Corner bet roulette: four numbers from one point

Counting the corners on a roulette table

A corner exists wherever four boxes touch at one point. Look at the grid: the numbers sit in twelve rows of three, so there are two inner lines running down the long way (between the three columns) and eleven inner lines running across (between the twelve rows). Every place where one of the long lines crosses one of the short lines is a corner.

Two long lines times eleven short lines gives 22 crossing points, so 22 corners. You can check the count another way: a number in the left or middle column, from 1 up to 32, can be the lowest number of a square, and there are 22 such numbers.

Numbers in the middle column, from 5 to 32, belong to four different corners each. Numbers like 1, 3, 34 and 36 at the ends belong to only one.

Placing a corner chip so the dealer reads it right

Put the center of the chip right on the cross. If it drifts along a line, it becomes a split of two numbers at 17 to 1. If it drifts into a box, it is a straight up. Dealers read the bet from where the chip sits when betting closes, not from what you meant.

1. Pick the four numbers. They must form a square: two side by side in one row, and the two directly next to them in the following row.
2. Find the point in the middle of those four boxes.
3. Set the chip there, flat and centered.
4. If several players share that corner, stack your color on top neatly so the dealer can see whose chips are whose.

Corners that a crowd likes, such as the ones around 17, can get busy. When in doubt, ask the dealer to place it and say all four numbers: "corner 17, 18, 20, 21".

Corner bet roulette payout and odds by wheel

The table pays 8 to 1. With four winners in a wheel of 37, the odds against you are 33 to 4, which is 8.25 to 1. That quarter of a unit gap is the house edge, and it works out to 2.70%, the figure shared by nearly all bets with one green pocket.

Winning sizes: 1 unit wins 8 and returns 9. 3 units win 24 and return 27. 10 units win 80 and return 90. A corner is four straight up bets merged: four 1 unit chips on the same numbers would return 36 on a hit for 4 staked, and one 4 unit corner returns 36 too.

The first four: a corner that includes zero

Where the wheel has a lone zero there is one more four number bet: zero together with 1, 2 and 3, called the first four or quatre premiers. The chip goes on the outer line, right where the 0 box meets the row of 1, 2 and 3. Price and edge match a normal corner exactly: 8 to 1, 2.70%.

American tables do not offer the first four. At that spot they take a five number bet, both zeros plus the 1, 2, 3 row, paid at 6 to 1. Its 7.89% edge makes it the poorest value on that layout. Both bets get called basket in some casinos, which causes confusion; our basket bet guide lays out every version.

Quad zero roulette, quadrants and the wheel

Some people search for a corner bet under the name quad, short for quadruple. That is just a nickname for the four number bet. Quad zero roulette is something else: a wheel with four zero pockets. A version like that has appeared in Las Vegas as an electronic table game paired with an extra wheel that multiplies some wins, so its numbers are not standard. With plain payouts, four zeros on a 40 pocket wheel would mean a 10% edge on every bet, worse than triple zero at 7.69%.

Roulette quadrants usually means splitting the wheel itself into four slices. A corner on the layout is not a slice of the wheel. The four numbers in a square are scattered around the wheel, as the diagram shows for 17, 18, 20 and 21. Betting by wheel section is done with call bets on the racetrack instead, covered on our call bets page.

Worked examples: corner bets in a session

A single corner. You put 2 units on 25, 26, 28 and 29. The ball lands on 28. The dealer pays 16 and you keep your 2, so 18 units come back.

Two corners that do not overlap. You bet 1 unit on 1, 2, 4, 5 and 1 unit on 7, 8, 10, 11. That is 2 units covering 8 numbers. A hit on any of them returns 9, so you are up 7. Your chance per spin is 8 in 37, about 21.62%.

Two corners that share numbers. 1 unit on 4, 5, 7, 8 and 1 unit on 5, 6, 8, 9. Now 5 and 8 sit in both squares. If 5 lands, both chips win, 18 back for 2 staked. If 4 lands, only one wins, 9 back, a net of 7. Overlaps make some numbers worth more, they do not change the edge.

Over many spins. Run a hundred 1 unit corners on a European wheel and the long run cost is close to 2.7 units. Try the same pattern with play credits on the roulette simulator and see how far real sessions stray from that average.

Carre, square, quad: names and slip ups

French dealers call the corner a carre, meaning square. In English you will hear corner, square, quad or four number bet. Whatever the name, it is the same chip on the same point and the same 8 to 1.

• Choosing four numbers that are not a square. 3, 4, 6 and 7 do not meet at one point, so no single chip covers them.
• Calling the first four on an American table. It does not exist there; the dealer will offer the five number bet at a worse edge.
• Hoping corners near a hot number will pay. Every spin is independent, a point our probability guide explains with numbers.