The main difference of American, European and French Roulette is the number of green pockets found on each roulette wheel.
This makes a difference though; despite sounding like a small point, it influences the house edge for each game, as well as the betting options and rules for each type of game.
Gameplay
Although the underlying mathematics of the game has a certain stability among different variants of roulette, distinct rules on house edge, spreads and number of pockets on the wheel will impact the performance of the game.
The croupier spins a wheel and a white ball, cut from the tusk of an elephant, materialises in one of the 36 pockets numbered 0 to 36. Bets are laid on the pockets and, in the event that the ball lands correctly in one of them, the stakes won on are the stakes wagered.
European Roulette is different to American Roulette because it features special rules, such as the ‘en prison’ rule – meaning that if any player put down a bet on an even money bet on the table and the ball lands on a zero pocket, the player’s bets will be locked in for the next round. This feature reduces the European house edge to 1.35 per cent. On the other hand, the American Roulette houses two zero pockets which means it will have a higher edge from the players of 2.7 per cent.
Betting options
Although almost all punters will bet merely on single numbers or groups of numbers, there are plenty of other bets which offer increased odds and payouts – French or Call bets cover a whole section of the wheel, while inside/outside bets offer different house edges.
At tables for American Roulette, the layout is quite complex compared with English Roulette, making it harder in one respect than the other for players to place particular bets – and so to make the most of this form of gambling.
European roulette has more betting options than American roulette, as a result of a rule called the ‘en prison’ and La Partage (see rules). Under both rules,a player wins back half his even money bet when it wins on a zero – reducing house edges to 1.35 per cent. Lower house edges entice players by putting them in a better position to win each round. That’s why this game is so endearing to many gamblers.
Odds of winning
True to its name, American roulette has different odds to European roulette as an extra green pocket dubbed Double Zero on the wheel lowers the probabilities of even money wagers to the house’s advantage.
However, even leaving aside the odds differences, many other rules and bets will also affect your chances of winning. For instance, the en prison rule in European roulette will recover 50 per cent of your even money bet if 0 comes up, which cannot be done in any version of American roulette.
Small changes in odds can have a large impact on your winning odds over the long term, so be sure to consider each of the variants’ rules and odds before selecting one to play to maximise your odds of success while having an enjoyable, fair gaming experience without a great deal of fuss in its play.
Payouts
Nor is there any mathematical method that will guarantee that you’ll go home with your wallet empty, though other systems – collectively called progression systems – may do that just as well as simpler ones, such as the Martingale or Labouchiere methods that form their basis.
One of the determinants of the chances of winning at roulette, the number of pockets on the wheel. One version of the game uses a wheel with 38 pockets, including the two zeros: American roulette. European roulette has only a single zero, making for a lower house edge.
Online casinos offer a wide range of European roulette, normal single-zero wheels, and also many French versions that offer ‘la partage’ or ‘en prison’ rules, which recover half your bet if the ball lands in zero, reducing house edges for even money bets by half – another reason why some people consider the French version to be somewhat better than the European one.