A Guide to Roulette Wheel Numbers and Layouts

Roulette wheel numbers match the pocket count on each format: 37 on a single-zero European wheel, 38 on a double-zero American wheel, and 39 on newer triple-zero layouts. 

That shift from one green pocket to two or three moves house edge from about 2.70 percent on European tables to roughly 5.26 percent on standard American games and close to 7.69 percent on triple-zero setups.

How Many Roulette Numbers Are There?

A standard single-zero game format has 37 pockets.

On this layout, a straight bet has a 1/37 chance to land, and the common 35:1 payout leads to a house edge of about 2.70%. European tables and many online roulette wheel variants use this structure as their baseline, and the layout stays the same on live dealer platforms.

An American layout settles the issue of how many numbers are on a roulette wheel for double-zero games with a different count: 38 pockets. The extra 00 pocket shifts the chance of a straight hit to 1/38. Payouts usually stay at 35:1, so house edge climbs to roughly 5.26%. 

That difference means a flat stake of 5 dollars on straight bets across 100 spins creates an expected loss of around 13.50 dollars on a single-zero game and close to 26 dollars on a double-zero table.

How many roulette numbers you cover with each wager matters too. A dozen bet covers 12 numbers, so it tracks a 12/37 or 12/38 hit rate depending on wheel type.

Outside wagers that cover 18 numbers, such as red or black, trade smaller returns for a hit rate close to one spin in two on both wheel formats, before green pockets tilt the long-term result back toward the house.

European Roulette Wheel Number Order And Single-Zero Balance

European roulette wheel number order uses a single-zero ring that spreads risk across the rim by alternating high and low numbers, cutting red and black pockets across each other, and anchoring classic call bets around the green zero. 

On a standard single-zero roulette wheel layout, a clockwise run might read 0–32–15–19–4–21–2–25–17–34–6 around the zero sector instead of simple 1–18 / 19–36 blocks.

A typical single-zero ring places low and high totals on both sides of the wheel rather than grouping 1–18 in one half and 19–36 in the other. Red and black colors criss-cross so long strings of a single color appear only in short stretches. 

Call bets such as Voisins du Zéro use that structure directly; Voisins covers 17 pockets around zero and roughly 46 percent of the wheel with a fixed spread of chips on the racetrack.

Neighbor bets use the number order in a similar way. A standard five-number neighbor spread around a chosen pocket still covers 5/37 of all outcomes, far wider coverage than a single straight-up chip yet concentrated in one physical slice of the rim.

American Roulette Wheel Layout

Pockets still run from 1 to 36 with red and black colors, yet 0 and 00 sit in positions that interrupt sequences more often than others. On a typical American roulette wheel, 0 sits between 2 and 28 while 00 sits between 1 and 27, so a sector that lies together on a European ring gets split into two arcs. Other differences include:

• Double-zero layouts carry 38 pockets and place 0 and 00 in opposite positions that split sections which would sit together on a single-zero wheel. 
• Some digital American games adopt “surrender” or similar features on even-money bets when the ball lands on green, trimming effective edge without changing pocket order. 
• Certain Las Vegas properties advertise triple-zero tables that add a third green space, raise the total pocket count to 39, and push edge close to 7.69 percent on standard bets.

Game info panels at online gambling sites with roulette often list wheel type, pocket count, RTP, and whether you are on a European, American, or triple-zero wheel, and operators that serve US traffic publish layouts side by side so rule differences are obvious.

Table: Comparing Roulette Wheel Setups 

Different roulette wheel setups share the same basic payouts, yet pocket counts and rules push return-to-player (RTP) figures in different directions:

Note: RTP can vary according to jurisdiction. Information on the table comes from official provider Ezugi’s roulette factsheet from November 2024 and calculations by mathematician Michael Shackleford at Wizard of Odds. The higher effective return quoted for La Partage applies only to even-money bets on wheels where that rule is active and does not change the base 97.30 percent figure for the rest of the layout.

A player staking 5 dollars per spin on straight bets across 1,000 spins would see an expected loss near 135 dollars on a 97.30% single-zero layout and close to 263 dollars on a 94.74% double-zero layout, assuming flat stakes and no rule perks such as La Partage. 

Those differences all trace back to how many roulette numbers sit on each rim and how many green pockets feed the edge.

How Roulette Wheel Numbers Change Odds And Payouts 

A straight wager covering one pocket pays 35:1, but the hit chance sits at 1/37 or 1/38 depending on wheel type. Split, street, and corner bets stretch that coverage to 2, 3, or 4 pockets and reduce the gap between hit rate and payout, yet on a given roulette wheel layout with standard rules the house edge stays the same across these inside options and simply changes the volatility of results.

Outside wagers make the structure of the roulette wheel easier to read in numeric terms. An even-money stake on red or black touches 18 numbers, so the theoretical hit rate lands close to 18/37 on a single-zero wheel and 18/38 on a double-zero wheel. 

Dozens and columns cover 12 pockets each, with hit rates near 12/37 or 12/38 and payouts at 2:1. Questions such as how many roulette numbers sit under a chip stack can be answered directly on the grid, yet the true edge always ties back to the pocket count and layout hidden behind the spin.

Bet Patterns Across Different Wheel Numbers

Roulette wheel numbers influence how sharply balances move at a fixed stake. Straight bets on single-zero and double-zero layouts share payout tables, yet pocket count changes how fast losses build over long sequences.

1. Inside Bets On Single-Zero Wheels: Straight wagers on a 37-pocket wheel carry an expected return around 97.30%, so a flat 5 dollar stake over 200 spins points to a long-run loss near 27 dollars. Hits arrive less often but lift the balance sharply when the chosen number lands.
2. Inside Bets On Double-Zero Wheels: The same pattern on a 38-pocket American layout tracks an expected return near 94.74%. Using the same 5 dollar stake and 200-spin stretch, the projected loss moves closer to 53 dollars, since 0 and 00 add losing outcomes without improving the standard 35:1 payout.
3. Outside Bets For Smoother Swings: Wagers on red, black, odd, even, dozens, or columns cover larger groups of roulette numbers, so balances move in smaller steps. On a single-zero wheel, staking 5 dollars on red over 100 spins carries the same long-run expected loss of about 13.50 dollars as 100 straight-up spins at the same stake, but the path there is smoother because wins land more often and in smaller jumps. Hit rates climb, yet the long-term gap between single-zero and double-zero formats stays anchored to the same 97.30% versus 94.74% structure behind the wheel.

RNG Roulette Wheels, And Fair Roulette Numbers

RNG-based roulette wheel simulations use certified random number generators that mimic the 37 or 38-pocket layouts, and independent test labs such as eCOGRA or GLI check long-run results against the stated odds and RTP figures.

Safe online casinos publish clear information about wheel type, pocket count, and RTP for every digital or streamed table. Live studios pair that digital tracking with real wheels and camera feeds, so the spin outcome on screen matches the pocket where the ball lands.

A quick shortlist helps when scanning sites for roulette numbers that play fairly: look for a recognized license, an eCOGRA, GLI, or similar test-lab seal, and a game panel that lists RTP and basic rules for each roulette wheel.

Digital titles often have single-zero setups near 97.30% RTP and double-zero tables around 94.74%.

Reading The Wheel Like A Numbers Map

A roulette wheel is a fixed set of pockets with published payouts and house edges, not a streak machine. 

Players who treat layouts as static data gain a clearer sense of how quickly a stack might rise or slide at different stakes, and table choice is a comparison of pocket counts and percentages rather than a hunt for hot sections or magic sequences.

If gambling is starting to cause stress, contact the US national helpline at 1-800-GAMBLER for confidential support.