What is american roulette?
Definition and example from our casino glossary.
Definition
American roulette adds a double zero to the wheel, making 38 pockets and raising the house edge to about 5.26%.
The American wheel has the numbers 1 to 36, a single zero and a double zero. Payouts are identical to the European game, so the extra pocket almost doubles the house edge, from 2.70% to 5.26% (2/38). One bet is worse still: the five-number basket covering 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 pays 6 to 1 and carries a house edge of about 7.89%. La partage and en prison are rarely offered on double-zero tables. American roulette is common in North American land-based casinos and is also offered online, sometimes alongside European tables at the same site. The two games look and play almost identically, which is why the difference is easily overlooked. If both versions are available, the single-zero table roughly halves the expected cost of the same stakes, a meaningful saving with no loss of entertainment.