I only play European Roulette because American Roulette gives the house an extra edge. If you are new to roulette I’ll explain American vs. European Roulette. It’s really very simple.

European Roulette

Roulette was originally designed in France and had numbers 0 – 36 giving a total of 37 possible choices. The proper game is referred to as European Roulette and has a single zero. A straight up bet on a single digit gives you a 1:37 chance of winning. As a percentage that’s a 2.63% chance of your number coming up.

The Americans screwed with the game and added 00 decreasing your chances of winning to 1:38. Pesky Americans huh!

When choosing even-money bets such as Odd / Even or Red / Black you have a 1:3 chance of winning on European roulette. While zero is technically an even number in the world of mathematics, casinos rule it as neither so your even-money wager doesn’t quite give you 50/50.

American Roulette

American Roulette differs from European in that it has a double and a single zero (0, 00). Your chance of a straight up wager paying off are 1:38. It isn’t a great difference but it is an extra edge in favour of the house. There is no advantage to playing American Roulette, in fact there is a distinct disadvantage.

American vs. European Roulette

Your chance of winning is decreased when playing American Roulette. The Odd / Even or Red / Black even-money bet gives you only 1:4 chance of winning and in my opinion it is not worth the risk.

Casinos will make there money regardless of which version you play but give yourself every chance to succeed by playing European Roulette only.

No matter what version of roulette you play always gamble responsibly.