What Is Zero in Roulette and How It Affects the Game

Zero is the green pocket numbered 0 on the roulette wheel. It looks like an ordinary number, but zero is exactly what gives the casino its mathematical edge, and it's what sets one version of roulette apart from another. Let's look at why zero exists, what happens when it comes up, and how it affects your bets.

Zero on the Wheel

European roulette has one green pocket - 0. The wheel has 37 pockets in total: the numbers 1-36 (red and black) plus zero. The American version adds a second zero - 00 - bringing the total to 38 pockets. The green colour sets zero apart from the red-and-black sequence: zero belongs to neither red nor black, and it isn't even or odd either.

Why Zero Exists

Zero is exactly what creates the house edge. Imagine roulette without a zero: a bet on red would give you a fair 50/50 chance, and over the long run the casino wouldn't make any money. Zero tips the balance: on the European wheel, the probability of red isn't 50%, it's 18 in 37 (about 48.6%), because there's also the green zero.

Because of this, the house edge on European roulette is about 2.7%, and on American roulette with two zeros it's about 5.26%. The more zeros there are, the worse the maths is for the player.

What Happens When Zero Comes Up

When the ball lands on zero:

• a straight-up bet on 0 wins at 35:1, just like any straight-up bet on a number;
• even-money outside bets (red/black, even/odd, 1-18/19-36) lose in the classic version;
• dozen and column bets also lose, since zero isn't part of either of them.

La Partage and En Prison

French roulette has two rules that soften the blow from zero on even-money bets:

• La Partage - when zero comes up, half of that bet is returned;
• En Prison - the bet is frozen for the next spin, and if that spin wins, the money is returned.

With these rules, the house edge on even-money bets drops to about 1.35%. That makes French roulette better value than classic European roulette. For more on the versions, see our article on types of roulette.

The Zero Sector on the Wheel

The numbers around zero on the wheel form groups you can bet on as a sector: Voisins du Zero (neighbours of zero) and Jeu Zero (a small sector right next to zero). These are part of the sector bets, alongside Tiers and Orphelins. The Zero sector is convenient to watch in the statistics: you can see how long it's been since it last hit.

Zero in the Statistics

The service tracks zero and the Zero sector alongside numbers, colours, and dozens: the table shows how many spins in a row zero or its sector has not hit, and what the historical maximum is. For how to read this data, see our article on roulette statistics.

It's important to remember: zero comes up with exactly the same probability as any other number, and a long absence of zero doesn't make it any more likely to hit on the next spin. Play responsibly.

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