---
title: "The edge board"
url: https://fanfeud.co.uk/
description: "An informational desk on games of chance: the house edge worked out wager by wager, the history of lotteries and betting, how games are designed and how the industry."
---

# The edge board

Eleven classic wagers, grouped by game family. Each row prints what the wager pays, the real odds against it, and the share of every unit staked that the rules retain.

## Wheel games

*Wheel wagers, where the pocket count and a fixed thirty-five to one payout decide the whole figure*

| Wager | Pays | True odds against | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single number, single-zero wheel | 35 to 1 | 36 to 1 | 2.70% |
| Even-money bet, single-zero wheel | 1 to 1 | 19 to 18 | 2.70% |
| Single number, double-zero wheel | 35 to 1 | 37 to 1 | 5.26% |
| Five-number line, double-zero wheel | 6 to 1 | 33 to 5 | 7.89% |

## Dice games

*Dice wagers, all of them rearrangements of the same thirty-six outcomes, with edges spanning ten to one*

| Wager | Pays | True odds against | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass line | 1 to 1 | 251 to 244 | 1.41% |
| Free odds behind an established point | true odds | true odds | 0.00% |
| Place bet on the six | 7 to 6 | 6 to 5 | 1.52% |
| Any seven, one roll | 4 to 1 | 5 to 1 | 16.67% |

## Draw games

*Draw wagers, where the top prize is a share of a pool rather than a fixed payout, so no single percentage applies*

| Wager | Pays | True odds against | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Six numbers from forty-nine, jackpot line | share of a prize pool | 1 in 13,983,816 | set by the pool, not by a fixed payout |
| Five numbers from fifty, jackpot line | share of a prize pool | 1 in 2,118,760 | set by the pool, not by a fixed payout |

## Machine games

*Machine wagers, where the combination count is internal and the return is set by the paytable and the weighting*

| Wager | Pays | True odds against | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three reels, sixty-four virtual stops each, top line | set by the paytable | 1 in 262,144 | set by the paytable and the weighting |

Working, the first row of the board

single number on a 37-pocket wheel, paid 35 to 1

expected value = (1/37 x 35) + (36/37 x -1)

= (35 - 36) / 37 = -1/37 = -0.02703

house edge = 2.70% of every unit staked

Every percentage above is arithmetic from the payout and the pocket, dice or ball count printed in the same row. No operator is named and no offer is carried; the derivations are on the topic pages.

## From the journal

[01**How Sportsbook Bonus Terms Create Risks and Trade-Offs**Sep 14, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/how-sportsbook-bonus-terms-work-risks-and-trade-offs/)

[02**Top 4 Alternatives of coraciiformestag.com**Aug 23, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/top-4-alternatives-of-coraciiformestag-com/)

[03**The 10 Best Sweepstakes Casinos for Game Providers**Aug 21, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/the-10-best-sweepstakes-casinos-for-game-providers/)

[04**The 10 Best Sweepstakes Casinos for No Purchase Needed**Aug 21, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/the-10-best-sweepstakes-casinos-for-no-purchase-needed/)

[05**Why Is SweepsPulse the Best for High RTP Slots?**Aug 16, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/why-is-sweepspulse-the-best-for-high-rtp-slots/)

[06**Top 3 Alternatives of SOFTSWISS for Built-In Affiliate Management**Aug 15, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/top-3-alternatives-of-softswiss-for-built-in-affiliate-management/)

[07**SOFTSWISS vs EveryMatrix vs NuxGame vs Kanggiten for Turnkey Casino Solutions**Aug 09, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/softswiss-vs-everymatrix-vs-nuxgame-vs-kanggiten-for-turnkey-casino-solutions/)

[08**Top 7 Sweepstakes Casinos for Fast Payouts**Aug 09, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/top-7-sweepstakes-casinos-for-fast-payouts/)

More

[09**Playtech vs Kanggiten for Sports Betting Solutions**Aug 06, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/playtech-vs-kanggiten-for-sports-betting-solutions/)

[10**Why Is SweepstakesTable the Best for Beginners?**Aug 05, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/why-is-sweepstakestable-the-best-for-beginners/)

[11**How to Choose the Best Sweepstakes Casinos for Purchase Bonuses**Aug 03, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/how-to-choose-the-best-sweepstakes-casinos-for-purchase-bonuses/)

[12**Best iGaming Platforms for Rapid Launch in 2026**Aug 03, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/best-igaming-platforms-for-rapid-launch-in-2026/)

[13**SweepsPulse for Sweeps Coins Value: Why It's the Best Choice**Jul 28, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/sweepspulse-for-sweeps-coins-value-why-it-s-the-best-choice/)

[14**Guided Setup for Ecommerce Stores: What Actually Works**Jul 15, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/guided-setup-for-ecommerce-stores-what-actually-works/)

[15**8 WhatsApp Marketing Software Platforms for Customer Loyalty**Jun 25, 2026](https://fanfeud.co.uk/8-whatsapp-marketing-software-platforms-for-customer-loyalty/)

## From the derivation desk

Three lead pieces working the board figures out in full.

Wheel and dice

### [Two layouts, two numbers, one method](https://fanfeud.co.uk/roulette-mathematics/)

A wheel is the cleanest game to analyse because its sample space is printed on it. Thirty-seven pockets paid at thirty-five to one give 2.70 per cent; adding a second zero and changing nothing else gives 5.26 per cent. The same page shows why a split, a column and an even-money bet on the same wheel all return the identical figure.

[Read the full derivation](https://fanfeud.co.uk/roulette-mathematics/)

Wheel and dice

### [Thirty-six outcomes, and everything after them](https://fanfeud.co.uk/dice-and-craps/)

Two dice produce thirty-six equally likely ordered results, and every dice wager ever written is a claim about how those results are grouped. The pass line works out at 1.41 per cent, a one-roll seven at 16.67 per cent, and the free odds bet at precisely nothing.

[Read the full derivation](https://fanfeud.co.uk/dice-and-craps/)

Cards

### [The exception: trials that remember](https://fanfeud.co.uk/card-games/)

A wheel resets every spin. A deck does not, because each card dealt changes what remains. That single structural difference is the reason some card games admit skill, and the reason multiple decks, deep cuts and continuous shufflers exist at all.

[Read the full derivation](https://fanfeud.co.uk/card-games/)

## What the edge costs over volume

One unit staked per round, one thousand rounds, ranked by edge. The percentages are small; the multiplier is not.

*Expected loss in units after one thousand rounds of one unit each, computed as edge multiplied by rounds*

| Wager | House edge | Expected loss after 1,000 rounds |
|---|---|---|
| Any seven, one roll | 16.67% | 166.67 |
| Five-number line, double-zero wheel | 7.89% | 78.95 |
| Single number, double-zero wheel | 5.26% | 52.63 |
| Any bet on a single-zero wheel | 2.70% | 27.03 |
| Place bet on the six | 1.52% | 15.15 |
| Pass line | 1.41% | 14.14 |
| Free odds behind a point | 0.00% | 0.00 |

Working, one row of the table

edge on any bet on a 37-pocket wheel = 0.027027

rounds = 1,000, stake per round = 1 unit

expected loss = 0.027027 x 1,000 = 27.03 units

The table is expectation only. A single thousand-round run swings widely around these figures, and the [law of large numbers page](https://fanfeud.co.uk/law-of-large-numbers/) shows how quickly the swing stops mattering.

## The rest of the desk

Longer pieces on where these games came from, how they are built, and how they came to be regulated.

[Lottery combinatorics](https://fanfeud.co.uk/lotteries/)

Where one in nearly fourteen million comes from, why a rollover changes the arithmetic, and how public draws grew out of private ones.

[History of betting](https://fanfeud.co.uk/history-of-betting/)

Lots and knucklebones, the correspondence that turned a dispute over an unfinished game into probability, and the arrival of fixed odds.

[How randomness is produced](https://fanfeud.co.uk/randomness/)

Physical randomness in wheels and dice against algorithmic generators, seeding, period length and commitment schemes.

[Reel and machine design](https://fanfeud.co.uk/machine-design/)

Virtual reels, weighting and paytables, and why the symbols you can see are not the probabilities the machine is using.

[The law of large numbers](https://fanfeud.co.uk/law-of-large-numbers/)

Why a fixed percentage that looks trivial in one round becomes the dominant term over thousands of them.

[How regulation developed](https://fanfeud.co.uk/regulation/)

The move from blanket prohibition to licensing, technical standards, independent testing and disclosure of return figures.

[Glossary of terms](https://fanfeud.co.uk/glossary/)

Forty terms used across the desk, each defined in plain language and cross-referenced to the page that works it out.