Roulette is one of the most recognized and popular casino games. That popularity is apparent for a variety of reasons, not least its position in pop culture. It is often seen as the ultimate game of chance, with the outcome in the lap of the gods in ways contrary to games like poker and blackjack.
Yet, when we speak of roulette as a singular entity, it is a bit misleading. In fact, it’s better to say that roulette is a genre of casino game rather than a specific title. Indeed, if you look at DraftKings’ current roulette selection, you’ll see there are dozens of different variations of the game.
Broadly speaking, however, we can distill the main versions of roulette down to three types – American, European and French. But what are the differences? And which one is best for players overall? We can break it down with a simple guide below:
American roulette
American roulette is based on a wheel with 38 pockets – 0, 0-0 and numbers 1-36. The house edge is calculated at 5.26%, so technically speaking, the casino will make just over $5 for every $100 spent. The payout is 35-1 when placing a straight-up bet (betting on a specific number), so you can easily see where the casino’s margin comes from.
European roulette
European roulette is broadly the same as American roulette. It has the same payout structures, i.e., 35-1 on a straight-up bet. That is important for this specific reason – the wheel has 37 pockets instead of 38. It consists of a 0 pocket and numbers 1-36. The lack of a 0-0 pocket and the same payouts means that European roulette has a better house edge than American roulette. The house edge is calculated at 2.70%. If you have the choice between the two – and that is not always the case – you should always opt for European. It’s a no-brainer.
French Roulette
French roulette is a subset of European roulette, so the wheel configuration and the payouts are the same. The main difference comes with something called La Partage rule. “Partage” is the French word for sharing, and it refers to the rule where half of the player’s stake is returned if an even-money bet (Red-Black, Odd-Even) loses when the ball lands in the 0 pocket. This niche little rule favors players, lowering the house edge to 1.35%.
Conclusion
It should be pretty clear that French roulette is the best option. However, the issue is that it is not widely available. Certainly, it won’t be available at every major Vegas casino, though you can usually find it at online casinos. Again, if the option is there, choose French every time.
Roulette strategy
Whatever way you look at it, the house still retains the advantage. Mathematicians have long sought ways to defeat roulette, including with strategies that involve chaos theory. Yet, most of us ‘normal’ people will have to depend on the random outcome. However, there are strategies that can work, at least in theory.
The simplest strategy to understand is Martingale, which basically involves doubling a losing even-money bet each time until it wins. For example, if you start off betting $10 on red, and it loses, and then you bet $20 the next time, and it loses again. If you bet $40 the next time, and it wins, you get $80 and your profit will be $10 (total outlay $10 + $20 + $40). The math is sound the whole way up as long as you keep doubling the bet.
So, what’s the catch with Martingale? Well, two things. The first is that the profit will only ever be equal to the initial bet. Secondly, while red will eventually hit, it is always possible that it does not hit before the maximum betting limit on the table is reached or you run out of cash to keep doubling, so be wary.
