How to Play Roulette
Roulette is the easiest table game to start playing — you pick where a ball lands, and every bet on the board is just a different slice of the same wheel. But the payout table hides real differences: some bets pay 35:1, some pay even money, and the wheel you choose changes the house edge by nearly double. Here is everything a first-time player needs.
Spin on-chain roulette →The wheel and the board
A roulette wheel holds numbered pockets 1 through 36, colored red and black in an alternating pattern, plus one or two green zero pockets depending on the version. Each round, a ball settles into one pocket and that number is the result — everything else is just different ways of betting on where it lands. The betting board lays the 36 numbers out in a 3-by-12 grid with the zeroes at the top, surrounded by the group bets: red or black, odd or even, high or low, dozens and columns. There is no skill in where the ball lands — on a fair wheel every pocket is equally likely — so roulette strategy is really about which bets you choose, how you size them, and whether the wheel you are playing has one green pocket or two. On Llamabet the winning number is generated from a committed seed published on Sui before you bet, so the 'wheel' is provably unbiased and you can recompute the result yourself after the spin.
Inside bets: high risk, high payout
Inside bets sit on the numbers themselves. A straight-up bet on a single number pays 35:1 — the biggest payout on the board and the reason roulette produces dramatic wins from small stakes. A split covers two adjacent numbers and pays 17:1. A street covers a row of three and pays 11:1. A corner (four numbers meeting at a point) pays 8:1, and a six line covering two adjacent rows pays 5:1. Notice the pattern: every payout is calibrated as if the wheel had exactly 36 pockets. A straight-up bet on a 37-pocket European wheel wins 1 time in 37 but pays only 35:1 — that missing pocket is the house edge, and it is identical across every inside bet. You are never getting better or worse odds by choosing splits over corners; you are only choosing your variance.
Outside bets: the steady grind
Outside bets cover large chunks of the wheel and pay accordingly less. Red/black, odd/even and high/low (1–18 vs 19–36) each cover 18 numbers and pay even money — bet 1 SUI, win 1 SUI. Dozens (1–12, 13–24, 25–36) and columns each cover 12 numbers and pay 2:1. The green zero is what breaks the symmetry: it belongs to none of these groups, so a red/black bet covers 18 of 37 or 38 pockets rather than half the wheel. Outside bets carry exactly the same house edge as inside bets on the same wheel — but their low variance makes them the sane starting point for a beginner. You will win close to half your even-money bets, sessions last longer, and you get a feel for the rhythm of the game without the bankroll whiplash of chasing 35:1 hits.
Single zero vs double zero: the only decision that changes the math
European roulette has one green zero and 37 pockets; the house edge on every standard bet is 2.70%. American roulette adds a double-zero pocket for 38 total, pushing the edge to 5.26% — nearly double — per the Wizard of Odds roulette analysis. The payouts are identical on both wheels; the American wheel simply gives you one more way to lose. The American board also carries one uniquely bad wager: the five-number basket bet (0, 00, 1, 2, 3) at 7.89% edge, the worst standard bet in roulette — skip it entirely. If you take one thing from this guide, it is this: always check how many zeroes the wheel has before you play, because no betting pattern, progression or lucky number can overcome the gap between 2.70% and 5.26%. Wheel selection is the only roulette 'strategy' with a provable effect on your expected loss.
Table etiquette, translated for online play
Physical roulette comes with rituals — colored chips per player, no touching bets after 'no more bets', waiting for the dolly to be lifted before collecting. Online, the software enforces all of it, which removes both the stress and the ambiguity. What remains worth knowing: place bets during the open betting window, and understand that once you confirm, the outcome is locked — on Llamabet, literally locked, because the seed that determines the number was committed on Sui before your bet existed, and the reveal after the spin lets you verify the house could not have moved the ball. There is no dealer to tip, no crowd to fight for board space, and you can take as long as you like between spins. Use that: the biggest practical advantage of online roulette is that nobody rushes you into betting more often than you planned.
A sensible first session, step by step
Sign in with Google via zkLogin — no seed phrase, no extension — or connect a Sui wallet like Slush, fund it with SUI, and open the roulette table. Start with even-money outside bets at the 1 SUI minimum: pick red or black and watch how the flow works, including the zero occasionally sweeping the outside bets. After a few spins, try a dozen at 2:1, then a straight-up number for the experience of a 35:1 sweat. Set a session budget before you start and treat it as the cost of entertainment — with a fixed house edge, roulette is a game you play for fun and variance, not for expected profit, and anyone who promises otherwise is selling something. When the session ends, winnings are already in your own wallet; there is no cashier cage and no withdrawal request, because every payout settled on-chain the moment the spin resolved.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between inside and outside bets in roulette?
Inside bets sit on the numbers themselves — single numbers (35:1), splits (17:1), streets (11:1), corners (8:1) and six lines (5:1). Outside bets cover big groups: red/black, odd/even and high/low pay even money, while dozens and columns pay 2:1. Both carry the same house edge on a given wheel; inside bets just have far higher variance.
Is single-zero or double-zero roulette better?
Single-zero (European) roulette is strictly better for the player: 37 pockets and a 2.70% house edge versus 38 pockets and 5.26% on the American double-zero wheel. Payouts are identical on both, so the extra zero is pure additional house edge. Always check the wheel before betting.
What is the payout for a single number in roulette?
A straight-up bet on one number pays 35:1 — stake 1 SUI, win 35 SUI plus your stake back. Since a European wheel has 37 pockets, the true odds are 36:1, and that one-pocket gap is where the 2.70% house edge comes from.