When you start playing roulette online, one of the first things you may notice is there’s two different variants of the game; American Roulette and European Roulette. Both games follow the same standard rules however there are subtle differences which, naturally, affect gameplay. Many players are unaware of how each variant has it’s own advantages and disadvantages, and so they’re also unaware of which version of the game they should be playing. Luckily, we know everything there is to know about the two games, so we can explain how American Roulette differs from the European rules game, and help you decide which suits your gaming style the best.
The Basics of American and European Roulette
To understand both versions of the game properly, you need to have a firm grasp of the basics of roulette first. In general, roulette is a pretty easy game to understand. The aim of the game is to guess where on the roulette wheel the ball is likely to land. Bets are placed on the table, and you can bet that the ball will land on a specific number, within a certain range of numbers, on an odd or even number, or on red or black segment of the wheel.
In European Roulette the wheel is made up of 37 different segments, numbered from 0 to 36. The 0 is coloured green, and the other numbers are alternatively coloured red and black. However, in American Roulette, there are 38 segments to the wheel. The extra section is numbered 00 and is also coloured green. The addition of an extra segment means that there are more betting options for the player, however, it also means that the house edge in American Roulette is almost double than it is in European Roulette.
Payouts and odds can be quite hard to understand for roulette newbies, so here is a simple example that shows the difference between the two games. In European Roulette, the odds of winning a single number bet are 1 in 37 (because there are 37 segments to the wheel) and the payout is 35 to 1 (you’ll be paid 35x your wager, plus your original bet back). Contrastingly, in American Roulette, the odds of winning a single number bet are 1 in 38 (because of that extra segment), yet the payout remains the same at 35 to 1.
In addition, the fact that the extra 00 segment is green, means that it will decrease your odds at winning a red or black bet too. The payouts are exactly the same in both games, so this simply means that you’re less likely to win in American Roulette.
Should I Play American Roulette?
In general, European Roulette is far more popular than American Roulette, but this isn’t to say you shouldn’t play it! Whilst American Roulette offers you less room for error, and less likelihood of winning, it does make for a more thrilling and riskier game. The exhilarating nature of American Roulette cannot be matched by its European counterpart, and so if you’re an adrenaline junkie, it’s likely that you’ll enjoy American Roulette more.
That being said, most gamblers play because they like to win, and simply put, European Roulette gives you more chances to do so. In fact, many roulette experts suggest that the best advice for playing roulette is to avoid American Roulette all together! We’re not sure we sign up to this theory, however the good news is that you can play both versions of the game online, and so you can decide for yourself whether you like European or American Roulette more.
