Online roulette in Quebec: wheels, payouts and the real odds of every bet
Online roulette looks the same at every site: a wheel, a ball and a betting layout. The numbers behind it are not the same. The type of wheel decides how much each spin costs you, and the gap between the best and worst table is close to six to one. This guide covers the wheels you meet online, the payout and real odds of every bet, the published return of the main live games, and what those percentages mean in dollars for a Quebec player.
All probabilities and house edges below are calculated from the number of pockets on the wheel and the standard payouts. Nothing here depends on a betting system, because none changes the edge.
The three wheels
European roulette has 37 pockets: the numbers 1 to 36 plus a single zero. It is the default at most live dealer studios. Evolution's Euro Roulette, listed at Canadian operators, takes bets from $1 to $10,000 and publishes an RTP of 97.30%.
American roulette adds a 00 pocket, for 38 in total, while the payouts stay the same. That one extra pocket nearly doubles the house edge. Evolution's American Roulette lists an RTP of 94.75%, with bets from $0.10 to $5,000.
French roulette uses the single-zero wheel with the La Partage rule: if you make an even-money bet and the ball lands on zero, you lose only half the bet. Evolution's French Roulette lists an RTP of 98.65%, with bets from $0.20 to $10,000.
Payouts and odds for every bet
Inside bets go on specific numbers; outside bets cover 12 or 18 numbers. The payouts are the standard ones written into casino regulations. The chance and house edge columns are our own calculations.
| Bet | Numbers covered | Pays | Chance, single zero | Chance, double zero |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight up | 1 | 35 to 1 | 2.70% (1 in 37) | 2.63% (1 in 38) |
| Split | 2 | 17 to 1 | 5.41% | 5.26% |
| Street | 3 | 11 to 1 | 8.11% | 7.89% |
| Corner | 4 | 8 to 1 | 10.81% | 10.53% |
| Five number (0, 00, 1, 2, 3) | 5 | 6 to 1 | not offered | 13.16% |
| Line | 6 | 5 to 1 | 16.22% | 15.79% |
| Dozen or column | 12 | 2 to 1 | 32.43% | 31.58% |
| Red/black, odd/even, 1 to 18/19 to 36 | 18 | 1 to 1 | 48.65% | 47.37% |
Every payout is set as if the zero did not exist. A straight up pays 35 to 1, but on a single-zero wheel there are 36 other pockets, not 35. That gap is the house edge, and it is the same for every bet on the wheel:
- Single zero: 2.70% on every bet (1 in 37).
- Double zero: 5.26% on every bet (2 in 38), except the five-number bet.
- Five-number bet: 7.89%, the worst bet on a double-zero table. It pays 6 to 1 when a fair price for 5 numbers out of 38 would be 6.6 to 1.
- French roulette with La Partage: 1.35% on even-money bets, half the normal single-zero edge, because half of each losing bet comes back on a zero. Other bets keep the 2.70% edge, which is why Evolution's overall figure for the game is 98.65% rather than higher.
So picking red or a single number makes no difference to the long-run cost. Picking the wheel does.
What the edge costs in dollars
Say you bet $10 a spin for 100 spins, $1,000 in total bets. The average cost:
| Table | Average loss on $1,000 bet |
|---|---|
| French roulette, even-money bets | $13.51 |
| European roulette, any bet | $27.03 |
| American roulette, most bets | $52.63 |
| American roulette, five-number bet | $78.95 |
The house edge works on what you bet in total, not on what you bring. Recycle the same $100 through ten rounds of $100 and you have bet $1,000.
Short sessions are a lottery, long ones are not
Over a few spins anything can happen, which is what makes roulette fun. Over many spins the edge takes over. Here is the chance of being ahead after a run of $1 even-money bets on red:
| Number of bets | Ahead, single zero | Ahead, double zero |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 34.4% | 31.4% |
| 100 | 35.5% | 26.5% |
| 1,000 | 18.8% | 4.5% |
After 10 bets, ties at five wins each are common, which keeps the "ahead" figure low. After 1,000 bets on a double-zero wheel, fewer than 1 player in 20 is ahead. Single numbers swing far more: a number on a single-zero wheel fails to come up at all in 37 spins about 36.3% of the time, and in 100 spins about 6.5% of the time.
Lightning Roulette and other live versions
Live studios run many variants on the same single-zero wheel. In Lightning Roulette, one to five Lucky Numbers are drawn each round with a multiplier of 50x, 100x, 200x, 300x, 400x or 500x on a straight up bet. To pay for those multipliers, a straight up on any other number pays 29 to 1 instead of 35 to 1. Evolution lists the RTP at 97.10% to 97.30%, so the trade is bigger swings, not better odds. Speed, Immersive, Auto and Double Ball Roulette change the pace, the camera work or the betting options.
A live spin has to be valid. Evolution's rules require the dealer to spin the ball against the wheel's rotation for at least three full revolutions; if a spin is invalid, or an error cannot be fixed on the spot, the round is cancelled and bets are refunded. If your connection drops, your bets stand and settle without you, and you can check the result in the game history.
Roulette in Quebec
Loto-Québec runs roulette at the Casino de Montréal, the Casino du Lac-Leamy, the Casino de Charlevoix and the Casino de Mont-Tremblant, but not at the Casino de Trois-Rivières. Loto-Québec's roulette rules require the ball to complete at least seven revolutions without obstruction for a spin to count. The same page lists inside bets on one to six numbers. A five-number bet exists only on a double-zero layout, so look at the wheel before you sit down.
The By-law respecting casino games requires the minimum and maximum bets at every table to be posted and respected (section 9), and the full rules, including payout odds, to be available near the table (section 11). Our Casino de Montréal guide covers the casino itself.
Online, Loto-Québec's Espacejeux is open to players who are 18 or older, live in Quebec and are physically in Quebec. Our Espacejeux guide covers deposits and withdrawals, our live dealer guide covers the studios, and our page on online gambling law in Quebec explains where offshore sites fit.
Systems do not change the maths
Progressions like the Martingale change how your wins and losses are spread out, not their average. Each spin is independent and carries the same edge whatever came before. Our Martingale roulette guide works through the numbers for a real table limit. If you also play cards, our online blackjack guide covers a game where your decisions do change the edge, and our craps guide shows the one casino bet with no edge at all.
Keep it a game
Choose a single-zero table, set a budget before you start and use your site's deposit limits. If gambling stops being fun, Jeu: aide et référence answers at 1-800-461-0140, free and confidential; our guide to the help line explains how it works.
Sources
- Evolution, Euro Roulette rules: RTP 97.30%, $1 to $10,000, valid spin rules (theScore Bet help centre)
- Evolution, American Roulette rules: RTP 94.75%, $0.10 to $5,000 (theScore Bet help centre)
- Evolution, French Roulette rules: La Partage, RTP 98.65% (theScore Bet help centre)
- Evolution, First Person Lightning Roulette rules: multipliers, RTP 97.10% to 97.30% (theScore Bet help centre)
- N.J.A.C. 13:47-20.32, Rules of the game of roulette, subsection (f) payout odds (Cornell LII)
- Loto-Québec, Roulette rules
- Loto-Québec, Casino table games by destination
- Légis Québec, By-law respecting casino games, S-13.1, r. 3.1, sections 9 and 11 (current to July 1, 2026)
- Espacejeux, eligibility notice (18+, Quebec residence and location)
- Probabilities, house edges, session results and dollar costs calculated from 37 and 38 pocket wheels and the payouts above.
Key terms
- House edge
- The cut a game is built to keep for the casino on average, shown as a percentage of what you bet.
- Return to player (RTP)
- Return to player ("taux de retour"): the share of all bets a game is built to pay back over a huge number of rounds.
- Live dealer games
- Table games streamed live from a studio with a real dealer. Physical cards, wheels or dice decide what happens.
- Random number generator (RNG)
- An RNG (random number generator, "générateur de nombres aléatoires") is the software that decides slot and table game results. Labs certify it.
- Volatility
- How much a game's results swing around. High volatility: rare big wins. Low volatility: frequent small ones.
- Deposit limit
- A cap ("limite de dépôt") you pick for how much money can go into one casino account in a day, a week or a month.