Atlassino Academy · Roulette · Lesson 2

What every bet on the layout pays

Every spot on the roulette layout has a payout of its own. Here is what each one pays, how the dealer counts a payout, and what happens to the outside bets when a zero comes in.

  • About 19 minutes
  • Illustrated hosts: Leo and Maya
  • Last checked 18 October 2026

A 5-unit chip sits on 17, and the ball comes to rest in 17. How much money comes back to you?

The short answer

180 units. A single number is paid 35 to 1, so the dealer pays 175 units for the 5-unit chip, and the chip itself comes back beside the payout. Every spot on the layout is paid the same way, the chip times the figure for that spot, and the figure goes down as the spot covers more numbers.

A layout with a single zero

  • AA single number, inside the square of 5: paid 35 to 1
  • BSplit bet, on the line between 17 and 20: paid 17 to 1
  • CStreet, on the outer edge of the three numbers 13, 14 and 15: paid 11 to 1
  • DCorner, where 26, 27, 29 and 30 meet: paid 8 to 1
  • ESix line, on the outer edge between the three numbers 31, 32, 33 and the three numbers 34, 35, 36: paid 5 to 1
  • FDozen, on the 2nd 12, the numbers 13 to 24: paid 2 to 1
  • GColumn, on the 2 to 1 box at the end of the line of numbers that ends in 34: paid 2 to 1
  • HEven-money bet, on ODD: paid 1 to 1
Leo points at a chip sitting on the line between two empty cells of a roulette layout, with three more identical chips placed on a single cell, on a corner of four cells and in a wide box along the edge; Maya holds a closed notebook and follows his finger.
Leo smiling, explaining with an open hand.

Leoformer dealer · rules and maths

Dealers pay a layout full of chips in a few seconds, and people assume there is a trick to it. There is no trick. The whole layout has eight payout figures, and each figure follows from how many numbers a chip covers. A dealer looks at where a chip sits, knows the figure for that spot, and multiplies.

Learn the eight figures and you can check every payment at the table, your own included, before the next ball is thrown.

What “35 to 1” means

A payout written as 35 to 1 means that each unit on the spot is paid thirty-five units when the spot comes in. The chip you put down is not one of those thirty-five: the chip was yours before the ball was thrown, and the chip comes back to you beside the payout.

Your chip, plus the payout, makes what comes back to you.

Your chip, on 175 unitsyours before the spin
The payout at 35 to 1175 unitswhat the dealer adds
What comes back to you180 unitsthe payout and the chip together

The chip and the payout are two separate amounts, and they come back together. A figure written “to 1” counts the payout alone and never includes the chip; every payout in this lesson is written “to 1”.

The whole layout and what each spot pays

The layout has two areas. The numbers themselves are the inside, where one chip covers anything from one number to six; the boxes around the numbers are the outside, where one chip covers twelve numbers or eighteen.

One rule runs through the whole layout: the more numbers a spot covers, the less the spot pays when one of those numbers comes in. Every row of the table below is that rule at a different count.

Every spot on the layout: how many numbers a chip there covers, where the chip goes, and what the spot pays
SpotNumbers a chip there coversWhere the chip goesPays
Inside: the numbers themselves
A single number1Inside the square of the number35 to 1
Split bet2On the line between two numbers17 to 1
Street3On the outer edge of three numbers11 to 1
Corner4Where four numbers meet8 to 1
Five-number beton a layout with a zero and a double zero only50, 00, 1, 2, 3On the corner where the zeros meet 1, 2 and 36 to 1
Six line6On the outer edge, across two groups of three5 to 1
Outside: the boxes around the numbers
Dozen12On the 1st 12, the 2nd 12 or the 3rd 122 to 1
Column12On the 2 to 1 box at the end of a line of numbers2 to 1
Red, black, odd, even, 1–18, 19–3618On the box with that word or range1 to 1

One more outside bet is written into one province’s rules: a chip on the line between two outside chances, called a caballo. It plays half its value on each of the two chances, and the rules list where it can go: between the first and second dozen or the second and third, between two neighbouring columns, and between low and even, even and red, black and odd, or odd and high. Each half then plays as a bet on its own chance.

Paying a bet the way the dealer does

A dealer pays a chip in one step: the chip, times the figure for the spot the chip sits on. Below, the marker stands on 20 and one chip sits where 17, 18, 20 and 21 meet. The chip covers 20, the spot is a corner, a corner is paid 8 to 1, and 10 units times 8 is 80 units.

A layout with a single zero · the marker stands on 20

  • A10 units, where 17, 18, 20 and 21 meet

The marker stands on the number the ball came to rest in. The chip covers four numbers, 20 among them, so the chip is paid; with the chip beside the payout, 90 units comes back to the owner of the chip.

Every amount on this page is an example bet, not a suggested bet. Amounts are in betting units, not pesos: a unit can stand for any amount, and the arithmetic is the same at any scale.

Every room posts the values of its chips and the smallest and the largest bet in force where the players can see them. Read that notice before the first chip goes down: the payout figures on this page are the figures on the cloth, and the notice is where a room says how small and how large a bet it takes.

What a zero does to the outside bets

When the ball comes to rest in 0, every outside bet on the layout loses: the dozens, the columns, red and black, odd and even, 1–18 and 19–36. The zero is not odd and not even, not low and not high, and it belongs to none of the dozens and none of the columns, so no outside box covers it.

A layout with a single zero · the marker stands on 0

  • A10 units, on RED
  • B10 units, on the 1st 12, the numbers 1 to 12
  • C5 units, on the 2 to 1 box at the end of the line of numbers that ends in 34

That is why an even-money bet is not paid half the time. A chip on 19–36 covers 18 numbers, and a wheel with one zero has 37 pockets. The zero sits on neither side of an even-money bet, so the side a chip is on is always a little smaller than half of the wheel.

A layout with a single zero

A chip on 19-36 is paid on 48.65% of spins

A layout with a zero and a double zero

A chip on 19-36 is paid on 47.37% of spins

The line across each bar is the half-way mark.

Some books describe a rule that hands half of an even-money bet back when a zero comes in, called la partage, and another that leaves the bet on the layout for one more spin, called en prison. None of the Argentine rule books or casino pages we could read prints either rule, and the rules we could read say the opposite: on a zero, every outside bet loses.

A zero does not take everything on the layout. A chip that sits on a zero, or on a spot that includes the zeros, is paid when that zero comes in, and paid at the figure for its own spot.

  • A chip inside the 0, on a layout with a single zeropaid 35 to 1, like any single number
  • The five-number bet, on a layout with a zero and a double zeropaid 6 to 1 when 0, 00, 1, 2 or 3 comes in

On a layout with a single zero the chip where the zero meets 1, 2 and 3 covers four numbers and is paid 8 to 1. The five-number bet, paid 6 to 1, belongs to the layout with a zero and a double zero.

One price for every bet

A bigger payout is not a better deal, and a smaller payout is not a safer one. Every figure on the layout stops a little short of the payout that would leave nobody ahead, and on a layout with a single zero every bet comes out at the same price: 2.70% of the money bet, on average, over many spins. Why every row lands on the same price is lesson 4.3.

On a layout with a zero and a double zero the same payout figures come out at 5.26%, and one spot there, the five-number bet, comes out at 7.89%, more than any other: it covers five pockets and is paid 6 to 1, a shade short of the figure the other spots follow.

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

Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks

A payout of 35 to 1 is still paid out of the same price per unit as the even-money boxes. A spot that pays more comes in less often, and over an evening the two things cancel each other out.

Decide how much money the evening gets before the first chip goes down, and stop when that amount is gone. A bigger chip on a single number to get back what is already gone only buys more of the same price, faster. If the money on the table starts to feel like money you need, 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

The lesson on one card

That is the lesson. Here it is on one card: print it, or keep it on your phone.

What each spot paysPayouts are “to 1”: the chip comes back beside the payout
Every spot on the layout: the numbers it covers, what it pays, what an example chip brings back, and its price on the two layouts
SpotCoversPaysAn example 10-unit chip comes back withPrice, 0 and 00Price, single 0
A single number135 to 1360 units5.26%2.70%
Split bet217 to 1180 units5.26%2.70%
Street311 to 1120 units5.26%2.70%
Corner48 to 190 units5.26%2.70%
Five-number bet0, 00, 1, 2, 356 to 170 units7.89%not on this layout
Six line65 to 160 units5.26%2.70%
Dozen122 to 130 units5.26%2.70%
Column122 to 130 units5.26%2.70%
Red, black, odd, even, 1–18, 19–36181 to 120 units5.26%2.70%

The five-number bet, in bold, costs more than every other spot. A zero takes every outside bet.

18+ under each province’s rules · Set a limit before you sit down · Play responsibly · the line for your province is at Helplines by province

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

Practice: pay the layout

Here the marker comes down and the chips are already on the layout; the job is the dealer’s, to say what the spin pays out. Level 1 is one chip at a time. Level 2 puts chips from several players on the layout at once, and the payouts of the chips that came in are added together. Level 3 is the special cases: a zero on the layout, and the five-number bet.

Nothing is bet here, and nothing is random. Each spin is a set picture of chips and a marker, and the answer is worked out from the same payout figures as the rest of this page.

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

Level 1 · One chip

A layout with a single zero · the marker stands on 17

  • A5 units, inside the square of 17

The marker stands on 17. What is chip A paid? Count the payout only, not the chip that goes back to its owner.

  • 180 units That counts the chip into the payout. The chip was its owner’s before the spin and comes back beside the payout; the payout is only the part the dealer adds.
  • 175 units Chip A is a single number and covers 17, so the chip is paid 35 to 1: 5 units times 35 is 175 units.
  • 85 units That is 17 to 1, the figure for a chip on a line between two numbers. A chip inside one square covers that number alone, and one number is paid more than two.

Every payout on the layout is the chip times the figure for the spot the chip sits on, and the chip itself comes back beside the payout. The figure for each spot is in the table of payouts further up this page.

Level 2 · The whole layout

A layout with a single zero · the marker stands on 20

  • A10 units, on the line between 17 and 20
  • B5 units, on the 2nd 12, the numbers 13 to 24
  • C10 units, on ODD

The marker stands on 20. How much does the dealer pay out on this spin? Count the payouts only, not the chips that go back to their owners.

  • 195 units That counts the chips that came in into the payout. Those chips go back to their owners beside the payouts; the payout is only what the dealer adds.
  • 180 units Chip A is a split and covers 20, so the chip is paid 17 to 1: 10 units times 17 is 170 units; chip B is a dozen and covers 20, so the chip is paid 2 to 1: 5 units times 2 is 10 units; chip C does not cover 20, so the dealer takes the chip. Added together, the dealer pays out 180 units.
  • 190 units That pays every chip on the layout. Chip C does not cover 20, and a chip that does not cover the number is taken.

The dealer works through the layout one chip at a time: a chip that covers the number is paid at the figure for its spot, a chip that does not is taken, and the payouts are added together. The chips that are paid go back to their owners beside the payouts.

Level 3 · Zero and the five-number bet

A layout with a zero and a double zero · the marker stands on 0

  • A5 units, on the corner where the zeros meet 1, 2 and 3
  • B10 units, on 1-18

The marker stands on 0. How much does the dealer pay out on this spin? Count the payouts only, not the chips that go back to their owners.

  • 30 units Chip A is the five-number bet and covers 0, so the chip is paid 6 to 1: 5 units times 6 is 30 units; chip B sits in an outside box, and a zero takes every outside bet. Added together, the dealer pays out 30 units.
  • 40 units That pays the five-number bet at 8 to 1, the figure for the bet in the same place on a layout with a single zero. This layout has a zero and a double zero, and here the five-number bet is paid 6 to 1.
  • 30 units paid, and half of each outside chip handed back No rule book or casino page we could read hands back half of an outside bet when a zero comes in. The rules we could read say the opposite: on 0 or 00, every outside bet loses.

The five-number bet covers both zeros as well as 1, 2 and 3, so a zero is one of its numbers. The chip on 1-18 is an outside bet and goes with the zero.

Every spin in the practice run is worked out the same way: each chip that covers the number the marker stands on is paid at the figure for its spot, each chip that does not is taken, and the payouts are added together.

How the practice run works

Where the spins come from. Every chip in the practice run is a bet the layout engine knows, and whether the chip covers the number under the marker is decided by the same engine. The payout is the chip times the figure for its spot, worked out when the page is built rather than written down anywhere by hand. The wrong answers are worked out from the same chips, and each wrong answer is one named mistake: the chip counted into the payout, the figure of a neighbouring spot, a chip paid that the marker does not touch, a chip left out that the marker does touch, half of an outside bet handed back on a zero, or the five-number bet paid at the figure for a layout with a single zero.

One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one spin 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, with no button in between. Practising a spin 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.

1A 5-unit chip sits inside the square of 17, and the ball comes to rest in 17. How much comes back to the owner of the chip, the chip included?

Show the answer

Answer: 180 units: a payout of 175 units, and the chip beside it. A payout written “to 1” counts the payout alone, and the chip comes back beside the payout.

  • 175 units That is the payout alone. The chip that sat on 17 was never lost, and it comes back beside the payout.
  • 185 units That is a payout of 36 to 1 with the chip added. A single number is paid 35 to 1; thirty-six is how many numbers run from 1 to 36, not what the spot pays.
  • 180 units: a payout of 175 units, and the chip beside it A single number is paid 35 to 1, so the chip is paid 175 units, and the chip that sat on 17 comes back with the payout.
2A 10-unit chip sits where 17, 18, 20 and 21 meet, and the ball comes to rest in 20. What is the payout?

Show the answer

Answer: 80 units. The chip, times the figure for its spot.

  • 170 units That is the payout for a split, a chip on the line between two numbers. A chip where four numbers meet covers four, and four numbers are paid less than two.
  • 80 units A chip where four numbers meet is a corner, paid 8 to 1, and 20 is one of the four numbers.
  • 90 units That is a payout of 9 to 1. A corner is paid 8 to 1; nine is what the payout and the chip come to together, counted in chips.
3A 10-unit chip sits on RED, and the ball comes to rest in 0. What happens to the chip?

Show the answer

Answer: The bet is lost. A zero belongs to none of the outside boxes.

  • The bet is lost A zero is neither red nor black, and on a zero every outside bet loses.
  • Half of the chip comes back No rule book or casino page we could read hands back half of an outside bet on a zero; the rules we could read say every outside bet loses.
  • The chip stays on RED for the next spin No rule book or casino page we could read leaves an outside bet up for another spin after a zero; the dealer takes it on this spin.
4A 10-unit chip sits on the 2nd 12, and the ball comes to rest in 14. What is the payout?

Show the answer

Answer: 20 units. Dozens and columns both cover twelve numbers, and both are paid the same.

  • 20 units A dozen covers twelve numbers, 14 is one of them, and a dozen is paid 2 to 1.
  • 30 units That is the payout with the chip counted in: what comes back to the owner in all, not what the dealer pays.
  • 10 units That is even money, the figure for a box covering eighteen numbers. A dozen covers twelve and is paid more.
5On a layout with a zero and a double zero, which bet costs more than the others? new situation

Show the answer

Answer: The five-number bet on 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3: 7.89% of the money bet. Every spot on this layout comes out at the same price except one.

  • An even-money bet, because a zero takes it A zero takes every bet that does not cover a zero, the single numbers included. An even-money bet costs 5.26% here, the same as a single number.
  • A single number, because it pays the most A single number costs 5.26% of the money bet, the same as the other spots on this layout: its bigger payout comes with fewer numbers covered.
  • The five-number bet on 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3: 7.89% of the money bet It covers five pockets and is paid 6 to 1, a shade short of the figure every other spot follows.

Back to the question we opened with. The 5-unit chip on 17 is paid 175 units, and the chip comes back beside the payout: 180 units in all.

Where to check this, 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

Payouts, numbers, sources and hosts

Where this happens. Every layout on this page is a table standing in a room you can walk into. An electronic wheel or a screen at home is asked for different things, and what changes there belongs to other lessons.

Numbers. Every payout figure comes from the one table of bets this site computes with, the same table the house edge tool uses. Every amount is a chip multiplied by the figure for its spot, and every share of the money bet is counted from the pockets on the wheel and the payout of the spot. Nothing is typed in by hand, and our checks recompute each figure from the engine rather than reading it back from this page. A column has no line of its own in that table of bets: a column covers twelve numbers, and it takes the figure the table gives a bet on twelve numbers.

What is deliberately absent. No rule book or casino page we could read prints la partage, en prison or surrender on the even-money bets, so none of the three appears here as a rule of any table. The layout on this page does not colour its numbers and there is no picture of the wheel: the lesson is about what a chip is paid, and the order of the numbers around the wheel is not printed in the documents this page may quote from. Bets that join a zero to a number, such as 0 and 1 together, are left out of the practice run. Naming a bet from where its chip sits is lesson 4.1; why almost every spot comes out at one price is lesson 4.3.

Sources. Every payout and every claim on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it.

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.

No promise. Roulette is played against the house. Knowing what each spot pays lets you check every payment at the table; nothing on this page makes any spot cheaper, and nothing here says how an evening at the wheel would end.

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