Difference Between American and European Roulette

When you walk into a casino looking to play roulette, the first thing to take stock of is the style of roulette wheel. There are two types -- American and European. The main difference, and the most important to roulette players, is the number of zeros.

The European Roulette Wheel, featuring one "single zero" space and no "double zero", changes the house edge so that it is in favor of the roulette player. This means the European style roulette wheel offers 37 numbers (0 - 36). Alternatively, the American Roulette wheel's odds favor the house. American roulette wheels feature both a "single zero" and a "double zero" space, increasing the number of available slots to 38. You wouldn't think adding a single slot on the wheel makes a big difference, but it does. Here's why:

The basic mathematical odds of a particular number appearing on a single zero or "European" roulette wheel are 37 to 1. On a standard American roulette wheel, the odds of a number coming up are 38 to 1. Regardless of which style of wheel you're playing on, roulette pays out 35 to 1 for a single number bet. When you look at the pure numerical odds, it is easy to figure out where the casino is making its profit. In an American style game, there is a probability of 1 / 38 that the roulette player wins that 35 times payout , and a 37 / 38 chance that the player loses their entire bet. Do the math on that, and you come up with a house edge of 5.26%. In layman's terms, for every $100 a player bets, that player will lose an average of $5.26 over time.

Since the odds are better on European roulette, which offers one less numerical spot to bet on, there is a 1 / 37 chance that the player wins a 35 times payout, and a 36 / 37 chance that the player loses the entire bet. This sets the house edge at just 2.7%, which means you'll only stand to lose $2.70 per $100 bet.

Obviously, the "double zero" bet was added to the "American" wheel in order to further increase the house edge.

The smart roulette player will always look for a "European" style roulette wheel. There's simply no reason to play on a wheel in which the house's edge is nearly double that of an alternate form of the game. Having said that, if you're playing roulette for fun, it doesn't really matter if the house edge is 5.26% or 50%. Having a good time at the casino depends less on the number of "zero" spaces on the board and more on the number of drinks and beautiful women on your arm.