Different Kinds of Roulette Betting: The Complete Reference
Roulette’s bets fall into two broad categories – inside bets on specific numbers, and outside bets on larger groupings – plus a set of French-table “announced” bets most online players never touch. This is the full reference: every standard bet type, its payout, and its actual odds of winning.
Inside Bets: Higher Payout, Lower Odds
| Bet | Covers | Payout | Odds of Winning (European) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight-Up | 1 number | 35:1 | 2.7% |
| Split | 2 adjacent numbers | 17:1 | 5.4% |
| Street | 3 numbers in a row | 11:1 | 8.1% |
| Corner | 4 numbers in a square | 8:1 | 10.8% |
| Six Line | 6 numbers (two rows) | 5:1 | 16.2% |
On an American wheel, the extra pocket shifts each of these odds down very slightly (for example, a Straight-Up bet’s odds fall to about 2.63%), without changing the payout – which is precisely why American roulette carries a higher house edge across every bet type.
Outside Bets: Lower Payout, Higher Odds
| Bet | Covers | Payout | Odds of Winning (European) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red / Black | 18 numbers | 1:1 | 48.6% |
| Odd / Even | 18 numbers | 1:1 | 48.6% |
| High / Low | 1-18 or 19-36 | 1:1 | 48.6% |
| Dozen | 12 numbers (1-12, 13-24, 25-36) | 2:1 | 32.4% |
| Column | One of three vertical columns | 2:1 | 32.4% |
These are the bets most beginners are pointed toward, since the odds are closer to a coin flip and the payout structure is easy to track mentally during play.
Announced Bets (French/European Tables)
These are pre-set combinations based on the numbers’ physical position on the wheel rather than the table layout – Voisins du Zéro (17 numbers around zero), Tiers du Cylindre (12 numbers opposite zero), and Orphelins (the remaining numbers). They’re a fixture of traditional French-table play but rarely used on standard online tables, where most players stick to the inside/outside bets above for simplicity.
Reading the Table: Risk vs. Reward
The payout-to-odds relationship in roulette is mathematically consistent regardless of which bet you choose – every standard bet on a European wheel carries the same 2.7% house edge, whether it’s a 35:1 Straight-Up or a 1:1 Red/Black. Higher payouts exist because the odds of winning are correspondingly lower, not because any bet offers better underlying value than another.
That means bet selection is really a question of variance preference, not a search for a “better” bet – inside bets produce bigger, rarer wins; outside bets produce smaller, more frequent ones. Neither is mathematically superior once the house edge is accounted for. For a closer look at how outside bets specifically compare in practice, see our guide to weighing inside vs. outside bets.
