Roulette Types
There are generally two well known types of Roulette played in casinos and online around the globe, American Roulette and European Roulette.
American Roulette
The American Roulette Wheel has 38 numbers including 0, 00 and numbers 1 to 36. As the house normally only pays 35 times the stake (plus the stake) on a straight bet, this means it always has a two number advantage over players. In other words if a player or players covered all of the numbers on the board it would cost them say $38 (i.e. $1 per number), however the house’s maximum payout will only be $36, hence they always have 2 number advantage on the players. 2/38 = 5.26% advantage. Having two zeros (0, 00) gives the house a 5.26% advantage. This means that for every $100 bet, the house will make $5.26 in profit. Be aware, there is also “Five Number Bet” which gives the casino a 7.89% edge. The betting numbers are 0, 00, 1, 2, 3 at the same time. It is the worst bet in roulette, NEVER ever make “five number bet”.
American Roulette table layout :
European Roulette Wheel
The European Roulette Wheel, also referred to as the ‘French Wheel’ has 37 numbers including 0 and 1 to 36. As the house normally only 35 times the stake (plus the stake) on a straight bet, this means it always has a one number advantage over players. In other words if a player or players covered all of the numbers on the board it would cost them say $37 (i.e. $1 per number), however the house’s maximum payout will only be $36, hence they always have 1 number advantage on the players. 1/37 = 2.70% advantage. Having one zero (0) on the wheel gives the house a 2.70% advantage. This means that for every $100 bet, the house will make $2.70 in profit.
European Roulette table layout :
Naturally, wherever possible we recommend players play European Roulette due to the better odds.
Other subtle Differences between American & European Roulette
“En Prison” Rule - With many European Roulette casinos, if you have made an even-money outside bet and the ball lands on the zero (0), you either lose half the bet or your bet is “imprisoned” and you have to let it ride on the next spin. The casino edge on this bet is cut in half to 1.35% which makes it one of the best bets in the casino and almost four times better than the same bet when it’s made on a standard American double-zero roulette wheel. Of note the “En Prision” rule is somewhat similar to the Atlantic City casino rule used by some American Roulette casinos.
‘La Partage’ Rule - Essentially, the ‘la partage’ rule lowers the house edge on a single zero wheel of 2.7% to a very attractive 1.35%.
The rule operates as follows, if the ball lands on zero, the player only loses HALF of their money on outside bets. You still
have the same chances of winning your bet, but the amount of money you could lose is LESS. How good is that !!
Croupiers - European casino croupiers tend to have elegant Rakes to gather up all the chips, while American casino croupiers will generally use their hands to gather the chips.
Chip Colors - American casinos will give players different colored chips which ensures differentiation between players bets. European casinos will generally have the same colored chips, requiring players to be on their toes !
