Getting "Are roulette wheels all the same?" right needs the betting grid close at hand. A roulette layout looks busy, and it rests on one simple idea: every bet is a group of numbers, and the fewer numbers it covers, the more it pays. Inside bets sit on the numbered grid and cover one to six numbers. Outside bets sit around the edge and cover roughly a third or half of the wheel. Once that pattern is clear, the whole table reads at a glance.
Dozens and columns each cover twelve numbers and pay 2 to 1. The dozens split the numbers into first, second and third groups of twelve, while the columns run along the length of the layout. Covering two dozens or two columns at once wins about two thirds of the time at a small profit per win. Neither option changes the long run cost, which is the same for almost every bet on the layout.
Red or black, odd or even, and low or high each cover eighteen numbers and pay even money. They win almost half the time and are the calmest way to play, since a balance moves slowly in small steps. Doubling after every loss on these bets, a common system, raises the stake quickly and meets the table maximum long before a losing streak ends, which is why such systems fail sooner or later.
A six line covers two adjacent rows and pays 5 to 1. Bets that include the zero, such as a split between zero and one or the first four numbers together, work the same way and are placed where the zero meets the grid. The zero is neither red nor black, neither odd nor even, which is why every outside bet loses when the ball lands there, unless a table rule returns part of the stake.
The table rules or the game's information panel list every bet with its payout, and nearly all bets carry the same long run cost.
A chip on a single number pays 35 to 1, the largest payout on the table, and wins only when the ball lands in that pocket.
Each covers eighteen numbers and pays even money, winning almost half the time, but all of them lose when the ball lands on zero.
The European wheel has 37 pockets with one zero, the American 38 with a zero and a double zero, which raises the house edge from 2.7 to 5.26 percent. The numbers are also placed in a different order, and variants such as double ball roulette add payouts of their own.
Splits go on the line joining two numbers and return 17 to 1, streets on the outer edge of a row of three return 11 to 1, and corners where four numbers touch return 8 to 1.
Each covers twelve numbers and returns two to one; dozens group the numbers into first, second and third twelve, while columns run along the layout.