Atlassino Academy · Roulette · Lesson 5 of 6
Choosing a wheel: zeros, pace and price
The number of zeros sets what the wheel keeps of every bet, the pace sets how many bets an hour holds, and together they set what an hour at the wheel costs.
Three roulette wheels stand in one room: one wheel with one zero, one with two zeros, and one on a table posted as triple zero. You would put the same example bet down at any of the three. Which wheel do you sit at, and what does an hour there cost?
The short answer
Count the zeros before anything else. The payouts on the cloth are built for 36 numbers, and every zero is one more pocket that no payout pays for, so the wheel with one zero keeps the smallest share of each bet and the triple-zero wheel keeps the largest. Then count the spins, because the price of an hour is what one spin costs on average multiplied by the spins the hour holds, and a terminal or a table with one player at it packs more spins into the hour than a full table does.
Three wheels side by side: one zero, two zeros and triple zero. For each wheel, what one spin at the example bet costs on average, how many spins an hour holds, and what the hour costs on average.
- One spin at the example bet costs, on average
- $0.27
- Spins an hour, by the rating table
- 35
- An hour costs, on average
- $9.46
- One spin at the example bet costs, on average
- $0.53
- Spins an hour, by the rating table
- 38
- An hour costs, on average
- $20.00
- One spin at the example bet costs, on average
- $0.77
- Spins an hour, by the rating table
- 38
- An hour costs, on average
- $29.23
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Pick the wheel before you pick the numbers. Which numbers you bet on changes almost nothing about the price; which wheel you sit at changes nearly all of it.
One zero, two zeros, triple zero
What people call American roulette is the wheel with two zeros, and what they call European roulette is the wheel with one zero. A wheel with one zero has 37 pockets, and a wheel with two zeros has 38 pockets.
A row of 37 pockets: one zero set apart at the front, and 36 numbered pockets after the zeros.
A row of 38 pockets: two zeros set apart at the front, and 36 numbered pockets after the zeros.
A row of 39 pockets: three zeros set apart at the front, and 36 numbered pockets after the zeros.
Each strip is one wheel, zeros at the front. The squares are not in wheel order and not coloured, because only the count of pockets and zeros sets the price.
The share of every bet that a wheel keeps on average is called the house edge. On a wheel with two zeros the house edge comes to 5.26%, and on a wheel with one zero to 2.70%. One bet on the wheel with two zeros costs more than the rest: the five-number bet keeps 7.89% of every bet placed on the five-number bet. What that bet covers and pays is lesson 4.2; everywhere else on the cloth, the share the wheel keeps is the same for every bet.
Some rooms post a table by the name triple zero. Counting 36 numbers and three zeros gives 39 pockets, and on that count the triple-zero wheel keeps 7.69% of every bet.
How many spins an hour holds
The share each bet pays is one half of the price of an hour. The other half is how many bets the hour holds, and at a wheel every spin is one more bet. A casino rating table puts 38 spins into an hour at a wheel with two zeros and 35 spins at a wheel with one zero.
- 38spins an hour at a wheel with two zeros, by the rating table
- 35spins an hour at a wheel with one zero, by the rating table
- 38spins an hour at a triple-zero wheel, borrowed from the two-zero line, because the rating table has no triple-zero line of its own
How many people sit at the table moves the pace a great deal further than the wheel does. Jim Kilby’s tables for running a casino give 112 spins an hour to one player alone at the wheel and 35 spins to a full table of six, because every chip placed and every bet paid takes the dealer’s time.
These spins hold for any wheel: the tables do not split them by the number of zeros.
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
I dealt to players who had a wheel all to themselves, and the ball was back in a pocket before the chips on the cloth had stopped moving. A full table felt slow to everybody sitting at it. The slow table was the cheaper hour, because every hour at the slow table held fewer bets.
Put the two halves together and the price of an hour is one multiplication: what one spin costs on average, which is the bet times the share the wheel keeps, times the spins in the hour.
- One spin, on average$0.53the example bet of $10, times the share a wheel with two zeros keeps
- One hour, on average$20.0038 spins, by the rating table
- Two hours, on average$40.00twice the spins, and twice the price
The hour is worked out from the unrounded cost of one spin, which is why multiplying the rounded cents by the spins lands a few cents away from the figure for the hour.
What an hour costs at each wheel
Here is that multiplication done for all three wheels, at an example bet of $10 a spin. The amount is only an example, not a suggested bet.
| Wheel | One spin costs, on average | Spins an hour | An hour costs, on average | Two hours cost, on average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One zero | $0.27 | 35 | $9.46 | $18.92 |
| Two zeros | $0.53 | 38 | $20.00 | $40.00 |
| Triple zero | $0.77 | 38 | $29.23 | $58.46 |
Each row is one wheel at the rating table’s pace. Amounts are in Canadian dollars.
Two hours double the hour, and the gap between the wheels doubles with them. Two hours at the wheel with two zeros cost on average a little more than four hours at the wheel with one zero.
A cheaper wheel can come with a dearer bet. Where a room posts its wheel with one zero at a higher minimum than the rest of the floor, the smallest bet that table takes decides the hour as much as the zeros do: a wheel with one zero at $25 a spin costs $23.65 an hour on average, more than the wheel with two zeros at $10 a spin.
ONE ZERO, HIGHER MINIMUM
TWO ZEROS, LOWER MINIMUM
Two tables side by side. A live wheel with one zero at a bet two and a half times the size, and a live wheel with two zeros at the example bet; both at the pace of the rating table, and under each table what the hour costs on average.
An electronic wheel: the same bets, more of them
The bets and the odds at an electronic wheel are the ones at a live table with the same number of zeros, whether the ball is spun by a live dealer, spun by the machine, or drawn by a random number generator and shown on a screen.
- The same bets and the same oddsas at a live table with the same number of zeros.
- A paytable you can openA simulated game has to let you read every wager and its payout while the game is not in play.
- A wheel drawn like a real wheelA simulated wheel has to match a standard casino wheel, and each zero on the wheel carries a label of its own.
- A timerThe one thing that changes: the next round comes when the timer says so, not when the table is ready.
What changes is the pace. On the terminals described here, a timer asks for a bet every 20 to 30 seconds, or the round goes by without one. One spin every 30 seconds is 120 spins an hour, and one spin every 20 seconds is 180, against 35 spins at a live wheel with one zero by the rating table.
The same wheel with one zero and the same example bet in all three bars; what changed is the pace, the live table by the rating table and the terminal at the two ends of the timer. The terminal bars take a bet on every round of the timer, and a round you let go by costs nothing.
Terminals are often posted at a lower minimum than the live tables in the same room. A smaller bet can pull the hour back down, and whether it does is the same multiplication again: the smaller bet, times the share the wheel keeps, times the faster pace.
Reading the table before you sit
The table itself tells you most of this before you sit down. Some rooms post the wheel on the table by name, and the smallest bet is posted table by table and room by room.
- Which wheelCount the zeros on the wheel or at the head of the cloth, or read the name of the wheel where the table posts it.
- The smallest betIf you play at the minimum, the minimum is the bet the hour is built on.
- How many seats are takenA full table holds fewer spins in the hour than a table with one player at it.
- Live wheel or terminalThe same bets and odds, and a timer that sets the pace.
The minimum belongs to the room, not to the wheel. One room posts its wheel with one zero at a higher minimum than its other tables, another posts its triple-zero table with a minimum of its own, and a room can move its minimums with the business of the evening.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Decide at home how long the evening is and how much money the evening gets, and let those two decide the wheel for you rather than the other way round. The wheel with one zero is the cheaper wheel, and a cheaper wheel still charges a price on every spin.
If the money for the evening runs out before the hours do, the evening is over. Buying more chips to get back what went is how an evening at a cheap wheel turns into an expensive one, and if that pull starts to feel strong, the lines below are there for exactly that.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. 19+ in most of Canada; 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. More on responsible gaming.
The lesson on one card
That is the lesson. Here it is on one card: print it, or keep it on your phone.
What the wheel keeps of almost every bet: one zero 2.70%, two zeros 5.26%, triple zero* 7.69%.
| Wheel | Six players at the table35 spins an hour | The rating table’s pace | One player alone112 spins an hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| One zero | $9.46 | $9.46 | $30.27 |
| Two zeros | $18.42 | $20.00 | $58.95 |
| Triple zero* | $26.92 | $29.23 | $86.15 |
| An electronic terminal, one zero | $32.43 with a 30-second timer · $48.65 with a 20-second timer | ||
* Triple zero: 39 pockets by our own count; no rule book we could read prints it.
19+ (18+ in AB, MB, QC) · Set a limit before you sit down · Play responsibly · the line for your province is at Helplines by province
Practice: pick a wheel for two hours
Every moment below gives you two hours and the amount the plan lesson brings for an evening, $120, and puts tables side by side, each table with its wheel, its example bet and its pace. You choose the table where the two hours cost less on average, and the answer shows what the two hours take at every table on the row. Level 1 puts two tables side by side; level 2 puts the whole row: one zero, two zeros, triple zero and an electronic terminal.
Nothing is scored here and nothing spins. The two levels are a reference to read through, one moment after another, and there is no strip of squares to fill: the multiplication is the same in every moment, and the point is to watch the multiplication land on different tables.
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Level 1 · Two tables
Two tables · two hours · the average price
TABLE A
TABLE B
You have two hours and $120 for the evening. At which table do the two hours cost less on average?
- Table A: a live wheel with one zero, $10 a spin The lowest two-hour figure on the row: about $18.92 on average, from 35 spins an hour at an average of $0.27 a spin.
- Table B: a live wheel with two zeros, $10 a spin Two hours here take about $40.00 on average, from 38 spins an hour at an average of $0.53 a spin, against $18.92 at Table A. Table B has a wheel that keeps a larger share of each bet and more spins in the hour.
- The two tables cost the same for the two hours The two tables do not cost the same: about $18.92 at Table A against $40.00 at Table B for the two hours.
The price of two hours is what one spin costs on average, times the spins in an hour, times two. At the cheaper table on this row the two hours take about $18.92, set against the $120 the plan lesson brings for an evening. That figure is an average and not a forecast: how far the money goes on one particular evening swings a long way either side of the average.
Level 2 · The whole row
The whole row · two hours · the average price
TABLE A
TABLE B
TABLE C
TABLE D
You have two hours and $120 for the evening. At which table do the two hours cost less on average?
- Table A: a live wheel with one zero, $10 a spin The lowest two-hour figure on the row: about $18.92 on average, from 35 spins an hour at an average of $0.27 a spin.
- Table B: a live wheel with two zeros, $10 a spin Two hours here take about $40.00 on average, from 38 spins an hour at an average of $0.53 a spin, against $18.92 at Table A. Table B has a wheel that keeps a larger share of each bet and more spins in the hour.
- Table C: a live wheel posted as triple zero, $10 a spin Two hours here take about $58.46 on average, from 38 spins an hour at an average of $0.77 a spin, against $18.92 at Table A. Table C has a wheel that keeps a larger share of each bet and more spins in the hour.
- Table D: an electronic wheel with one zero on a timer, $10 a spin Two hours here take about $64.86 on average, from 120 spins an hour at an average of $0.27 a spin, against $18.92 at Table A. Table D has more spins in the hour.
The price of two hours is what one spin costs on average, times the spins in an hour, times two. At the cheaper table on this row the two hours take about $18.92, set against the $120 the plan lesson brings for an evening. That figure is an average and not a forecast: how far the money goes on one particular evening swings a long way either side of the average.
Every moment in the practice run is worked out the same way, from the three numbers on each table: the wheel, the example bet and the spins an hour. Nothing spins here and nothing is scored.
How the practice run works
Where the numbers come from. Every table in the practice run is three numbers: the wheel, the example bet and the spins an hour. What two hours cost on average is those three numbers multiplied together, worked out when the page is built, and the table marked as the answer is the one where that figure is lowest. Each other table is explained by the part of the price where that table falls behind: a wheel that keeps a larger share, more spins in the hour, or a bigger bet.
What is not here. Your own amount and your own hours are not asked for: Price of an hour takes those. No room is named, because the tables are kinds of table, not places. How far the amount goes on one particular evening is not shown either, because an average is not a forecast.
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Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Five quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. At the same bet, the wheel with one zero is the cheapest hour of the three: about $9.46 an hour on average at the example bet, against $20.00 with two zeros and $29.23 with triple zero. Before you sit, read the minimum on the table and count the seats, because both of those move the price of the hour as well.
Where the wheels are, and further reading
19+ (18+ in AB, MB, QC) · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page
Further reading
- Game Rules — Roulette · Société des casinos du Québec (Loto-Québec)The rules this track follows: what the wheel holds, how inside and outside bets work, and the whole payout table.
- Casino Regulations, sections 113 to 123 · Province of Nova ScotiaThe regulator on the wheel itself: 37 pockets with one zero, 38 with two, the zeros green and the rest alternating.
- Roulette Odds and the House Edge · OLG PlaySmartWhere the difference between true odds and the payout comes from, in the operator’s own words.
- How to Play Roulette · Fallsview Casino ResortA room that posts three different wheels, and its own note that pay tables differ from table to table.
How it’s worked out
Numbers, pace, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every wheel on this page is a live table or an electronic terminal standing in a room you can walk into. Roulette on a screen at home is asked for different things by a different book of rules, and it belongs to a track of its own.
Numbers. The share each wheel keeps is counted from the pockets on the wheel and the payouts on the cloth, by the same code as the house edge tool. What one spin costs on average is the example bet times that share; the price of an hour is that cost times the spins in an hour; two hours are twice the hour. Every figure is worked out when the page is built, from unrounded values, and every figure is an average over many spins, not a forecast of any evening.
Pace. The spins an hour at a live table come from two tables and from nowhere else: the Las Vegas Strip rating table, which a major Las Vegas Strip casino uses to rate its players, and Jim Kilby’s tables in Casino Operations Management, by the number of players at the table. The rating table has no line for triple zero, so the two-zero line is used for triple zero. The pace of a terminal is the two ends of a timer quoted on this page, turned into spins an hour; no document we could read gives the measured pace of any particular terminal, and a round let go by makes the real hour cheaper than the figure.
Triple zero. No rule book, room page or teaching material we could read prints how many pockets a triple-zero wheel has or what share of a bet a triple-zero wheel keeps. The count of 39 pockets is 36 numbers plus three zeros, and the share on this page rests on that count and on the same payouts as the other two wheels.
What is deliberately absent. There is no figure here for how long money lasts on one particular evening; that is the job of How long will it last?, which shows the swing as well as the average. There is no list of which rooms have a wheel with one zero, because we do not have that data room by room. None of the rule books or room pages we could read prints la partage, en prison or surrender, so no wheel on this page is priced with any of them. Naming the bets on the cloth is lesson 4.1; the payouts, and what the zero does to the outside bets, are lesson 4.2; why every bet on one wheel costs the same is lesson 4.3; wheel chips, “no more bets”, the marker and how a roulette table minimum is counted are lesson 4.4; the board of past numbers is lesson 4.6; how an electronic table works inside is lesson 2.9.
Sources. Every claim quoted on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it. The buttons marked “Worked out” carry the arithmetic instead, where no document we could read prints the figure.
Hosts. Maya and Leo are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former floor supervisor and a former dealer, 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 on every wheel named here. Choosing the wheel with one zero lowers what an hour costs on average; nothing on this page makes the hour free of cost, and nothing here says how an evening at any wheel would end.
The same bets and odds as the live table
The available bets and odds are identical to those of English Roulette, but now you can place your bets by using the machine’s touch screen located directly in front of your player position.
Loto-Québec, Casino de Montréal · Interactive Roulette · read
Bets and payouts are identical to those in effect at a traditional roulette table.
The types of bets are identical to those of a traditional table except the American roulette split bets 00-2 and 0-2.
The paytable of a simulated game
c) A paytable, or description of all available wagers and their payouts, must be accessible by the player while the game is not in play.
BC Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch · TGS5 Technical Gambling Standards, Appendix F · read
A simulated wheel
b) The simulated Roulette wheel must be in the identical format as a standard casino wheel (including colours of landing locations and position of numbers)
a) Each “Zero” used must be uniquely labelled (e.g.: “0” versus “00”).
BC Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch · TGS5 Technical Gambling Standards, Appendix F · read
What each wheel keeps
it significantly lowers the house edge: 2.7% compared to American Roulette’s 5.26%.
in contrast to the American wheel house edge of 5.26%.
Spins an hour, by the number of players
Worked out: Jim Kilby, Casino Operations Management, gives the spins an hour at a roulette table by the number of players: 1 player, 112 spins; 2 players, 76 spins; 3 players, 60 spins; 4 players, 55 spins; 5 players, 48 spins; 6 players, 35 spins; the tables do not split these figures by the number of zeros.
Triple zero, worked out
Worked out: no rule book, room page or teaching material we could read prints how many pockets a triple-zero wheel has or what share of a bet it keeps; 36 numbers and three zeros make 39 pockets, the three zeros are the pockets no payout pays for, and three pockets out of 39 is 7.69%.
The same bets and odds as the live table
The available bets and odds are identical to those of English Roulette, but now you can place your bets by using the machine’s touch screen located directly in front of your player position.
Loto-Québec, Casino de Montréal · Interactive Roulette · read
Bets and payouts are identical to those in effect at a traditional roulette table.
The types of bets are identical to those of a traditional table except the American roulette split bets 00-2 and 0-2.
A timer
What makes the game “rapid” is that a timer prompts players to bet every 20-30 seconds or else skip that round.
Wheel spins automatically every 20 to 30 seconds
A single-zero table at a higher minimum
Public $50 Single 0 Roulette
The High Limit Table Games Room features 26 live tables offering a wide range of options for players, including: Single Zero Roulette
Great Canadian Entertainment · High Limit Table Games Room, Great Canadian Toronto · read
One zero and two zeros
it significantly lowers the house edge: 2.7% compared to American Roulette’s 5.26%.
The main distinction to European Roulette is that the table layout (and the corresponding wheel slots) only feature a single zero, while American Roulette features a double zero.
A wheel with one zero
117 Each single zero roulette wheel shall have 37 equally spaced pockets around the wheel where the roulette ball may come to rest.
Section ss. 55(2), 113–123
Province of Nova Scotia · Casino Regulations (Gaming Control Act) · read
A wheel with two zeros
120 Each double zero roulette wheel shall have 38 equally spaced pockets around the wheel where the roulette ball shall come to rest.
Section ss. 55(2), 113–123
Province of Nova Scotia · Casino Regulations (Gaming Control Act) · read
The wheel has 38 numbered slots (1-36), plus two green slots with “0” and “00”.
What the house edge is
House Edge is a built-in mathematical advantage the casino has over the player in a game.
What each wheel keeps
it significantly lowers the house edge: 2.7% compared to American Roulette’s 5.26%.
in contrast to the American wheel house edge of 5.26%.
The five-number bet
In American roulette it’s 5.26% averaged across all bets – relatively high compared with other games.
It’s much higher than the average house edge for American roulette, which is 5.26%.
A triple-zero table
Triple Zero Table
TRIPLE ZERO TABLE
Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara · Playing Roulette · read
Double & Triple Zero Roulette
Great Canadian Entertainment · Elements Casinos Ontario · read
Triple zero, worked out
Worked out: no rule book, room page or teaching material we could read prints how many pockets a triple-zero wheel has or what share of a bet it keeps; 36 numbers and three zeros make 39 pockets, the three zeros are the pockets no payout pays for, and three pockets out of 39 is 7.69%.
Spins an hour, by the rating table
Worked out: the Las Vegas Strip rating table, which a major Las Vegas Strip casino uses to rate its players, gives 38 spins an hour for roulette with two zeros and 35 for single-zero roulette; the table has no triple-zero line, so the two-zero figure is used for triple zero.
Spins an hour, by the number of players
Worked out: Jim Kilby, Casino Operations Management, gives the spins an hour at a roulette table by the number of players: 1 player, 112 spins; 2 players, 76 spins; 3 players, 60 spins; 4 players, 55 spins; 5 players, 48 spins; 6 players, 35 spins; the tables do not split these figures by the number of zeros.
What spins the ball on a terminal
Depending on the unit, the ball may be spun by a live dealer, spun electronically, or use a random number generator (RNG) and graphics to simulate a spin.
GameSense by AGLC · Roulette · read
The electronic gaming attendant spins the wheel in one direction and the roulette ball in the other.
Loto-Québec, Casino de Montréal · Interactive Roulette · read
A timer
What makes the game “rapid” is that a timer prompts players to bet every 20-30 seconds or else skip that round.
Wheel spins automatically every 20 to 30 seconds
Spins an hour on a timer, worked out
Worked out: a timer of 30 seconds allows 120 spins in an hour of 3,600 seconds, and a timer of 20 seconds allows 180; each figure takes a bet on every round of the timer.
What it takes to sit at a terminal
Minimum casino bet $1
Minimum casino bet $2
Loto-Québec, Casino de Montréal · Interactive Roulette · read
Minimum casino bet $3
Loto-Québec, Salon de jeux de Québec · Electronic Roulette · read
Minimums as rooms post them
Minimum casino bet $5
$1 Roulette
$0.5 Roulette (3 x Live Wheel Roulette, 1 x Virtual Roulette)
Great Canadian Entertainment · Elements Casino Surrey · read
Double 00 Roulette – Auto Mode (Limit $3 to $100)
A single-zero table at a higher minimum
Public $50 Single 0 Roulette
The High Limit Table Games Room features 26 live tables offering a wide range of options for players, including: Single Zero Roulette
Great Canadian Entertainment · High Limit Table Games Room, Great Canadian Toronto · read
A triple-zero table and its minimum
$15 Triple Zero Roulette
Double & Triple Zero Roulette
Great Canadian Entertainment · Elements Casinos Ontario · read
Minimums follow the room
Table minimums and selection of available games are dictated by business volumes.
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