The zero is not a losing pocket for the player who bet on it
A common first impression at an English roulette table is that the green zero is the pocket nobody wants. That is true for most of the people standing around the layout, because most of their chips are sitting on red or black, odd or even, or one of the three dozens. For the player who placed a chip on the zero, the pocket pays like any other single number. The difference is that when the ball lands there, every outside bet on the table loses or is held, depending on the house rule.
English roulette is the single-zero form of the game. The wheel carries the numbers 1 through 36 plus one green zero, for 37 pockets in total. That single zero is the structural difference between this game and the American layout, which adds a double zero and runs 38 pockets. The extra pocket is not a cosmetic detail. It changes the arithmetic on every bet placed anywhere on the table, including the bets that have nothing to do with the zero itself.
What a straight-up bet on 0 returns
A wager placed directly on the zero is a straight-up bet, the same category as a wager on 17 or 31. The payout is fixed and printed on the layout or in the game's information panel. In the standard single-zero game, a winning straight-up bet returns the player's original stake plus a payout at fixed odds. If you want the exact multiplier for the table in front of you, read the payout schedule on the layout or the game rules screen before you put chips down, because a small number of tables use a reduced payout on straight-up bets and that changes the edge materially.
What matters more than the payout on the zero is what the zero does to the bets around it. On a 37-pocket wheel, a straight-up bet has one winning pocket and 36 losing pockets. The payout is set below what a fair return on those odds would be, and that gap is the house edge. The zero is simply one of the 37 pockets; it is not a special penalty. The penalty is built into every pocket equally, because every bet on the layout is priced as if the wheel had fewer pockets than it does.
How the zero hits outside bets
The outside bets are the red/black, odd/even, and high/low wagers, along with the dozens and columns. On a single-zero wheel, the zero is green, so it is neither red nor black, neither odd nor even, and neither high nor low. When the ball lands in the zero, a player holding any of those even-money outside bets loses the wager outright at most tables.
Some English roulette tables use a rule that softens this. Under a rule sometimes called la partage, an even-money outside bet that loses to the zero returns half the stake to the player. Under a related rule sometimes called en prison, the losing even-money stake is held on the table for the next spin instead of being collected immediately; if the next spin wins, the stake returns, and if it loses, the stake is collected. Both rules apply only to the even-money outside bets and only when the zero is the losing pocket. They do not change the payout on a straight-up zero bet, and they do not apply to dozens or columns.
The presence or absence of la partage or en prison changes the effective cost of playing the outside bets. A table that collects the full outside stake on a zero has a higher edge on those bets than a table that returns half or imprisons the stake. The rule is usually printed on the table layout or in the game rules, and it is worth checking before you sit down, because two tables that look identical can carry different edges on the same red/black wager.
Comparing the zero's effect across bet types
The zero does not affect every bet on the layout equally. Straight-up bets, split bets, street bets, corner bets, six-line bets, dozens, columns, and even-money outside bets all carry different payout schedules and different edges. The table below lays out the standard bet categories, what a winning example pays, and how the zero interacts with each one. The payout figures are the standard schedule for a 37-pocket wheel; always confirm the table's own schedule before betting.
| Bet type | Covers | Standard payout | What the zero does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight-up | One number, including 0 | Fixed odds printed on layout | Wins only if 0 was the chosen number |
| Split | Two adjacent numbers | Lower than straight-up | Loses unless 0 is part of the split |
| Street | Three numbers in a row | Lower than split | Loses unless 0 is in the row |
| Corner | Four numbers in a square | Lower than street | Loses unless 0 is in the square |
| Six-line | Six numbers across two rows | Lower than corner | Loses unless 0 is in the group |
| Dozen/column | Twelve numbers | 2 to 1 | Loses; 0 is outside all dozens and columns |
| Even-money outside | 18 numbers | 1 to 1 | Loses, or half returned/held under la partage or en prison |
The pattern is straightforward: the more numbers a bet covers, the lower the payout, and the more exposed the bet is to the zero. The inside bets that include the zero as one of their covered numbers are the only bets on the layout that can win when the ball lands in the green pocket. Every other bet treats the zero as a losing pocket, and the even-money outside bets are where the zero's presence is felt most sharply, because those are the bets most players make most often.
The sequence of a round from buy-in to settlement
Walking through a round makes the zero's role easier to see. A player buys in at the table, exchanging cash for roulette chips. At most tables these chips have no denomination printed on them and are used only at that table; the player assigns a value when buying in, and the dealer marks it. The player then places chips on the layout before the dealer calls for no more bets.
The dealer spins the wheel in one direction and sends the ball around the track in the other. When the ball drops into a pocket, the dealer places a marker on the winning number and clears the losing bets first. If the winning pocket is the zero, the dealer clears every outside bet and every inside bet that does not include the zero. The dealer then pays the winning straight-up zero bet, and any split, street, corner, or six-line bet that includes the zero, at the table's printed odds. If the table uses la partage or en prison, the dealer handles the even-money outside bets according to that rule before paying the inside winners.
Only after the losing bets are cleared and the winning bets are paid does the dealer remove the marker and open the table for the next round. A player who wants to leave exchanges the table chips back for cash at the table, because the roulette chips are not valid at the cashier.
Where the edge lives
The zero is often described as the house's edge, but that is a shorthand. The house edge is the mathematical gap between the payout a bet offers and the true odds of the bet winning. On a 37-pocket wheel, a straight-up bet has one chance in 37 of winning. If the payout were set at the true odds of 36 to 1, the bet would return exactly what it costs over the long run. The table pays less than that, and the missing fraction is the edge. The zero is simply the extra pocket that makes the true odds worse than they would be on a 36-pocket wheel. The payout schedule does the rest.
This is why the American wheel carries a higher edge on most bets than the English wheel. The American layout adds a second green pocket, so a straight-up bet has one chance in 38 instead of one in 37, while the payout schedule stays the same. The zero in English roulette is a single extra pocket; the double zero in American roulette is a second extra pocket, and each extra pocket widens the gap between true odds and the payout. Neither wheel has a pocket that is due, hot, or loose. The wheel has no memory, and the zero is not more likely after a run of red numbers.
Mistakes that cost new players at the zero
The first mistake is betting the zero as if it were a hedge. A player who puts chips on red and a small chip on the zero is not protecting the red bet. The zero chip wins only when the red bet loses, and it wins at a payout that does not fully offset the loss on the red wager. The combined position still carries the house edge on both bets, and the player is now exposing two wagers to the same spin instead of one. A hedge changes the shape of the outcomes, not the expected loss.
The second mistake is assuming every table handles the zero the same way. A table with la partage returns half the even-money stake when the zero hits; a table without it collects the full stake. Two tables in the same venue can differ, and the difference is visible only in the printed rules. A player who sits down without checking has chosen a table edge by accident.
The third mistake is confusing the zero's payout with the zero's role. The zero pays as a single number, but its main effect is on the outside bets that lose to it. A player who understands the payout but not the rule on even-money losses has understood only half the pocket.
FAQ
Does the zero pay more than other single numbers in English roulette?
No. The zero is a straight-up bet like any other single number and pays at the same fixed odds printed on the layout. Its only special property is that it sits outside the red/black, odd/even, and high/low groups, so it beats those outside bets when it lands.
What happens to my red or black bet when the zero comes up?
At a table without la partage or en prison, the even-money outside bet loses in full. At a table with la partage, half the stake is returned. At a table with en prison, the stake is held for the next spin and returned only if that next spin wins. The rule is printed on the layout or in the game rules.
Is betting on the zero a good way to cover the outside bets?
It is a hedge, not a cover. The zero bet wins only when the outside bet loses, and the combined position still carries the house edge on both wagers. It changes the pattern of wins and losses across spins, but it does not remove the built-in edge from either bet.
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