Stand at the end of a roulette table, beside the dealer, and look down the felt. Twelve short rows of three numbers run away from you, zero at your end, a long box of outside bets running down one side. Players at the far end see the grid upside down and reach across it to place chips. Once you see how the grid is built, every bet on it becomes a position you can find without thinking.
This page goes through the roulette table layout piece by piece and compares the European, French and American versions. For the step-by-step of a round, start with how to play roulette.
How the number grid is built
The grid has three columns and twelve rows. Numbers run across each row and then down to the next, so 1, 2 and 3 form the first row and 34, 35 and 36 the last:
Swipe the table
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 red | 2 black | 3 red |
| 4 black | 5 red | 6 black |
| 7 red | 8 black | 9 red |
| 10 black | 11 black | 12 red |
| 13 black | 14 red | 15 black |
| 16 red | 17 black | 18 red |
| 19 red | 20 black | 21 red |
| 22 black | 23 red | 24 black |
| 25 red | 26 black | 27 red |
| 28 black | 29 black | 30 red |
| 31 black | 32 red | 33 black |
| 34 red | 35 black | 36 red |
Zero sits above the first row. On a European table it is one tall cell spanning all three columns. On an American table the space is split into two cells, 0 and 00.
Each column contains every third number. Column 1 holds 1, 4, 7 and so on up to 34; column 2 runs 2 to 35; column 3 runs 3 to 36. The dozens cut the grid the other way, into three blocks of four rows: 1 to 12, 13 to 24 and 25 to 36.
The colour pattern
The colours look random but follow a rule. From 1 to 10 and from 19 to 28, odd numbers are red and even numbers are black. From 11 to 18 and from 29 to 36 it flips: odd numbers are black and even numbers are red. Remember the two switch points, 11 and 29, and you can name the colour of any number.
That rule produces a lopsided grid, and this is the detour worth taking on this page. Column 3 holds eight red numbers and only four black ones. Column 2 is the opposite, with four reds and eight blacks. Odd numbers overall split ten red to eight black. None of this changes any odds: a column bet still covers twelve numbers and pays 2 to 1 whatever their colour. It does mean a player who backs both red and column 3 will see the two win together more often than chance would suggest for two unrelated bets, and lose together on the rest. If you have ever wondered why that combination feels streaky, this is the reason.
Where every bet goes
The position of the chip tells the dealer what you have bet. Precision matters, especially at a busy table.
- Straight up: in the middle of a number’s cell.
- Split: across the line between two numbers that touch, side by side (17 and 18) or one above the other (17 and 20).
- Street: on the outer edge of a row, the line where the grid meets the outside box, covering the three numbers in that row.
- Corner: on the point where four numbers meet, for example the centre of 1, 2, 4 and 5.
- Six line: on the outer edge at the line between two rows, covering both rows.
- Trio: at the junction of 0 with 1 and 2, or with 2 and 3. It pays like a street, 11 to 1.
- First four (European): on the outer corner where the zero cell meets the first row, beside the 1, covering 0, 1, 2 and 3 at 8 to 1.
- Columns: in one of the three boxes marked “2 to 1” at the far end of the grid.
- Dozens: in the boxes marked 1st 12, 2nd 12 and 3rd 12 along the side.
- Even-money bets: in the six outside boxes for 1 to 18, even, red, black, odd and 19 to 36.
If you cannot reach a position, you may place your chips in front of the dealer and say the bet out loud, for instance “split 17, 20”. The dealer places it for you. The payouts for each position are listed on our roulette payout chart.
The American layout
American tables keep the same grid and the same outside boxes, with two changes at the top. The zero area holds two green cells, 0 and 00, side by side. And there is an extra bet: the five-number bet, placed on the outer line where the zero cells meet the first row, covering 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 at 6 to 1.
Two smaller points trip people up. A split between 0 and 00 is allowed on most tables. And a trio on an American table can be 0, 1, 2 or 00, 2, 3, placed on the matching junction.
The five-number bet is the one to leave alone. Its house edge is 7.89 %, the worst on any roulette layout, against 5.26 % for every other bet on the same table. The house edge guide shows the arithmetic.
The European and French layouts
A European table has the single zero, the standard grid and, usually, a racetrack. The racetrack is an oval printed beside or below the grid that shows all 37 numbers in the order they appear on the wheel. Call bets go there.
French tables use the same single-zero wheel but a different look. The labels are French: Rouge and Noir for red and black, Pair and Impair for even and odd, Manque for 1 to 18 and Passe for 19 to 36. The dozens are marked P12, M12 and D12 (première, moyenne and dernière). Classic French tables are wide, with the grid in the centre and outside boxes on both sides, so players at either end can reach them. Most French tables also apply La Partage, returning half of an even-money stake when zero comes up. The variants section explains French roulette in full.
The wheel is in a different order
The wheel does not follow the grid. On a European wheel, zero sits between 32 and 26, and the sequence clockwise from zero runs 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34 and on around the rim. The order alternates red and black and mixes high, low, odd and even numbers as evenly as possible.
The American wheel uses a different sequence, with 0 and 00 placed directly opposite each other on the rim.
For most bets the wheel order does not matter: a split on 17 and 20 covers two numbers that are neighbours on the grid but far apart on the wheel, and the chance is 2 in 37 either way. The wheel order only comes into play with call bets.
Call bets on the racetrack
Call bets let you back a section of the wheel with one instruction. The main ones:
- Voisins du Zéro (“neighbours of zero”): the 17 numbers from 22 to 25 around zero.
- Tiers du Cylindre (“third of the wheel”): the 12 numbers opposite zero, from 27 to 33.
- Orphelins (“orphans”): the 8 numbers left over, in two groups on either side of the wheel.
- Jeu Zéro (“zero game”): the 7 numbers closest to zero.
- Neighbours: a number plus the two on either side of it on the wheel, five chips in total.
Each is just a set of standard inside bets, so it pays at standard rates and carries the standard edge. The racetrack saves time and saves reaching across a crowded table.
Reading a crowded layout
At a full table the grid can disappear under chips. Two habits make it readable. First, look for your colour: with colour chips, your bets are the only stacks in your colour, whatever they share a cell with. Second, look at where the chip sits on its cell, not at the cell it touches most. A chip on the line between 8 and 11 is a split even if it has slid a little toward 8; a chip on the outer edge of a row is a street. If you are unsure, ask the dealer before the call. Asking after the spin is too late.
Online layouts
Online roulette uses the same grid, with a few conveniences. You choose a chip value, click to place it, and the game handles the precise positioning. Buttons let you undo, repeat the last round’s bets or double them. A clickable racetrack places call bets in one tap, and a statistics panel shows recent results and “hot” and “cold” numbers. That panel is a record, not a forecast; the next spin ignores it.
On a phone, many games turn the layout sideways or show a compact version and zoom in when you tap. Live tables add a timer that closes betting before each spin. Our list of roulette casinos shows which casinos in your province carry European and French tables, and the practice wheel lets you try placing every bet on this page with play chips.
The detail most players never notice on a physical European table: zero is the only cell that spans all three columns, so it is the tallest cell on the felt, and its edges carry more different bets (splits with 1, 2 and 3, both trios and the first four) than any other number on the grid.