European Roulette Online in the UK: The Table, the Payouts and the 2.70% House Edge

01The wheel

How does a European roulette table and wheel work?

A European roulette table has two parts: the wheel and the betting layout. The wheel holds 37 pockets, numbered 0 to 36. Zero is green, of the other 36 pockets 18 are red and 18 are black. The ball is spun against the direction of the wheel and settles in one pocket. Every bet on the layout is settled on that one number.

The numbers are not in sequence. Going round from zero the order is 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34, 6, 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, 33, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26. The order alternates red and black and spreads high and low numbers apart. It is a fixed layout, and it does not make any number more likely.

The betting layout is a grid of 36 numbers in three columns of twelve, with zero sitting on top. Inside bets go on the numbers themselves: one number, two neighbours, a row of three, a block of four. Outside bets go on the margins and cover large groups: red or black, odd or even, 1–18 or 19–36, the three dozens and the three columns.

02Bets and payouts

What does each bet pay on a European roulette table?

Each payout is set by how many numbers a bet covers: the fewer it covers, the more it pays. The table below shows both sides on a European roulette table, with the chance of winning on a single spin of the 37-pocket wheel.

Look at the last column against the payout column. A straight-up bet would be fair at 36 to 1, because it wins once in 37. It pays 35 to 1. That missing unit is where the casino's money comes from.

03The maths

Why is the house edge 2.70% on every European roulette table?

Stake £1 on one number for 37 spins, £37 in all. On average it wins once and returns £36: the £1 stake plus the 35 to 1 payout. That is £1 short of break-even, and 1 divided by 37 is 2.70%.

The same sum works on every bet. Stake £1 on a dozen: it wins 12 times in 37 and returns £3 each time (stake plus 2 to 1), so 12 × £3 = £36 back for £37 staked. Stake £1 on red: 18 wins return £2 each, again £36 for £37. Every line of the table above returns £36 per £37, because the payout is always set so that the single zero is the only difference.

So the choice of bet does not change what you lose on average. It changes how bumpy the ride is. A straight-up bet rarely wins and pays a lot; an even-money bet wins nearly half the time and pays little. The average cost is the same, 2.70p per pound, on every spin you play.

04The three wheels

European, French or American roulette: what changes?

The three games differ in the wheel, the layout and, on French tables, one rule about zero. Everything that follows from the extra pocket or the zero rule shows up in the edge.

American roulette adds a second green pocket, the double zero, but leaves the payouts alone, so the edge nearly doubles. If a table shows two zeros, walk away from it for a high stake. French roulette uses the European wheel and, where La Partage applies, halves the cost of even-money bets; our French roulette guide explains how, and the American roulette guide shows what the extra pocket costs at your stake.

La Partage and En Prison on a single-zero wheel

Some single-zero tables add a rule for the zero. With La Partage, an even-money bet that meets the zero loses only half its stake; En Prison holds the stake for one more spin instead. Where La Partage applies, the edge on even-money bets falls from 2.70% to 1.35%, and the rule is a feature of the table, not of the wheel, so read the game panel. The French roulette guide works through both rules with examples.

Who makes European roulette tables online

In the limits we checked, European-style tables come from Evolution, Pragmatic Live and Playtech. Pragmatic Live supplies most of the £10,000 tables in the game data of 247Bet and Playzee, and the same game can carry different limits at different casinos, which is why the figures in the next chapter are listed per casino.

The European roulette layout and bet types are the same whichever studio deals the game. European roulette house edge and strategy questions also come down to the zero rule at your table, not the provider's name, and our roulette strategy guide explains why.

05The limits

How high do European roulette tables go online in the UK?

For European roulette online the honest answer is: it depends on the casino, and most do not say on the pages you can see before you log in. The figures below are all we can quote, with their source. We could not confirm from the data we hold whether each game runs on a single-zero wheel, so check the rules panel of the game before you commit a stake.

Note the gap between the table maximum and the bet-type caps where they are published: at Ladbrokes UK Roulette the whole £10,000 can go on red, but a single number takes only £50, and Coral caps even-money bets on Coral Sports Roulette Live at £2,000 without stating a table maximum at all. A high table maximum does not mean you can put it all on one bet. Our ranking of the best high stakes roulette casinos and the table-limit finder list every figure we have checked. Set a budget and a time limit in your account before you play any of them.

06Dealer or software

Live, RNG or auto wheel: which European roulette table online?

European roulette online comes in three formats, and each European roulette table you open is one of them. An RNG game uses a random number generator and animation, runs as fast as you click and usually has modest limits. A live game is dealt from a studio by a croupier, usually at around 30 to 40 rounds an hour. An auto wheel is a physical wheel without a dealer: a real ball, a real wheel, filmed, with quicker rounds.

The edge is 2.70% in all three, provided the wheel has a single zero. What differs is pace. At 2.70%, more spins an hour means more expected cost an hour: £1,000 a spin costs about £27 per spin on average, so 120 RNG spins an hour is £3,240 and 35 live rounds is £945. If you want to control how much you play, slower is better. Lightning Roulette is a live single-zero game with random multipliers and a 29 to 1 straight-up payout; our Lightning Roulette guide shows how that moves the edge.

High limits sit mostly on the live tables, as the table above shows. An RNG European roulette table online with a limit in the thousands is rare in UK lobbies.

07The long run

What do 10,000 spins on a European roulette table look like?

Over a handful of spins anything can happen, and that is the appeal. Over 10,000 spins on a European roulette table the average takes over, and the chart below shows a simulated run so you can see how far a session strays from it.

The numbers behind it: on 10,000 spins of £1 the expected loss is £270. Stakes on one number swing widely around that, by about £584 either way, so roughly one run in three finishes ahead. Stakes on red swing by only about £100, so fewer than 1 run in 100 finishes ahead.

The even-money player gets the steadier ride and, at that length, almost always ends behind. The straight-up player gets the long shot and the same average loss. Neither can improve it by changing stake sizes, and nobody can set a stop that turns the odds. A limit on time and loss is the only control that works.

08The verdict

Our high-roller verdict on European roulette

European roulette is the baseline for large stakes: one zero, the same fair 2.70% on every bet, no hidden pockets, and the wheel on which most high-limit live tables are built. If you can find a French table with La Partage that takes your stake, it is cheaper on even-money bets. If you cannot, a European table is the next best thing, and never an American one.

Before you start, read the table's limits panel, confirm the wheel has one zero, and decide what you are prepared to lose in the session. At £1,000 a spin the expected cost is £27 a spin and the swings are far larger. Use the deposit and time limits in your account, and keep them.