Online Roulette

Roulette is among the most popular and sought-after casino games today. According to roulette’s history, Blaise Pascal’s original design had 36 numbered sectors, positioned with extreme balance. Over the years, it has undergone some changes giving rise to various types of roulette.

However, the most appreciated and played models all over the world are French Roulette and American Roulette. They differ in design, rules and guidelines, betting types, and the probability of success, but both are based on the same original idea.

There is also a type of roulette called European Roulette. This kind of roulette often tends to be confused with the French one as both have many similarities.

French Roulette, the traditional one

The first notable feature for this kind of roulette is that the roulette has a zero (0). The traditional pockets numbered from 1 to 36 plus one pocket with the number 0, adding up to a total of 37 numbers. The 36 regular numbers alternate between black and red, and the 0 is green. The number 0 represents the profit of the bookmaker, which translates into an advantage of 2.70%. This can be selected as a possible winning number but is excluded from most bets.

french roulette table

French Roulette has several types of bets. You can play a single number or several of them. You can bet on whole columns or dozens, odd or even numbers, black or red. Of course, depending on how many numbers are selected, the probability of winning and the percentage to be received varies.

Rules: French Roulette also offers two special rules: La Partage and En Prison. These increase the user’s advantage, allowing them to recover part of their bet when the ball ends up in the pocket with the 0. Although it doesn’t apply to all casinos, the European mode can also offer one or both rules.

European Roulette

As we had mentioned, this is a variation of French Roulette, which tends to be confused with it because of its similarities. It also has the numbers 1 to 36 and the additional pocket with the 0 and follows the same alignment on the Roulette. The fundamental difference between French and European roulette is the design of the diagram on the table.

european roulette table

Both have the same grid that shows the 36 numbers in 12 rows and 3 columns, and the zero at the top.

The betting options in French Roulette are presented on both sides of the table and written in French. The European version has them on one side only and is written in English.

Rules: Same rules as the ones encountered for French Roulette

American Roulette (the double zero roulette)

The first feature that stands out in this type of roulette is that you will see two green pockets. In that sense, there are 38 numbered pockets: the usual numbers from 1 to 36, 0 and 00. This is because the first American casinos felt that the profit margin offered by French Roulette wasn’t high enough. In that sense, both 0 and 00 represent a win for the bookmaker, which puts the advantage up to a value of 5.26%.

american roulette table

Obviously, the presence of the 00 pocket reduces the chances of winning and makes users prefer the other alternatives. Both numbers can equally be selected as possible winners, but they are not included in most bets as in the French or European version.

The game’s mechanism and objective remain the same: to guess what pocket the ball will end up in. The disposition of the numbers on the Roulette is completely different from the French mode. Even though there are 18 black numbers and 18 red alternative numbers, the consecutive numbers are opposed to each other. The 0 is right in front of the 00. This type of roulette offers several betting possibilities, some of them exclusive, making it more interesting for some people. The American table diagram is similar to the European version, with the betting options on one side only.

Rules: In American Roulette, a special rule known as Surrender is applied. It works similarly to the La Partage rule used in the French or European version. It allows the player to retrieve part of their outside bet when the ball ends up in the 0 or 00 pocket.

Similarities and differences between types of roulette

As we can see, some differences between the roulettes can go largely unnoticed. However, it is important to know them before starting to play. The most important ones are:

  • The French and European roulette has only one 0 pocket, and the American roulette has a 0 and a 00 pocket. This minimal difference changes the probability of winning for the player. With a single zero, the chance of winning would be 97.30%, but if we add the double zero, it would be only 94.74%.
  • The text on the French roulette table is generally written in French. Depending on the country you are in, European and American roulette will display the text in English.
  • The betting area always extends to both sides of the central square in French roulette. In European roulette, it can vary and extend to one or both sides as well. However, in American roulette, it is always on the left side of the grid.

Are there any winning strategies?

There are many sites with strategies that promise big profits, but the truth is that no method works all the time. Given a large number of existing methods, these have been classified into progressive and non-progressive systems

  • In the progressive systems group, the strategies are based on increasing the amount of money you will bet after each turn. Some establish this rule after each win and others after each loss. In other words, it’s about playing roulette with increasing bets. (the most famous strategy of this category is called Martingale).
  • Non-progressive systems comprise methods with fixed bets on certain numerical structures. They are mainly based on statistics that try to predict the outcome based on the numbers that have already won.

Are online roulettes rigged?

Being able to tell whether or not an online roulette is rigged is really difficult. However, it’s no secret that bookmakers seek to tip the balance in their favor.

As in slot games, roulettes can be programmed to throw out a certain prize from time to time; however, the time lapse between one prize and another will be determined by the house. However, it’s important to remember that online casinos are under the supervision of certain organizations, and finally, the most important thing is that you should only make bets in recognized casinos. That way, you won’t be swindled out of your money through fraudulent games.