Guide · Updated July 2026
A standard roulette wheel is divided into 37 numbered pockets in the European version — 0 through 36 — coloured alternately red and black, with the single 0 pocket coloured green. The American version adds a second green pocket, 00, bringing the total to 38 pockets. That single extra pocket might look like a small difference, but it roughly doubles the house edge, which is why understanding European vs American roulette before you start playing is genuinely worth ten minutes of reading.
The betting table sits alongside the wheel and mirrors its numbers in a grid, with the numbers arranged in three columns of twelve rows, plus the zero (and double-zero, on American tables) positioned at the head of the grid. Around the outside of that number grid sit a series of additional betting areas — red/black, odd/even, high/low, and the column and dozen sections — which is where the "outside bets" described below are placed. Every spin, a dealer (or, in live online play, a live-streamed croupier) spins the wheel in one direction and rolls a small ball in the opposite direction around its rim; wherever the ball settles determines the winning number and colour for that round, and every bet placed on the table for that round is settled against it.
Bet types
Every roulette bet falls into one of two families, and the split matters because it directly trades off probability of winning against the size of the payout.
| Bet name | Type | What it covers | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight up | Inside | A single number | 35:1 |
| Split | Inside | Two adjacent numbers | 17:1 |
| Street | Inside | A row of three numbers | 11:1 |
| Corner (square) | Inside | Four numbers meeting at a corner | 8:1 |
| Six line (double street) | Inside | Two adjacent rows, six numbers | 5:1 |
| Column | Outside | All 12 numbers in one column | 2:1 |
| Dozen (1–12, 13–24, 25–36) | Outside | Any 12 consecutive numbers | 2:1 |
| Red or Black | Outside | All numbers of one colour | 1:1 |
| Odd or Even | Outside | All odd or all even numbers | 1:1 |
| High or Low (1–18 / 19–36) | Outside | Half the number range | 1:1 |
Zero (and double-zero on American wheels) isn't covered by any outside bet, which is the structural source of the house edge on every even-money and outside wager.
Inside bets are placed directly on the number grid and cover a small, specific cluster of numbers, which means they pay out far less often but at much higher odds when they do land. A straight-up bet on a single number, for example, has roughly a 1-in-37 chance of landing on a European wheel, but pays 35:1 if it does — a payout that's mathematically close to fair for the odds involved, with the house edge baked in via the presence of the zero pocket rather than through a skewed payout ratio. Split, street, corner and six-line bets all work the same way at progressively larger scale, covering two, three, four or six numbers respectively, with the payout shrinking as the coverage grows and your odds of winning improve.
Inside bets suit players who enjoy the higher variance of chasing a large payout from a small stake, and they're commonly combined — many experienced roulette players place several inside bets across a spread of numbers in a single round, effectively building a custom coverage pattern across the wheel rather than betting on just one number or bet type in isolation.
Outside bets sit around the edge of the number grid and cover much larger groups of numbers — red or black, odd or even, an entire dozen or column — which means they land far more often but pay out at correspondingly lower odds. The even-money bets (red/black, odd/even, high/low) are the closest thing roulette has to a coin flip, landing just under half the time on a European wheel, with the zero pocket being the only reason it isn't an exact 50/50 split. Column and dozen bets sit in between, covering roughly a third of the wheel each and paying 2:1 accordingly.
Outside bets are the natural starting point for players new to roulette, since they're the easiest to understand intuitively and produce a steadier, lower-variance session than chasing single-number payouts. Many players build their entire roulette approach around outside bets for exactly this reason — smaller, more frequent wins that keep a bankroll active for longer, even though the ceiling on any single win is much lower than an inside bet's.
Mzansi Pro-Tip
If a casino offers both European and American roulette tables, always choose European (sometimes labelled "single-zero") over American ("double-zero") whenever it's available. The single extra green pocket on an American wheel nearly doubles the house edge on every bet type, from roughly 2.7% to roughly 5.26%, without changing anything about how the game is played or how much fun it is. There's no upside to choosing American roulette over European when both are on offer — it's simply a worse version of the same game, mathematically. See our full European vs American roulette breakdown for the details.
South African online casinos generally offer roulette in two formats. RNG (random number generator) roulette uses software to simulate the spin digitally, resolving almost instantly and available at any hour without waiting for other players. Live dealer roulette, by contrast, streams a real wheel and a real croupier from a studio in real time, with players placing digital bets against the live outcome — a format that's grown enormously popular in South Africa for the more authentic, social casino feel it offers over a purely digital table. Our live dealer games guide covers how that streaming setup works in more detail, and our live dealer casinos comparison covers which SA operators run the strongest live tables.
Speed roulette and multiplier roulette variants have also become common at online casinos, compressing the betting window into a faster cycle or adding random multiplier boosts to specific numbers each round. If those variants interest you, our dedicated speed roulette guide and multiplier roulette guide cover them individually — both remain built on the exact same wheel layout and bet types described on this page, just with a different pace or bonus mechanic layered on top.
Roulette's name comes from the French for "little wheel," and the game's roots trace back to 18th-century France, where it's widely believed to have evolved from earlier wheel-based gambling devices and even from failed experiments in perpetual-motion mechanics by mathematician Blaise Pascal. The game spread across European casinos through the 1800s, and it was in Germany, at the Homburg casino, that the single-zero wheel — what we now call European roulette — was introduced specifically to offer players better odds than the double-zero wheels already common elsewhere, as a way of luring custom away from rival casinos. That single-zero version later travelled to Monte Carlo and became closely associated with the glamour of that casino, while the original double-zero wheel crossed the Atlantic largely unchanged and became the standard in American casinos, a split that persists to this day and explains why the two versions carry different house edges.
Roulette's basic format — a spinning wheel, a stationary ball, and a betting layout offering everything from single-number wagers to broad colour and range bets — has barely changed in over a century, which says something about how well the original design balanced simplicity, drama and mathematical elegance. Online roulette, whether RNG-based or streamed from a live studio, is built directly on that same centuries-old layout; nothing about moving the game online required reinventing the wheel, literally or figuratively.
Roulette is simple to play, but a few habits consistently cost new players more than the game's built-in house edge alone would.
Roulette is available at all three casinos we track — Pantherbet, 10bet and Hollywoodbets — in both RNG and live dealer formats, and it's typically covered by standard slots-and-table wagering contribution rules if you're clearing a bonus. Before you deposit and start playing, it's worth reading through our guide to choosing a safe SA casino if you haven't already picked an operator, and our full guides hub covers everything else from FICA verification to bankroll strategy that's useful groundwork before your first real-money session.
FAQ
A European roulette wheel has 37 numbers, 0 through 36. An American wheel has 38, adding a second green pocket, 00, which increases the house edge.
Inside bets are placed directly on the number grid and cover a small number of specific numbers, paying higher odds but landing less often. Outside bets cover much larger groups, like red/black or a whole dozen, and land more frequently but pay lower odds.
A straight-up bet on a single number pays the highest at 35:1, but it also has the lowest chance of landing of any bet type on the table.
European roulette, whenever it's available. Its single-zero wheel carries a house edge of roughly 2.7%, compared to roughly 5.26% on an American double-zero wheel, with no other difference in how the game plays.
These ratios describe how much you win relative to your stake. A 2:1 payout returns two units of profit for every one unit staked, plus your original stake back. A 35:1 payout returns thirty-five units of profit for a winning straight-up bet.
Yes — most players place several bets across both inside and outside categories in the same round, building custom coverage across the wheel rather than betting on only one outcome per spin.
The bet types and payouts are identical. Live dealer roulette streams a real wheel and croupier in real time rather than resolving spins digitally through software, offering a more authentic, social experience at a slightly slower pace.
No. Progressive betting systems change the shape and timing of wins and losses but don't alter the underlying house edge, and they carry real risk of large losses during extended losing streaks combined with table betting limits.
Roulette originated in 18th-century France. The single-zero European wheel was later introduced in Germany to offer better odds than existing double-zero wheels, while the original double-zero format became standard in American casinos.
No. Each spin is an independent event and the wheel has no memory of previous results. The odds of red or black landing on the next spin are unaffected by how many times either colour has come up before.