High or low roulette bet

What the high or low roulette bet covers

The high or low roulette bet splits the 36 numbered pockets into two runs of 18. Low is every number from 1 to 18 and high is every number from 19 to 36. You pick one half, and if the ball settles on any number in it, you are paid even money. The green zero belongs to neither half, and that single pocket is the whole reason the bet costs anything.

It sits with the other outside bets in the boxes along the edge of the table layout. On an English-language table the boxes usually read 1–18 and 19–36. French layouts often use the older names manque for low and passe for high, and you will see those words on some live French tables and in game help screens.

Like red or black and odd or even, it is one of three ways to bet on half the board at even money. All three have exactly the same maths. Choosing high over red, or low over even, changes which numbers win, not how often you should expect to win.

High or low roulette odds and payout

The odds come straight from counting pockets. A European wheel has 37 pockets: 18 low numbers, 18 high numbers and the zero. A bet on high therefore wins in 18 of 37 equally likely outcomes and loses in 19 of them. On an American wheel the extra double zero makes it 18 wins against 20 losses out of 38.

The payout of 1 to 1 means a £10 winner returns £20: your £10 stake plus £10 winnings. Fair odds for a bet that wins 18 times in 37 would be 19 to 18, a touch better than evens. The gap between that and the even-money price the casino pays is the house edge, which Wizard of Odds’ roulette basics (opens in a new tab) puts at 2.70% for every single-zero bet and 5.26% for double zero.

In decimal terms, the high or low bet is priced at 2.00 when the true price on a single-zero wheel is about 2.06. That small shortfall, repeated spin after spin, is how the casino earns its margin.

The house edge on high or low, worked out

The expected result of any bet is the chance of winning times the profit, minus the chance of losing times the stake. For a £1 bet on low at a European table that is (18 ÷ 37 × £1) − (19 ÷ 37 × £1) = −£1 ÷ 37, a loss of about 2.7p for every pound staked. That is the 2.70% house edge, and it is identical to the edge on a straight-up number or a dozen bet.

On a double-zero wheel the same sum gives (18 − 20) ÷ 38 = −2 ÷ 38, or −5.26%. Nothing about the bet itself has changed; the extra green pocket simply adds one more way to lose. That is why European roulette is always the better-value choice over American roulette for this bet.

Why La Partage halves the edge

Under the La Partage rule, if zero lands you lose only half of an even-money stake. The bet now wins with probability 18/37 (0.4865), returns half the stake with probability 1/37 (0.0135) and loses outright half of the time (0.5000). The expected result works out at −1.35% of the stake, exactly half the normal single-zero edge. Our La Partage rule guide covers it in full, and the alternative En Prison rule gives a very similar result.

What a high or low bet costs in pounds

Expected loss is stake × house edge × number of spins. The table below assumes 60 spins an hour, which is a useful round figure; live tables with long betting windows run slower, and automated wheels can run faster. The figures are long-run averages, not predictions for one session.

Even-money bets swing less than single numbers, but they still swing. Over an hour of £10 bets you could easily be £100 up or down, because each result moves your balance by the full £10. The average only takes over across thousands of spins, which is why our guide to cost per hour treats it as the price of the entertainment rather than a forecast.

How to place a high or low bet online or live

1. Open a single-zero roulette table, ideally a French one with La Partage if you mainly play even-money bets.
2. Pick a chip value that fits the budget you set before you started.
3. Click or tap the 1–18 box for low, or the 19–36 box for high (manque or passe on a French layout).
4. Check the bet total shown on screen, then wait for the betting window to close or press spin on an RNG game.
5. If the ball lands in your half, you get your stake back plus the same amount again; if it lands on zero, the table’s zero rule decides what happens.

Placing the same bet again uses a re-bet button, not autoplay. Since 17 January 2025 the Gambling Commission has banned autoplay on all online casino games, live roulette included, and casino games other than slots must take at least five seconds per game cycle. The UK rules for live casino page explains what else changed.

Zero, hedging and betting both high and low

A common question is whether you can bet high and low at the same time to stay safe. You can, but it only locks in a loss. With £10 on each, every number from 1 to 36 wins one bet and loses the other, so you break even. When zero lands, both bets lose and you are £20 down at a standard table, or £10 down with La Partage.

The expected cost is still 2.70% of the total staked: 54p a spin on £20. You have simply paid to watch the wheel. The same applies to mixing high with other outside bets. Covering low and the third dozen, for instance, leaves 7 numbers (zero and 19 to 24) where both lose, and the combined edge remains 2.70% because every part of it carries that edge. Our page on what happens to outside bets when zero lands covers the zero question in more detail.

High or low strategy myths that don’t hold up

Because high and low look like a coin toss, they attract more system talk than any other bet. The maths below is what actually decides results.

• “High is due after a run of lows.” The wheel has no memory. After ten lows in a row, the next spin is still 18/37 for high. A run of ten lows has a chance of about 1 in 1,347 before it starts, but once it has happened it tells you nothing. Our page on the gambler’s fallacy explains why.
• “Follow the hot half.” Tracking hot and cold numbers on the results board does not help on a fair wheel. UK-licensed games must produce acceptably random results under the Gambling Commission’s RTS 7 technical standard (opens in a new tab).
• “Doubling up wins in the end.” The Martingale doubles after each loss. Starting at £5, eight losses in a row cost £1,275 and the next bet is £1,280, which may exceed the table limit. The chance of eight straight losses on an even-money single-zero bet is (19/37)⁸, about 0.48%, so it happens roughly once in every 207 attempts.
• “Any system can shrink the edge.” As Wizard of Odds’ study of betting systems (opens in a new tab) shows in its simulations, the loss-to-wager ratio always settles near the house edge, whatever staking plan you use.

High or low against other roulette bets

Every standard bet on a single-zero table costs the same 2.70%, so choosing between them is about how often you want to win and how big you want each win to be. The even-money bets give the smoothest ride.

Only the even-money bets benefit from La Partage, which is why many readers consider them the best bet in roulette at French tables. A column bet or dozen will not get that discount. You can test any combination with our roulette odds calculator.

High or low in live and online RNG roulette

The bet works the same way in live roulette with a real wheel and in RNG games driven by software. Both use 37 pockets on European tables, so the odds and edge do not change. The differences are pace and atmosphere: live tables run fewer spins an hour, which lowers your hourly cost at the same stake, while RNG tables let you play at your own speed within the five-second minimum. See RNG against live roulette for the full comparison.

Some branded games change the payouts. In multiplier games that boost straight-up numbers, the even-money bets usually pay the standard 1 to 1, but the overall return can differ from a plain table. Always check the game’s help screen for its published RTP before assuming the 2.70% figure applies.

UK rules for roulette players

You must be 18 or over and have your age and identity verified before you can deposit or play, including free demo games. Credit cards cannot be used to gamble in Great Britain. The £5 and £2 online stake limits apply to slots only, so roulette tables keep their own minimum and maximum bets. Winnings are not taxed for UK players.

Set a deposit limit and a time limit before you start. Treat an even-money bet as entertainment with a known average price, not a way to make money. If roulette stops feeling like fun, the safer gambling hub lists the tools and free support available, including the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, run by GamCare (opens in a new tab) around the clock.

Where to play high or low roulette in the UK

The offers below are mainly slot and matched-deposit promotions, so treat them as separate from your roulette play. Roulette is often excluded from bonus wagering or counts for less, and you should check the casino’s game lobby for which roulette tables it runs. Our roulette bonus guide explains how these terms usually work. 18+ and terms apply.

• Casumo: a 50% bonus up to £100 on a first deposit of £20 or more, for new customers who opt in. Wager the bonus 10x within 7 days, with a £5 maximum bet while it is active; game, play and payment restrictions apply.
• 10bet: a 100% match up to £25 for new UK customers who choose the casino welcome bonus and deposit within 7 days. The bonus must be wagered 10x on slots within 3 days, maximum bonus winnings are £1,000, and Skrill and Neteller deposits are excluded.
• Coral: new players who deposit and bet £10 or more on slots get 100 free spins worth 10p each on selected games, with 48 hours to accept and 7 days to use them. No wagering on free spin winnings; the offer runs from 1 October 2026 to 1 February 2027 and some payment methods don’t qualify.

18+. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: safer gambling tools and support. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.