Roulette Wheels: French Or American?

Why is roulette more popular in European casinos than in American ones? Roulette in US casinos draw a far smaller number of players compared to slot machines, blackjack, craps and video poker. As it stands today, newer casino games like Let It Ride and Caribbean Stud Poker are edging on to take the lead in terms of popularity against roulette.

Things are looking better for roulette in European casinos. It attracts a huge following, compared to the measly number of roulette players in America.

The answer to this lies on the difference between roulette wheels used in American and European casinos. The roulette wheel used in America has 00 in it, the French wheel used in European ones doesn't. There are 36 numbers plus a 0 in French wheels while the American roulette wheel also has 36 numbers and 0 plus the 00. The 0 and 00 on the wheels give casinos the house edge in roulette games.

At a glance, the addition of the 00 on American wheels may not seem to make that much of a difference between a roulette game played with an American wheel and one played with a French wheel. However, when properly examined, roulette players in American casinos need to contest a 5.26 percent house advantage on every bet except one.

Roulette players in European casinos only has to buck a 2.7 percent house edge. This is further reduced to a 1.4 percent edge on even money bets because of the en prison rule. This means that roulette games played in European casinos can effectively compete with other casino games when it comes to the odds of winning, while roulette players in America face a very different and harder challenge compared to their counterparts in Europe.

There are a small number of French wheels that are being used in American casinos. Roulette games played with these wheels are usually held in high limit rooms, where the games mostly have bigger minimum bets compared to games played with American wheels. Large bets are uncommon in roulette games played in US casinos using French wheels.

Although not as numerous as players drawn to other casino games, the number of roulette players in America are in no way declining. Despite the larger house edge brought by the use of American wheels, people who visit casinos usually spend time playing roulette. A game of roulette proceeds at a more relaxed pace compared to other casino games, and sometimes all a player need is a bit of time to relax.