Orphelins in Roulette: The Bet Covering Eight Numbers on the Wheel

On a roulette wheel, there are eight numbers that, in French roulette tradition, are considered the “orphans.” Unlike the numbers that make up the two main wheel sectors around zero, these eight numbers are spread across the wheel and form a separate sector. They are the focus of one of the more distinctive bets in roulette.

This bet is known as Orphelins. The name comes from the French word “orphelins,” meaning “orphans,” and refers to the numbers that do not belong to either of the two main wheel sectors.

Orphelins is one of the so-called announced bets, which are based on the physical arrangement of numbers on the wheel rather than their layout on the betting table. Today, one of the easiest ways to try this type of bet is through online roulette, which allows you to play whenever you want.

What Exactly Is the Orphelins Bet?

Orphelins is a special type of roulette bet used in European and French roulette. Instead of selecting numbers individually, you make a single announced bet—or place it with one click in an online game—to cover a specific group of numbers based on their position on the wheel. It is one of the standard wheel-sector bets in roulette.

What makes Orphelins unique is that it is based not on the layout of the betting table, but on the actual position of the numbers on the wheel. It is one of three main series of wheel-sector bets, alongside the two other sectors discussed below.

That is also why it is known as an announced bet: in a traditional casino, you simply call out the bet to the croupier, who places the chips for you rather than requiring you to place an individual bet on each number.

Which Eight Numbers Make Up the Orphelins?

The Orphelins bet covers the eight numbers that fall outside the two main wheel sectors:

1, 6, 9, 14, 17, 20, 31 and 34.

These numbers are not next to one another on the betting table, but on the wheel they form two separate groups. One group consists of 17, 34, and 6, while the other contains 1, 20, 14, 31, and 9. Because the numbers are split into two sections, the Orphelins bet covers two separate areas of the wheel rather than one continuous sequence. The remaining numbers are covered by the two other announced bets, leaving Orphelins to cover those outside the other sectors. This is where the name “orphans” comes from.

How to Place an Orphelins Bet: Two Options

There are two main ways to place an Orphelins bet, depending on how you want to structure your stake.

Full Orphelins (Straight-Up Bets)

With a full Orphelins bet, you place eight chips, one directly on each of the eight numbers. If any of them comes up, the straight-up bet pays 35:1, just like any other straight-up number bet.

Orphelins with Split Bets

The more economical version uses just five chips. One is placed directly on number 1, while the remaining four are split bets, each covering two adjacent numbers: 6/9, 14/17, 17/20, and 31/34. Split bets pay 17:1, while number 17 is covered twice, giving you the highest potential payout if 17 comes up.

Example: You play the Orphelins split-bet version with 100 dinars per chip, for a total stake of 500 dinars. If number 20 comes up, the 17/20 split bet wins and pays 17:1, returning 1,800 dinars on that chip. The other four chips, worth 400 dinars in total, are lost. Your net profit is therefore 1,300 dinars.

In online versions, there is no need to arrange the chips manually. On tables featuring a racetrack layout, a single click can automatically place all five or eight chips, making this type of bet particularly easy to play on live online roulette.

Orphelins and Other Announced Bets

To fully understand Orphelins, it helps to look at the two other announced bets that follow the same principle. The Voisins du Zéro, or “Neighbors of Zero,” covers 17 numbers around zero, including zero itself, while the Tiers du Cylindre covers 12 numbers on the opposite side of the wheel.

When these two sectors are subtracted from the 37 pockets on a European roulette wheel, exactly eight numbers remain—and those are the numbers covered by Orphelins. The two larger sectors cover more numbers, which means they can produce more frequent wins, but each winning chip pays less than a straight-up bet. Orphelins takes the opposite approach: it covers fewer numbers, but the winning bets offer higher payouts. It is therefore the most compact of the three wheel-sector bets, covering the fewest numbers while offering a higher potential payout per winning chip.

Is the Orphelins Bet Worth It?

Like every roulette bet, Orphelins does not change the house edge, which is around 2.7% on a European roulette wheel. The bet covers eight of the 37 numbers, giving you roughly a 21.6% chance of hitting one of them on any given spin. That is considerably higher than the chance of hitting a single number, although the payout structure varies depending on how you place the bet.

What makes Orphelins appealing is not better mathematics, but its distinctive style of play. It groups numbers based on their position on the wheel, making it popular with players who follow wheel sectors and want a more targeted bet than simply betting on red or black. It is also worth remembering that covering all eight numbers requires five or eight chips, so the total stake per spin is higher than with a standard single-number bet. A winning chip may therefore only partially offset the losing stakes on the other bets. Orphelins is also specific to European and French roulette, as the American wheel has a different number layout and does not support the same sector structure.

When to Consider an Orphelins Bet

When all is said and done, Orphelins is a good example of how much more there is to roulette than meets the eye. Behind the simple spin of the ball lies an entire geography of the wheel, and Orphelins gives players a way to focus on a specific group of numbers based on their position on the wheel.

It does not change the mathematical advantage held by the house, but it offers a different way to structure a roulette bet. Players who enjoy targeting a specific wheel sector and covering the eight Orphelins numbers may find this type of bet particularly interesting.

Play responsibly and set a budget in advance, so you can enjoy every spin while keeping your gambling within your limits.