European vs American Roulette: How the Rules and the House Edge Differ

Everything you know about how to play one version carries over to the other: the layout, the bet types, the chip placement and the payouts. What changes is the cost. Because the casino pays the same amounts on a wheel with one more losing pocket, each bet is worth a little less on the American table.

The two wheels also arrange their numbers differently. That matters only for call bets such as voisins du zéro, which are built around the single-zero wheel order and are rarely offered on American tables. For a plain bet on the layout the arrangement makes no difference at all.

Take a £1 bet on a single number. On a European wheel it wins £35 once in 37 spins and loses £1 the other 36 times, so over 37 spins you expect 35 − 36 = −£1, which is −1/37 per pound staked. On an American wheel it wins £35 once in 38 spins and loses £1 the other 37 times: 35 − 37 = −£2 over 38 spins, or −2/38 per pound.

The same steps work for red or black. European: 18 wins of £1 against 19 losses of £1, −£1 over 37 spins. American: 18 wins against 20 losses, −£2 over 38 spins. The answers match the single-number case because every roulette payout is built on the same 36-pocket arithmetic. The method is the one used across our house edge guide.

The working: a £1 five-number bet wins £6 five times in 38 spins and loses £1 the other 33 times. Over 38 spins that is 30 − 33 = −£3, or −3/38 = −7.89% per pound staked.^{1 (source)} No other bet on either wheel costs as much. The European equivalent, the first four (0-1-2-3), pays 8 to 1 and carries the standard 2.70%.

The bet exists because it is the only way to cover both zeros and the first row with one chip on an American layout. If you play an American wheel, every other bet is cheaper; on a European wheel the problem does not arise.

The French terms on the layout map directly to the English ones: rouge and noir for red and black, pair and impair for even and odd, manque and passe for 1–18 and 19–36. Inside bets and their payouts are the same as on any European wheel, at 2.70%. Only the even-money bets get the zero discount.

La partage works out as follows: a £1 bet on red wins £1 eighteen times, loses £1 eighteen times and loses 50p on zero, so over 37 spins it returns −50p, or −1/74 per pound, 1.35%. En prison is close to the same figure, a little higher on some tables, depending on what happens when zero comes up again while a bet is held. Our roulette rules page explains both rules at the table.

These are averages over many spins. In a session of 100 spins the result can land well above or below them, because roulette swings a lot over short runs. The edge tells you which table charges more for the same entertainment, and the answer is the same every time: a single zero, and la partage if you like even-money bets.

A European game returns 97.30% to players over time (100% − 2.70%) and an American one 94.74% (100% − 5.26%), so the RTP figure in the help screen confirms which wheel you are playing. French games with la partage often show the higher return for even-money bets separately. If the help screen lists a different figure, the game has changed a rule or a payout, and the help screen should say which.

Live dealer games make the check easy, because the camera shows the wheel itself: count the green pockets. RNG games draw the wheel in software, so the layout and the help screen are the places to look. A lobby may list several roulette games with similar names and artwork, and the difference between them can be exactly this one pocket.

In British casinos the single-zero wheel is the normal game, so the choice mostly arises online. Taking a minute to check is the simplest saving in roulette: the same stake on the same bet costs about half as much on a single-zero wheel.

Choosing a UK casino? our UK casino comparison ranks the licensed sites on four published criteria. 18+