American vs. European Roulette

Background

There are two major types of roulette wheels, the American wheels, and European wheels. American roulette wheels have 38 total pockets, the numbers 1-36, 0, and 00. European roulette wheels only have 37 total pockets, consisting of the numbers 1-36, and 0. Because they only have one 0, European roulette wheels are more generally known as single-zero wheels. Now it might seem like these two wheel-styles are kept on their separate continents, but in reality you can find plenty of double-zero games in Europe. On the same token, competitive casinos in the US use single-zero wheels to attract new customers.

Statistical Comparison

Games on both sides of the Atlantic pay out 35:1 for straight up bets. On an American wheel, any given number has 37 to 1 chances of winning, but on a European single-zero wheel there is an improved 36 to 1 chance. In a roulette game using an American Wheel, the expected house edge is about 5.26%, while a European wheel only has a 2.7% house edge. This is a huge difference and explains why you should always seek single-zero wheels.

Relative to Other Table Games

How do these wheels compare to other casino games? At first glance, not too well. Craps bets vary greatly but a smart player can easily keep their house edge below 1.4% and even as low as .02% at some casinos (depending upon allowable odds). Black jack players following even basic strategies can keep their house edges down to 2% and the experts using the optimum strategies are looking at .5%. Even with these staggering differences, roulette can cost your average player far less than casino blackjack or craps, but its not because of the house edge.

When we look at the rounds per minute rate for all three of these games, an interesting trend appears. Even at the slowest blackjack tables players can expect to see 50 hands per hour. At a less busy table this number can inflate to well over 100, which is about the number of rolls a craps table sees every hour. So how many roulette spins take place an hour at your average table? Your average table is about 50 spins per hour, but it is pretty normal to see this number dip down to 30. Let's take an example to see how this rate factors into your profitability.

Example:
Here's the scene. Three different players are sitting at different tables. One is at a craps table, one is at a blackjack table, and the last is at a roulette table. They are all making $5 bets per roll/hand/spin. Here is what should, statistically occur.

• Craps Player: 100 rolls/hour at $5 per roll with 1.4% edge. Losses = $7
• Blackjack Player: 150 hands/hour at $5 per hand with 2% edge. Losses = $15
• Roulette Player: 35 spins/hour at $5 per spin with 2.7% edge. Losses = $4.73

The winner in the real casino setting is clearly roulette!

En Prison

If this wasn't enough, many of the single-zero roulette tables help you out even more. The feature called 'en prison' is unique and always in the player's favor. When you lose your bet, they don't simply collect it and move on, but they give you a second chance to redeem yourself. If you lose your bet on one spin, but the next spin would have resulted in a win for you, you simply get your money back. No strings attached! This is an amazing feature but is rarely offered in American roulette games.