Index → Zero and double zero
Roulette 0 and 00: the pockets that pay the house
The green pockets are the only part of a roulette wheel that works for the house rather than for you. Every payout on the layout is calculated as though they did not exist. Understanding what each zero costs, bet by bet, is the quickest way to understand roulette's economics, and to see why one zero is a far better deal than two.
Play roulette for real money
We send you to one of the roulette sites we work with. Affiliate link. 18+.
What a zero does to each bet
When zero comes up, every outside bet loses: red, black, odd, even, high, low, dozens, columns. Inside bets lose too unless they included the zero itself. The zero is not special in that sense; it is a number like any other, with a 1 in 37 chance. What makes it the house's pocket is that it is not counted in the payouts. Red pays 1:1 as if it won half the time, but it wins 18 of 37 spins, not 18 of 36.
That missing 1/37 is the edge. For every £37 bet on the table over the long run, the house keeps £1, on every bet type.
The second zero
An American wheel adds 00. Now red wins 18 of 38, a straight-up 1 of 38, and the payouts have not moved. The edge becomes 2/38, 5.26%, on every bet. It is the same game at nearly double the price. The one bet unique to the double-zero wheel, the five-number basket on 0, 00, 1, 2, 3, pays 6:1 against a fair 6.6:1 and costs 7.89%, the worst standard bet on any roulette layout.
Find a roulette table
This is an affiliate link to a roulette site we partner with. You must be 18 or over.
La Partage and En Prison
Some single-zero tables, usually labelled French, soften the zero for even-money bets.
La Partage: when zero comes up, half of each even-money stake is returned. Edge on those bets falls from 2.70% to 1.35%.
En Prison: the even-money stake is held for the next spin. If that spin wins, the stake is returned without winnings; if it loses, it is gone. Works out to roughly the same 1.35%.
Neither rule applies to inside bets, dozens or columns, which stay at 2.70%. Neither exists on American wheels in any common online version.
Betting on the zero
Zero can be backed as a straight-up at 35:1 or in combinations: the 0/1, 0/2 and 0/3 splits, the 0-1-2 and 0-2-3 streets, and on French tables the Jeu Zéro bet covering 0 and its six neighbours. On an American wheel, 0 and 00 can be split, and both sit in the basket. All of these carry the standard edge for their wheel. Backing the zero does not hedge against it in any useful way; it is simply another number.
Where the zeros sit on the wheel
On a European wheel the zero sits between 26 and 32, at the centre of the Voisins du Zéro section. On an American wheel the 0 and 00 sit directly opposite each other, 0 between 2 and 28, 00 between 1 and 27.
The practical rule
One green pocket, play. Two green pockets, find another table. A single-zero wheel with La Partage, play the outside bets there. It is the only decision about zeros that changes anything.
Give it a spin
Affiliate link: we may earn a commission. Play responsibly. 18+ only.
Asked and answered
-
Does 0 count as even in roulette?
No. Zero is neither odd nor even, neither red nor black, neither high nor low for betting purposes. Every even-money bet loses when zero comes up, unless the table has La Partage or En Prison.
-
Can you bet on 0 or 00?
Yes, as a straight-up at 35 to 1 like any other number, or in splits and streets with the adjacent numbers. On an American wheel there is also the five-number basket covering 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3.
-
Why do American wheels have two zeros?
History. Early wheels in Europe had both; the single-zero wheel came later as a better offer to players and took over in Europe. The older two-zero wheel stayed standard in the United States.