Unravelling the Mystery: American Roulette is an astounding game. Gurus strongly advise against it, yet it remains a celebrated game at casinos around the world. It’s a bold statement to make, but the odds of American Roulette truly are the least favorable to players. At 5.26%, the house edge is remarkably high, especially when compared to other games like European Roulette with a house edge of 2.70%, or French Roulette with a house edge as low as 1.35% when certain rules are in play (La Partage and En Prison). Given the alternatives, one wonders why American Roulette is universally popular among players at land-based casinos and online casinos alike.
The secret to American Roulette’s widespread popularity is rooted in the game’s exciting betting options, at reputable online casinos like slotsheaven.com/ca/roulette/american/. For players, it’s especially enticing to be able to place bets that aren’t available in other roulette games. The major difference between this particular game and its European counterparts rests in the unique 00 betting option. The inclusion of the 00 adds another number to the roulette wheel and another betting option for players. With 38 numbers on the board, including 0, 00, and numbers 1 – 36, probability of a single number coming up is 1/38, or 2.63157%. This is almost identical to the odds of a single number coming up in European Roulette or French Roulette – 1/37, or 2.7027%.
What’s the difference between 2.63157% and 2.7027%? It’s minuscule on the surface, but the reason why American Roulette has a house edge of 5.26% and European Roulette has a house edge of 2.70% is not about the odds of one number coming up. The real reason why the percentages are so far apart is the difference between the true odds and the odds that the casino pays. When all the mathematics is done, the payout of 35:1 on a single number instead of 38:1 on a single number is precisely how the house edge is calculated. To calculate the return to player percentage (RTP), you multiply the probability of a single number coming up 1/38 by the total payoff of a $1 bet ($35 + $1) = 36/1. The result is 36/38 or 0.947365 or 94.7365%. The house edge is simply that number subtracted from 100! In this case, it’s 5.26%.
The layout of an American Roulette wheel differs from that of the European Roulette wheel. The number sequence for an American Roulette wheel is as follows: 0, 28, 9, 26, 30, 11, 7, 20, 32, 17, 5, 22, 34, 15, 3, 24, 36, 13, 1, 00, 27, 10, 25, 29, 12, 8, 19, 31, 18, 6, 21, 33, 16, 4, 23, 35, 14, 2. The number sequence for European Roulette wheel is: 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34, 6, 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, 33, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26. Believe it or not, the game developers intentionally made the roulette numbers confusing. This prevents any sort of pattern recognition while players are placing their bets.
It’s tough to notice any inherent roulette bias. Further, even and odd numbers are interlaced, and black and red alternate on the wheel. As far as the actual table goes, American Roulette features the 0 and 00 alongside one another, followed by the numbers 1,2,3 directly beneath them. Recall that American Roulette boasts unique bets that cannot be found on any other roulette game? These include the 5-number bet on 0, 00, 1, 2, and 3. This has a payout of 6:1, with a 13.1% probability of winning. Incidentally, it’s the worst bet you can make in roulette – the top line bet!
