Atlassino Academy · How casinos work · Lesson 8

35 a 1, 35 veces, 150%: how payouts are written

One rule book writes “35 a 1”, another “35 veces la apuesta”, a third “35:1”, and blackjack pays “150%”. Here is how to read each one, and how many chips come back.

  • About 10 minutes
  • Illustrated hosts: Leo and Maya
  • Last checked 25 October 2026

One rule book says a single number pays “35 a 1”. Another says it is paid “35 veces la apuesta”, and a third writes “35:1”. Are they saying the same thing, and how many chips come back?

The short answer

They are the same payout. Each one says what is paid on every chip you bet: 35. The chip you bet comes back together with the winnings, so a single chip brings back 36, which is how one information page puts it: 36 times, with the chips bet included. With two numbers, such as “3 a 2”, you are paid the first number for every second number you bet. A percentage, such as “150%”, is the same thing counted in hundredths of the bet. And where a rule book writes “2 por 1”, read it as “2 a 1”.

Leo touches the painted outline of the left of two payout boxes on a dice-table layout — one circle each side of its divider, against one and two in the right-hand box — while Maya reads the right-hand box from the rail.
Leo smiling, explaining with an open hand.

Leoformer dealer · rules and maths

Different rule books, different habits of writing. Under all of them is one question a dealer answers every time: how much has this bet won, and does the bet itself come back? Once you ask it that way, every form below reads the same.

“35 a 1”, “35:1” and “35 veces” say the same thing

The roulette rule books of Cordoba, Buenos Aires Province and Entre Rios give the single number in three wordings: it is paid thirty-five times the bet, it collects 35 times the stake, and its payout is 35 a 1. A table from Mendoza writes the same payout with a colon: 35:1, and 17:1 for two numbers.

All of these count what the bet is paid. Two numbers pay 17 a 1, or 17 times the stake; red or black, high or low and odd or even pay 1 a 1.

The chips you bet come back as well

A bet that is paid is not taken by the table: it stays yours, and the winnings are added to it. The information page from Mendoza says it in one sentence: in every bet the payout ratio of 36 times holds, with the chips bet included. That is 35 won, plus the chip that was bet.

What comes back when the bet is paidEvery line counts in chips: what is won on the bet, and what comes back with the bet itself.
The betWritten asChips betChips wonChips back in all
A single number, roulette35 a 113536
Two numbers, roulette17 a 111718
Red or black, roulette1 a 1112
Blackjack3 a 2235
Place bet on 6 or 8, craps11 a 10101121
Odds laid against 4 or 10, craps1 a 2213
Tie, punto y banca8 a 1189

The last column is the second column read out loud: what is won, plus the bet. The bets in chips are examples; the payouts are from the rule books on each button.

Two numbers: “3 a 2”, “11 a 10”, “1 a 2”

When the second number is not 1, the payout is counted on that many chips. A blackjack pays 3 a 2 in the Mendoza guide: 3 won for every 2 bet. At craps, a place bet on 6 or 8 is paid 11 a 10 in the Buenos Aires Province rule book: 11 won for every 10.

The order of the numbers matters. Odds laid against a 4 or 10 are paid 1 a 2: 1 for every 2 bet, half the bet, while odds taken on the same point are paid 2 a 1, twice the bet. A payout with the smaller number first is less than the bet; it is still a payout, and the bet still comes back.

Percent: “150%” and “200%”

The blackjack rule book of Cordoba writes its payouts as a share of the bet: a blackjack benefits the player with 150% of the bet, and an ordinary hand that comes out ahead of the dealer’s with 100%. That is 3 a 2 and 1 a 1 in other words: 150% is three won on every two bet.

The craps table of Buenos Aires Province prints both forms side by side on every line: 2 a 1 next to 200%, 11 a 10 next to 110%, 1 a 2 next to 50%. The percentage is the winnings alone; the bet comes back as well, as with every other form.

“2 por 1” in one rule book

The Cordoba blackjack rule book writes “por” where the others write “a”. Its seguro, a bet of half the stake on the player’s second card, is paid “in proportion 2 por 1”; the Mendoza guide pays its insurance at twice the insurance bet, which is 2 a 1 in other words. The same Cordoba rule book pays a blackjack made on split aces as a “Simple” payout, “1 por 1”: the 100% of an ordinary hand rather than the 150% of a blackjack.

Maya with a hand on her chest, speaking gently and seriously.

Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks

The chips that come back with a payout include your own bet, and it is easy to count all of them as winnings. Only what was added is won; the rest was yours already, and it belongs to the limit you set before you sat down.

If it stops feeling like a night out, the lines below are there for exactly that.

If it stops being fun

If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. Minimum entry age: each province sets its own. Where we found the rule or regulator that sets it, we cite it on the page; those we found set it at 18. More on responsible gaming.

Show all provinces
0800-666-6006Buenos Aires City (CABA) · Línea de orientación por juego problemático (LOTBA) · Monday to Friday, 9 to 17
0800-444-4000Buenos Aires Province · Programa de Prevención y Asistencia al Juego Compulsivo (IPLyC)
0800-777-2983Cordoba · Línea 0800-777-AYUDA (Lotería de Córdoba) · 24 hours
0800-268-5640Santa Fe · Línea gratuita de la APRECOD (Santa Fe) · Every day, 8 to 24
0800-888-2202Entre Rios · Departamento Juego Responsable (IAFAS, PREVENJUEGO)
0261-424-7536Mendoza · Programa de Juego Responsable (IPJyC) · Monday to Friday, 8 to 14
0800-888-5836Misiones · Programa de Juego Responsable del IPLyC S.E. (0800-888-LUDO)
0800-888-2008Chaco · Línea de Juego Responsable (Lotería Chaqueña)
0299-403-8900Neuquen · Líneas de contacto, orientación y tratamiento (IJAN, juego responsable) · Monday to Friday, 8 to 15
0800-222-1700Rio Negro · Línea de Orientación al Jugador Problemático (Lotería de Río Negro)
02901-433515Tierra del Fuego · Departamento Juego Responsable (IPRA, Ushuaia)
0800-555-7678Tucuman · Juego Responsable, Ley 8986 (Caja Popular de Ahorros)
0800-999-1314San Juan · Línea gratuita del Programa Provincial de Juego Responsable (Caja de Acción Social) · Monday to Friday, 08 to 12

If you are thinking about suicide, call 135 or 0800 345 1435 from anywhere in the country

Practice: count the chips back

Level 1 gives a payout as a rule book writes it and a bet in chips, and asks how many chips come back in all. Level 2 gives two ways of writing a payout and asks whether they are the same.

Nothing is bet here, and nothing is random. Each question is a set situation, and the answer comes from the reading on this page.

The practice table needs JavaScript. Here is one question from it, with the answer.

The bet is paid. How many chips come back to you in all?

  • 5 chips 3 chips won, and your 2 chips back as well: 5 chips.
  • 3 chips That is what is paid. Your bet of 2 chips comes back as well, so 5 chips in all.
  • 4 chips The payout is not counted from the bet down: 3 chips won plus your 2 chips is 5 chips.

Read the payout as what is paid on what you bet, then add the bet back: it was not lost, so it comes back with the winnings.

Are these the same payout?

  • The same payout They are not. The order matters: 2 a 1 pays twice the bet, 1 a 2 pays half of it.
  • Different payouts The order matters: 2 a 1 pays twice the bet, 1 a 2 pays half of it.

Two forms are the same payout when they give the same payout on the same bet. Turn each into “won on each chip bet”, and compare.

Every question in the practice run is worked out the same way: the payout is turned into what is won on each chip bet, and the bet is added back.

How the practice run works

Where the questions come from. Level 1 uses the payouts in the rule books quoted on this page, with example bets in chips. Level 2 puts two forms side by side; some pairs are taken from the rule books, some are made up to test the reading. The wrong answers are named mistakes: counting the winnings without the bet, counting the bet inside the winnings, and reading the two numbers the wrong way round.

One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one question of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square it belongs to; when the squares of one level are full, the next level begins by itself. Practising a question you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.

Your progress stays in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.

Check yourself

Maya with a finger raised and a knowing look.

Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks

Five quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.

A question marked “New situation” asks you to use the lesson on a case it did not show.

1You put one chip on a single number. The rule book says it pays “35 veces la apuesta”, and the number comes up. How many chips come back to you in all?

Show the answer

Answer: 36: the 35 won, and your chip. A single number pays 35 on each chip, and the chip comes back too: 36 in all, with the chips bet included.

  • 35, with your chip counted among them The chip you bet is not part of the winnings: it comes back besides them.
  • 34: the payout minus your chip Nothing is taken off a paid bet: the chip comes back, and the winnings are added to it.
  • 36: the 35 won, and your chip “35 veces la apuesta” is what is paid; the chip you bet was not lost, so it comes back with them.
2Blackjack at one table pays “3 a 2”; a rule book elsewhere says a blackjack is paid “150%” of the bet. Is that the same payout?

Show the answer

Answer: Yes: three on every two is 150% of the bet. The two rule books write the same payout two ways.

  • Yes: three on every two is 150% of the bet Both give one and a half times the bet as winnings.
  • No: 150% is less than 3 a 2 Three won on two bet is one and a half times the bet, and so is 150%.
  • No: 3 a 2 is three times the bet The second number is the bet: three won for every two bet, not three for every one.
3At craps, you lay two chips against a 4. The table says “1 a 2”. The 7 comes first, so the bet is paid. What comes back? new situation

Show the answer

Answer: 3 chips: 1 won and your 2 back. Laying odds against the 4 or 10 is paid half the bet.

  • 1 chip: the bet is kept A paid bet is not kept by the table; it comes back with the winnings.
  • 6 chips: 4 won and your 2 back That would be 2 a 1. “1 a 2” is the other way round: the payout is half the bet.
  • 3 chips: 1 won and your 2 back One won for every two bet, and the bet comes back as well.

Back to the question we opened with. Yes, all three are the same payout: 35 won on each chip, and the chip back as well, 36 in all.

Where to go next, and further reading

18+ under each province’s rules · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page

Further reading

How it’s worked out

Rules, sources and hosts

Where the payouts come from. Every payout on this page is quoted from a provincial rule book or a regulator’s information page, on its button, in Spanish. The chip counts are arithmetic on those payouts: the winnings are the bet times the first number divided by the second, and the bet is added back. The bets in chips are examples.

Our readings. We read “X a Y”, “X:Y” and “X veces la apuesta” as the winnings on the bet, with the bet returned besides; one information page says so in as many words for its payouts, and none of the rule books says otherwise. We read the “por” of one rule book as the “a” of the others: its ordinary payout is 100% of the bet, and the blackjack it pays as “Simple (1 por 1)” is set apart from the 150% of a blackjack. What a payout costs you over many bets is a different question, answered in lesson 1.1 and in the roulette track.

Hosts. Leo and Maya are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former dealer and a former floor supervisor, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.

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