Roulette Table Layout: Every Box on the American Board, Explained

The Roulette Table Layout at a Glance: 38 Numbers in Three Columns

Picture the felt from the dealer’s side. The roulette board is a grid of 36 numbered boxes, three across and twelve deep, starting with 1, 2 and 3 nearest the wheel. Each row adds three, so the bottom row reads 34, 35 and 36. The boxes are colored red or black to match their pockets on the wheel.

At the head of the grid sit two green boxes, 0 and 00. That pair is what makes this an American roulette table. A European table shows a single 0 there instead. So how many numbers are on a roulette table here? Thirty-eight, one box for every pocket on the double-zero wheel.

The grid is the inside area, where you back single numbers or small groups. Around it run the outside boxes for bigger groups: three dozens, three columns, and six even-money boxes for red, black, odd, even, 1 to 18 and 19 to 36. The roulette bets guide explains each bet type in more depth than this map of the cloth.

Test Yourself on the American Roulette Table Layout

The quickest way to learn the American roulette table layout is to use it. The quiz below draws the full board next to a wheel diagram. It asks you to find numbers, columns and bet positions, and it labels every box as you go. Try it now, before reading the bet sections, then come back once you have read them.

If you missed a few, notice where the mistakes cluster. Most new players confuse the columns, which run the long way down the felt, with the rows of three, which run across. Another frequent slip is hunting for 00 at the bottom of the board. It always sits at the head, beside the 0, nearest the wheel.

How a Roulette Table Works at a US Casino: Rules From Buy-In to Payout

Here is how a roulette table works at a casino in Las Vegas, Atlantic City or your own state. Set cash on the felt between spins and ask for chips. The dealer gives you a stack of roulette chips in a color nobody else at the table is using, so your bets are never mixed up.

Read the sign before you buy in. It posts the table minimum and maximum, and many US tables set the inside minimum differently from the outside one: the inside amount can usually be spread across several numbers, while each outside bet must meet the minimum on its own. Ask the dealer if the sign is unclear.

Color chips have no value away from that table. When you are done, push them to the dealer, who converts them into regular casino value chips you can take to the cage. Between spins you place bets; once the dealer calls no more bets, hands off. Then the dolly marks the winner and payouts follow.

Inside Bets on the Roulette Board: Where the Chips Go

Inside bets live on the number grid, and the exact spot of your chip decides what it covers. Centerd on a box means one number. On a line between boxes, a corner where four meet, or the outer edge of a row, the same chip covers two, four or three numbers. Your chip color marks it as yours.

Straight up and split bets

A straight-up chip sits inside one box, paying 35 to 1. A split sits on the line between two numbers that touch on the cloth, such as 17 and 20 above and below each other, or 17 and 18 side by side. It pays 17 to 1. You can also split 0 and 00.

Streets, corners and six lines

A street covers one row of three, chip on its outer edge, say 16, 17 and 18, and pays 11 to 1. A corner sits where four boxes meet, such as 16, 17, 19 and 20, and pays 8 to 1. A six line straddles two rows, 16 to 21, and pays 5 to 1.

The top line and the baskets at 0 and 00

The zeros have bets of their own. A chip on the corner where 0 and 00 meet the first row is the top line, covering 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 for 6 to 1. Three trio bets, 0-1-2, 0-00-2 and 00-2-3, pay 11 to 1 like a street. Avoid the top line: it costs 7.89% instead of 5.26%.

Outside Bets: The Boxes Around the Edge of the Roulette Table

The outside boxes are the easy part of the roulette table layout. Along one side run three dozens, 1 to 12, 13 to 24 and 25 to 36, each paying 2 to 1. Beside them sit the six even-money boxes, paying 1 to 1. Under each column sits a box marked 2 to 1.

Each column box backs twelve numbers. The first column is 1, 4, 7 and on up to 34, the second 2, 5, 8 up to 35, and the third 3, 6, 9 up to 36. A column and a dozen each win 31.58% of the time on an American table, 12 chances in 38.

One rule catches people out. Every outside bet loses when 0 or 00 comes up, because the green numbers belong to no dozen, column or color. That is where the house edge on outside bets comes from. If you want a closer look at backing the zeros directly, betting on green works through the numbers.

Roulette Table Payouts and Odds: The Payout Key for Every Box

The chart below lists every bet on the roulette table layout with its payout, how many numbers it covers and the chance of winning, with a European column for comparison. Read across a row and you see the trade. Fewer numbers mean a bigger payout and a smaller chance, and the house edge stays at 5.26% almost everywhere.

Now try it on a real spot. In the drill below, two chips sit on the street 16-17-18 and one chip sits straight up on 17, and the ball lands on 17. Work out the total coming back before you reveal the answer. Then check yourself with the payout calculator, which takes any chips you place.

A street at 11 to 1 turns two chips into 22 chips of profit, and the straight-up chip adds 35 more. Remember that the dealer also pushes back the chips you staked on winning bets. Losing chips on other boxes are swept first, then the payouts arrive. The roulette payouts page goes through every bet’s odds in full.

People ask how to win at a roulette table. Over a single evening you can, since any bet might hit; over many spins nothing on this cloth beats the 5.26% edge. The practical choices are the stake size and the table: a single zero table charges 2.70% on the same bets. Roulette strategy tests the famous systems.

Wheel Order versus the Roulette Table Layout

The felt is laid out in counting order, but the wheel is not. On the roulette wheel, red and black alternate and 17 sits directly opposite 18, even though the two numbers share a row on the cloth. The table is built for placing chips quickly, while the wheel is built to scatter the result.

That difference explains a common mistake. Bets that look like a tight cluster on the board, such as a corner or a six line, are spread right around the rotor. Chips on neighboring boxes do not make the ball more likely to land in one area. The glossary of roulette terms covers names like dolly, neighbors and voisins.

European, Electronic and Home Roulette Tables

A European roulette table layout mirrors the American one. The grid and every outside box are unchanged; only the head of the board differs, with a single green 0 spanning three columns. The top line disappears and a first four bet on 0, 1, 2 and 3 pays 8 to 1. French roulette boards add call bets.

An electronic roulette table replaces the felt with touchscreens around a real or animated wheel, and each seat shows the same grid. A home roulette table is usually a printed felt over a card table. Either works for practice if it carries the layout you will meet in a US casino: 0 and 00 at the head.

A Printable Roulette Table Layout for Practice

A roulette table layout printable on one letter-size sheet is easy to make. Draw three columns and twelve rows, number them 1 to 36 across, and put 0 and 00 above the first row. Add the dozens and even-money boxes down one side and the three column boxes at the bottom. Color the red numbers as listed.

The reds are 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34 and 36. The rest are black. Use coins as chips until positions come automatically. For a wheel behind it, free roulette lets you spin with play chips, and the how to play roulette guide runs through a full round.

At a real table, watch where the dealer sets the dolly after each spin. It sits on the winning number on the felt, and nobody may touch their chips until it is lifted. Place your chips while the ball is still circling, before the dealer waves a hand across the layout and calls no more bets.