Why the question matters more than the answer
Most players ask whether zero counts as an even number because they have money sitting on an even-money bet and the ball has just landed in the green pocket. The short answer is no. Zero is not even, not odd, not red, not black. It is a third category that sits outside every even-money wager on the layout. Understanding why that is true, and what it does to your bet, is the difference between knowing a rule and knowing how the game is built.
On a European wheel there are 37 pockets: the numbers 1 through 36 plus a single zero. On an American wheel there are 38, because a double zero sits opposite the single zero. The even-money bets cover 18 numbers each. Red covers 18, black covers 18, odd covers 18, even covers 18. The zero pockets are not included in any of those groups. That exclusion is deliberate and it is the entire mechanism by which the house earns its advantage on the outside of the layout.
What the zero pocket is
A roulette wheel is a physical or digital arrangement of numbered pockets. The numbers 1 through 36 alternate between red and black and between odd and even. The zero pocket, and the double zero where one exists, is green. It carries no parity and no colour assignment that matches the even-money bets. When the ball lands there, every even-money wager loses under the standard European rule set, and under most American rule sets as well.
That is not a quirk of the layout. It is the structural reason the even-money bets do not pay at true odds. If you bet on black, you are not betting on 18 of 37 pockets on a European wheel. You are betting on 18 of 37, and the one pocket you did not cover takes your stake. The payout is 1:1, as if the bet were a coin flip. The presence of the uncovered zero is what tilts the arithmetic away from a coin flip and toward the house.
How the zero changes the arithmetic
On a European wheel, an even-money bet covers 18 pockets out of 37. The house edge on that bet comes from the single pocket that pays out to neither side. The same bet on an American wheel covers 18 pockets out of 38, because the double zero adds a second uncovered pocket. The house edge on the American layout is therefore higher for the same wager, even though the payout looks identical.
This is the clearest example in the casino of two games that look the same from the player's seat but carry different long-run costs. The rule set changes the edge. A player who understands that can read a table's wheel type before sitting down and know, without doing any arithmetic at the felt, which layout returns a smaller share of each wager to players over a very large number of spins.
| Wheel type | Total pockets | Zero pockets | Even-money bet coverage | Uncovered pockets on an even-money bet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| European | 37 | 1 | 18 of 37 | 1 |
| American | 38 | 2 | 18 of 38 | 2 |
The table shows the structural difference. The extra pocket on the American wheel does not change what you are paid. It changes how often the ball lands somewhere you did not cover. That is the house edge expressed as a physical fact rather than a percentage.
What happens to your bet when zero lands
Under the most common rule set, an even-money bet placed on red, black, odd or even loses outright when the ball lands in zero. The dealer sweeps the losing wagers and pays the winners, and the zero pocket produces no winner on the outside bets. Some tables, particularly on European layouts, offer a rule variation that softens this. It goes by different names depending on the venue, but the mechanism is the same: when zero lands, the even-money bet is not collected immediately. Instead it is held in place, sometimes described as being imprisoned, and the next spin decides its fate. If the next spin wins for the player, the original stake is returned without additional winnings. If the next spin loses, the stake is collected.
That variation changes the effective edge on the even-money bets. It does not remove the edge, and it does not make zero an even number. It simply alters what the house does with the losing bet when zero appears. The rule is printed in the table's posted terms or explained by the dealer, and it is worth checking before you sit down, because two tables in the same room can operate under different versions of the rule.
The other bets that ignore zero
The even-money bets are not the only wagers affected by the zero pocket. Any bet that covers a group of numbers by colour or parity excludes zero by definition. A bet on red does not include zero, a bet on odd does not include zero, and a bet on the first 18 numbers does not include zero on most layouts. The only wagers that can win on zero are the ones that name it directly: a straight-up bet on the zero itself, or a combination bet that includes the zero among its numbers.
This is why some players place a small wager on zero alongside an even-money bet. The two bets are independent. The even-money bet loses when zero lands, and the straight-up bet wins. That does not change the house edge on either wager. It changes the shape of the outcomes: the player loses less often on the combined position but gives up more when the ball lands on a covered non-zero number, because the straight-up bet loses on every one of those spins. The expected loss across both bets is simply the sum of the expected losses on each, and neither bet has a positive expectation.
Reading the layout before you play
The roulette layout is a map of the wheel, and every rule that matters to your bet is printed on it or posted beside it. The wheel type is visible at a glance: a single green pocket means European, two green pockets means American. The even-money boxes sit along one edge of the layout, usually labelled in the local language. The zero sits apart, often at the head of the number grid, coloured green to match the pocket on the wheel.
Before you put a chip down, check three things. First, which wheel you are playing, because the number of zero pockets changes the edge on every outside bet. Second, whether the table uses the standard rule or the imprisonment variation on even-money bets, because that changes what happens to your stake when zero lands. Third, the table minimum and maximum, because the outside bets usually carry a lower minimum than the inside numbers, and the maximum will cap how much you can place on any one position. None of these checks requires you to trust the dealer's description alone. The posted rules and the layout itself carry the information.
Why the distinction between zero and the even numbers exists
Roulette is a game of categories. The wheel divides its numbers into groups, and the payouts are set according to how many numbers each group contains. A straight-up bet covers one number and pays 35:1. A split covers two and pays 17:1. A dozen covers twelve and pays 2:1. The even-money bets cover eighteen and pay 1:1. In a perfectly fair game with 36 numbers, those payouts would match the odds exactly. The zero pocket breaks that symmetry. It is an extra number that belongs to no even-money category, and its presence is what makes every payout on the table slightly short of the true odds.
Zero is not even because the game's designers needed a number that belonged to no outside category. If zero were even, the even bet would cover 19 pockets on a European wheel and would pay out more often than it lost, which would invert the house edge on that wager. If zero were red, the same inversion would happen on the colour bets. The green pocket exists precisely so that every even-money bet covers fewer than half the wheel while paying as if it covered exactly half. That is the mechanism, and it is worth understanding before you place a single chip.
FAQ
Does the zero count as odd in roulette?
No. Zero is neither odd nor even. It sits outside both categories, which is why the odd and even bets both lose when the ball lands in zero under the standard rule set. The only way to win on zero is to bet on it directly or to include it in a combination wager.
What is the difference between European and American roulette for even-money bets?
The European wheel has one zero pocket and 37 total pockets. The American wheel has two zero pockets and 38 total pockets. An even-money bet covers 18 pockets on both wheels, so the American layout leaves two uncovered pockets instead of one. That makes the house edge higher on the American version for the same wager.
Can I get my even-money bet back when zero lands?
That depends on the table's posted rules. Under the standard rule set, the bet loses. Some European tables use a variation in which the bet is held for the next spin and returned without winnings if that spin wins. The rule is always stated in the table's terms or by the dealer, and it changes the effective cost of the bet without changing the fact that zero itself is not an even number.
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This article is general information about how these mechanics work. It is not legal advice and not a recommendation to gamble or to use any particular operator. Availability and legality differ by jurisdiction — check the rules that apply where you are.