When exploring online casino table games, there’s no doubt that, at a glance, online roulette looks busy with its many betting options. Roulette tables display several elements, including a grid of numbers, panels around the edges, and sometimes a racetrack-style circuit of bets. Once the player understands what each section of the roulette table means, the seemingly complicated layout becomes a simple map of betting options.
To get a better understanding of the roulette rules, this online roulette guide walks the player through the online roulette table layout, including each part of the betting options on the table, so the player can identify every section at a glance and better understand how to play roulette online.
The Betting Grid at a Glance
The first section of the roulette betting layout that players should try to understand is the online roulette table’s betting grid. Here are the different elements of this part of the roulette table layout:
The Number Matrix
The heart of the felt is a 3-column grid of 1–36. Each square is a single number. Above the grid sits the zero area, which shows either a single zero (European roulette layout) or both a zero and a double zero (American roulette layout). This area of the roulette table consists of inside and outside bets.
Where American and European Layouts Differ
The pocket count differs between American and European roulette tables, with 38 (American) and 37 (European). European roulette layouts only have a single zero, while American roulette layouts include a double zero, which is why the grid has an extra green panel on American roulette tables. That change also enables an American-only basket bet covering 0-00-1-2-3, sometimes referred to as the top-line or five-number bet, depending on the game provider. With the roulette numbers explained, here’s a closer look at the different types of wagers.
Inside Bets
Here are the different types of roulette bets that players will find on both kinds of online roulette tables:
- Straight-up: A bet placed on any single number. Pays 35:1.
- Split: A bet placed on the line between two adjacent numbers. Pays 17:1.
- Street: A bet placed at the row’s outer edge to cover three numbers in a row. Pays 11:1.
- Corner: A bet placed on an intersection between four numbers. Pays 8:1.
- Line: A bet placed on the shared edge at the end of two adjacent rows to cover six numbers. Pays 5:1.
- Trio bet (European variants): A wager on 0-1-2 or 0-2-3.
- Basket/Top-Line bet (American variants): A wager covering 0-00-1-2-3, shown near the zero pockets.
These payouts reflect standard roulette rules; actual payouts may vary slightly depending on the online casino or game provider.
Outside Bets
These sit just outside the number matrix. Here are some of the different types of outside bets a player can make:
- Columns: A bet placed on one of three rectangles beneath the grid, each covering 12 numbers arranged vertically. Pays 2:1.
- Dozens: A bet placed on one of three boxes labelled 1–12, 13–24, or 25–36. Pays 2:1.
- Even-Money Areas: Red/Black, Odd/Even, 1–18 / 19–36: Along the long sides of the number matrix grid are six even-money panels: Red, Black, Odd, Even, 1–18, and 19–36. Pays 1:1.
The Racetrack
Whether players are looking at roulette in Canada’s casinos (or any other online casino), they’ll likely notice that many European online roulette tables add a racetrack panel that mirrors the wheel order of numbers rather than the grid order.
The standard options for roulette racetrack bets are:
- Voisins du Zéro or Neighbours of Zero: Covers the 17 numbers closest to 0 on a European wheel.
- Tiers du Cylindre, or Thirds of the Wheel: Covers 12 numbers from 27 to 33 that are almost directly opposite the numbers for the Voisins du Zéro bet.
- Orphelins or Orphans: Eight numbers split into two small wheel segments not covered by Voisins du Zéro or Tiers du Cylindre.
- Neighbours: A Neighbours bet places a wager on a chosen number plus the same chip value on two adjacent pockets on both sides.
