number to verify that spin in the fairness tools. The bar shows the red/green/black split of the last 100 spins. "Hot" numbers are just for fun: past spins never affect future ones.
Table area
- 10Game mode & spin length
🎰 Vegas mode: a betting timer, then a full spin (up to 20 seconds). ⚡ Simulator mode: no timer, instant results. Dragging the slider to Instant switches to Simulator mode. Any other length is Vegas mode.
- 11Betting timer
Counts down your betting time (30 seconds by default), turns red for the last 5 seconds, then spins automatically. After 3 spins in a row with no bets it pauses until you bet again.
- 12The betting table
- Click a number or box to place your selected chip. Click again to add more.
- Right-click to take a chip off.
- Click a line for a split, a corner for four numbers, or the bottom edge for streets and six lines.
- Hover over any bet to light up the numbers it covers.
- An orange ring on a chip means it's below the table minimum. It's handed back when the ball drops.
- After a spin, the winning number pulses gold.
- 13Bet types & payouts
Opens a list of every bet with its payout, chance to win and house edge for the wheel you're using.
- 14Chip rack
Click a chip to choose how much each click bets. The selected chip lifts up. Chips you can't afford are greyed out. Change the values in ⚙ Buy-in & limits.
- 15Bet buttons
- ↶ Undo: reverses your last action, even a Clear or Double. Press it repeatedly to go further back. Also Ctrl+Z.
- Clear: takes every chip off the table and back into your balance.
- Rebet: places exactly the bets from your last spin.
- 2× Double: doubles every bet on the table.
- 16SPIN / SPIN NOW
In Simulator mode, SPIN (or Space) spins the wheel. In Vegas mode, SPIN NOW skips the rest of the betting timer.
Bottom of the page
- 17🔐 RNG engine & fairness tools
Closed by default. Click to open it. Inside:
- RNG engine: choose the random number generator. The default, Provably Fair, is the most secure. Red "NOT secure" engines are for simulations only.
- 📖 Guide: a full explanation of every engine and tool.
- Provably Fair: see the locked-in server seed hash, set your own client seed, and reveal the seed to check past spins.
- Verify a spin: recalculate any spin from its seeds and confirm it matches.
- RNG test: simulate up to a million spins and check that every pocket comes up equally often.
- How it's secured: the technical details.
⚙ Buy-in & limits window
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Buy-in amount | Your starting bankroll, from $1 to $1,000,000. |
| Betting time | Seconds on the Vegas-mode timer (5–120). |
| Minimum bet | The smallest amount allowed on any one spot (from $0.50). |
| Maximum bet | The most you can have on the table in one spin (up to $1,000,000). |
| Chips 1–6 | The value of each chip in your rack (50¢ to $10,000 each). |
| Fill in defaults | Fills the form with $1,000 buy-in, $1–$10,000 limits, and $1, $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 chips. Nothing changes until you save. |
| Save limits & chips | Applies limits and chips but keeps your current balance. |
| Save & buy in | Applies everything and starts a new bankroll at the buy-in amount. |
| 📜 View activity history | Opens the History window described above. |
| ⟲ Reset everything to default | After you confirm, puts the whole game back to how it was on your first visit: $1,000 balance, default limits and chips, Las Vegas wheel, Vegas mode, sound and music on, and new fairness seeds. Bets on the table and recent numbers are cleared. Your activity history is kept and records the reset. |
⌨️ Keyboard shortcuts
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Spin (Simulator mode) or spin now (Vegas mode) |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo your last bet action |
| Esc | Leave the tutorial, or close the settings or History window |
| Right-click | Remove a chip from a spot |
💾 What's saved
The game remembers you when you come back. Your balance, settings, sound choices, recent results and activity history are saved in this browser on this device, and you'll see a "Welcome back" message with your balance. Clearing your browser's site data, or playing in a private window, starts you fresh. Nothing is sent to a server.
🔞 The 18+ notice
On your first visit, and again 24 hours after you last confirmed, a notice asks you to confirm that you are 18 or older (and of legal gambling age where you live) and that you understand this is a play-money game: there is no real money, no prizes and no payouts. Tick the box and press Enter site.
15Roulette FAQ
Is Free Roulette Simulator really free?
Yes. It's completely free with no sign-up and no download. You play with play money only, and nothing can be bought.
Can I win real money?
No. Every chip and balance is imaginary play money with no cash value. It can't be bought, withdrawn or exchanged for money or prizes, and no one can win or lose real money on this site.
What are the odds of winning at roulette?
A single number wins 1 time in 37 on a European wheel (2.70%) and 1 in 38 on an American wheel (2.63%). Red or black wins 48.6% of spins on a European wheel and 47.4% on an American wheel. See the odds and payouts chart for every bet.
What's the difference between European and American roulette?
A European wheel has one green zero (37 pockets). An American wheel adds a double zero (38 pockets). The payouts are the same, so the extra pocket almost doubles the house edge: 2.70% on European versus 5.26% on American.
What does each roulette bet pay?
A single number pays 35 to 1, a split 17 to 1, a street 11 to 1, a corner 8 to 1, a six line 5 to 1, a dozen or column 2 to 1, and red/black, odd/even and high/low pay 1 to 1.
Is there a roulette strategy that always wins?
No. Every spin is independent and every bet has a house edge, so no betting system can beat roulette over time. Systems like Martingale only change how you win or lose. You can test any strategy here with play money to see this for yourself.
Is this roulette simulator fair?
Yes. Every spin uses your browser's cryptographically secure random number generator, and provably-fair mode lets you check any result yourself with the fairness tools at the bottom of the game.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. The simulator runs in any modern browser on phones, tablets and computers. Your balance and settings are saved on your device.