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A straight-up bet backs a single roulette number for a 35:1 payout, the biggest on the layout, with the longest odds of 1 in 37 or 1 in 38.
By Anja Wiedenhöft · September 8, 2026 · 5 min read
A straight-up bet is a wager on one single number in roulette, placed directly on that number in the grid. It pays 35 to 1, the highest standard payout on the table. The chance of winning is 1 in 37 on a single-zero wheel or 1 in 38 on a double-zero wheel.
The straight-up bet is the simplest wager in roulette to describe and the hardest to win: you pick one number and back it to come up on the next spin. It carries the biggest payout on the table precisely because it is the least likely single bet to land. Here is how it works and what the numbers really mean.
A straight-up bet, sometimes called a single-number bet, is a wager on one individual number on the roulette grid. You can back any of the numbers from 0 to 36 (and 00 on an American wheel) by placing your chip squarely within that number’s box, not touching any line. Because the chip sits fully inside one number, the dealer knows you are backing that number alone.
It is classed as an inside bet , the family of wagers placed on the numbered grid itself, as opposed to the outside bets on colours and groups placed around the edge. Inside bets cover fewer numbers and pay more; the straight-up bet sits at the far end of that scale, covering the fewest numbers of all, just one, and paying the most.
You can also place straight-up chips on more than one number at the same time, each as its own separate bet. And on a busy table you may share a number with other players; the dealer tracks stakes by chip colour, so each player’s straight-up bet is settled individually.
A straight-up bet pays 35 to 1 . Stake one unit and, if your number lands, you receive 35 units in winnings and keep your original one-unit stake, so 36 units come back to you in total. This is the highest standard payout on the roulette layout, which is what draws players to it despite the long odds.
The chance of a straight-up bet landing depends on how many pockets the wheel has:
These are the longest odds of any single bet on the table, which is the flip side of the largest payout. A rare win is balanced by a large return.
On a single-zero wheel there are 37 possible results, so a mathematically fair payout would be 36 to 1: over 37 spins you would expect to win once and lose 36 times, and 36 to 1 would leave you even in the long run. The casino instead pays 35 to 1. That one-unit shortfall, spread across 37 pockets, is the house edge , and it works out to exactly 1/37, or 2.70% .
On an American wheel the sums change because of the extra pocket. The table below compares the two.
The payout is the same 35 to 1 on both, but the American wheel has an extra losing pocket without any change to the payout, which is why its house edge is nearly double. For a straight-up bettor, the single-zero wheel is clearly the better-value table.
No. This is the most important thing to understand about single-number betting. On a fair wheel, every number has exactly the same chance on every spin, and each spin is an independent event . A number that has not appeared for a long time is not more likely to appear next; the wheel has no memory of previous results. Sequences of past numbers are just history and carry no information about what comes next.
Because of this, no method of choosing numbers, tracking previous results or adjusting stakes can change the probability of a straight-up bet or lower its fixed house edge. The edge is baked into the 35-to-1 payout and stays constant however you select your numbers.
Some players like to back several single numbers at once, placing separate straight-up chips on, say, five different numbers. This is perfectly normal, but it is worth being clear about what it does. Covering five numbers raises your chance of a win on any given spin to 5 in 37, yet each chip is still an independent 35-to-1 bet with its own 2.70% edge. When one of your numbers lands, the 35-unit payout has to cover the four losing chips as well, so spreading chips widens your coverage without changing the underlying cost. It changes the shape of your results, not the maths behind them.
There is also no meaningful difference between betting the same number every spin and switching numbers each time. Because spins are independent, both approaches face exactly the same 1-in-37 chance and the same fixed edge. The choice is purely a matter of taste.
The straight-up bet offers the biggest single payout and the biggest thrill, at the cost of the lowest win frequency on the table. If you enjoy the prospect of a large return and accept that most spins will not land, it is the bet built for that. Just keep the maths in view: it is an entertainment wager with a fixed cost that no method of picking numbers or adjusting stakes can lower or remove. Play it with a set budget and time limit, prefer the single-zero wheel for its lower edge, and treat any win as a welcome result rather than something the odds owe you.
A straight-up bet, also called a single-number bet, is a wager placed on one individual number on the roulette grid, from 0 to 36. It is the most specific bet on the layout and carries the highest payout because it covers only one pocket on the wheel.
A straight-up bet pays 35 to 1. If you stake one unit and your number lands, you receive 35 units in winnings plus your original stake back, for 36 units in total. It is the largest standard payout available on a roulette table.
On a single-zero European wheel the chance is 1 in 37, because there are 37 pockets. On a double-zero American wheel it is 1 in 38, because the extra green pocket adds one more losing outcome. Both are the longest odds on the layout.
A truly fair payout on a 37-pocket wheel would be 36 to 1. The casino pays 35 to 1 instead, and the difference is the house edge. On a single-zero wheel that gap works out to 2.70%, the fixed statistical cost built into the bet.
No. On a fair wheel every number has the same chance on every spin, and each spin is independent of the last. A number that has not appeared recently is not more likely next time, and past results carry no information about future spins.