European Roulette: The Single Zero Game, Explained

What is European roulette?

It is the version that grew up in France and spread across the continent more than two hundred years ago, which is why the name stuck. The defining feature is a wheel with exactly one green pocket. Players also call it single zero roulette, or single 0 roulette on some signs.

Count the outcomes: 36 numbers plus 0 makes 37. A hit on one number earns 35 to 1, the fair price for a 36 pocket wheel. That lone extra pocket, the 0, is the casino's entire profit margin. On a double zero wheel there are two such pockets, so the cost roughly doubles.

French roulette uses this same wheel with French words on the felt and a softer zero rule. Our French roulette page explains that rule, and the European roulette wheel guide shows where each number sits.

Basic rules for European roulette explained

A round runs the same way at every single zero table. Here is how to play European roulette from the moment you sit down.

1. Get chips. Swap your buy in for table chips. At a casino these are colored wheel chips that belong to you alone and only work at that wheel.
2. Bet while the dealer allows it. Chips can go straight onto a number (including 0), onto the edge or corner joining several numbers, or into the boxes along the outer edge of the felt.
3. Stop when told. The croupier sends the ball circling one way while the wheel rotates the other. Once you hear "no more bets", hands off.
4. See the number marked. When the ball settles, the croupier tops the winning box with a marker so nobody argues about it.
5. Collect. Losers are raked in, winners are paid at the prices in the table below, and a new round opens.

The one rule beginners miss: a 0 result loses every outside bet, because 0 counts as neither red nor black, neither odd nor even, neither low nor high. Some tables soften that blow with la partage, covered further down. New to the whole game? Start at how to play roulette.

European roulette red numbers list

Half of the 36 numbers are red and half are black. The pattern on the board looks random but follows a simple rule that flips twice. Read across each band:

The 0 is green and belongs to no group. On the wheel itself the colors simply take turns, red then black, all the way around. Add up all thirty six numbers and you get 666, a bit of trivia croupiers like to share.

Each single zero bet with its true chance

The last column is the one most players never see: on average, how many spins pass between wins. It makes the chance feel real.

On a single zero layout the trio is 0, 1, 2 or 0, 2, 3, and the first four is 0, 1, 2, 3. Each price falls just short of fair, by the same proportion, which is why the edge never moves no matter where you bet. For the inside bets one by one, see all roulette bets.

Where the 2.70% comes from, worked in units

Imagine covering the whole wheel: one chip on every pocket, 0 included, 37 chips in all. You stake 37 units. Exactly one number wins and returns 36 (its 35 units of winnings plus the stake). You are 1 unit down. One unit lost per 37 staked is 2.70%, and the same thing happens, more slowly and with more noise, whatever you bet.

A realistic session. You play 60 spins with 3 units on the second column each time. Total action: 180 units. Average cost: 180 times 0.027, close to 4.9 units. You might finish 20 units up or 25 down on any one night. Run that night a thousand times and the average lands near minus 4.9.

European roulette vs American: the price of one pocket

Same payouts, same box shapes, almost the same felt. The gap is a second green pocket on the American wheel, which pushes the edge up to 5.26%, versus 2.70% here. Put another way, a hundred units of action drains close to 2.7 units on this wheel and close to 5.3 on the other.

There are two smaller differences. The American board has a five number bet across both zeros that is even worse, at 7.89%. And the wheels order their numbers differently, so a sector of neighbors on one wheel is not the same set of numbers on the other. Read the full comparison in American roulette.

Small bets and slow nights on a single zero wheel

Because the edge is flat, the size of your bet is the only lever that changes what a session costs. A few habits keep European roulette cheap and calm:

• Bet the smallest unit the table allows. Half the bet means half the average loss.
• Prefer wide bets if you want long sessions. A column or an even money box wins often enough to keep a small stack alive.
• Take la partage when offered. On those tables a 0 result costs you just half the chip on red, black and the other even boxes, which halves the edge on that bet to about 1.35%.
• Leave patterns alone. Six reds in a row say zero about spin seven.

Free European roulette simulator: how to use it

The demo table above runs a single zero wheel with play credits, so you can play European roulette online for free with no download and nothing saved.

1. Choose a chip value. The tray offers 1, 5, 25 and 100.
2. Touch a number, the green 0 or any box around the edge and the chip lands there. Touch again to stack.
3. Spin. The wheel strip stops on the result and the screen shows what you won and your balance, which starts at 1,000.
4. Watch the panel of the last 20 numbers and the running count of reds, blacks and zeros.
5. Hit reset whenever you want a fresh 1,000.

Try this: put 5 credits on the first column for 100 spins. You will stake 500 credits, so expect to end near 986 on average, though one run might finish at 900 and the next at 1,080. Count the zeros too. Over 100 spins you should see about 3, but streaks of none for 80 spins happen. For a side by side test, repeat the bet on the main simulator page after switching wheels.