Roulette is a game played everywhere in the world by the gamblers. The game is easy to learn and master. There are no complicated rules in roulette that may confuse one. Also, there are different versions and variations of the game which you can play. The rules and description of the game may change from variation to variation.
With the advent of online casinos, people are getting more exposure to all different kinds of games. Earlier, it was not possible to find all the different versions of the game in one place in the land-based casinos. In this article, we will look at two of the most popular versions of roulette, the American roulette, and the European roulette.
American Roulette
Roulette
In roulette, there will be a rotating wheel, which is called the gambling wheel, with numbered and coloured compartments referred to as pockets. When the game starts, the wheel is subjected to rotation and a ball will be thrown into this wheel.
You have to predict the pocket, let it be the colour or number, that the ball will land on when the wheel stops spinning, that’s the game. You will place your bets based on that, and it will be done before the wheel starts spinning. Once, the wheel is rotated, everyone at the table anxiously waits for it to stop, and looks at the movements of the roulette ball, to know whether they have won the game. This is roulette, in general. Now let us see what the American version of the game is.
American Roulette
The roulette wheel has inner pockets and outer pockets. Betting on inner pockets is considered more risky, however, if you win the bet, the winning amount will be higher. Mostly, it is the high rollers who wish to bet on the inner pockets. Betting on the outer pockets is common. And, it is considered more easy to win, if you bet on the outer pockets.
There are different kinds of bets that you can place in American roulette. You can either bet on a single number, a group of numbers, a colour, a combination or more. The single-number bets are confined to the inner pockets of the roulette wheel. All these bets are placed by different players in the game. A small portion of each of the bets that you place will be gone to the house. However, that is not the sole edge that the house has in roulette.
Among the pockets, there are ones with ‘0’s. There is a single zero pocket – ‘0’ – and a double zero pocket – ‘00’ -, thus making it two zero pockets, both in green colour. The roulette wheel has a total of 38 pockets. These are the pockets with numbers 1 to 36 in red and black colour and the zero pockets.
If the roulette ball lands on any of the zero pockets, then the house wins the game. It means that all the bets placed by all the players go towards the house. Therefore, the players often do not want this to happen.
European Roulette
Now, let us look at the European version of roulette. It is similar to the American one. In the earlier times, the Americans were too familiar with the European version. The American roulette wheel was quite similar to the French wheel.
Definitely, there were some differences. The arrangement of the numbers, the layout of the roulette table, differences in each bet, and playing rules, all these were different in all three versions of this roulette. However, it can be said that they all had some common points which were easy to find out about.
The Americans came across European roulette when it was introduced to them by some of the early European settlers who came into the land of the US. There are many differences between the European and American versions of the game. However, there is this one major difference between them, which makes the players choose one over the other.
We already read that there are 2 zero pockets in the American roulette wheel. It means that, if the roulette wheel lands on any of these 2 pockets, all the bets will go towards the house.
When it comes to the European roulette wheel, there is only one zero pocket, ‘0’. It means that playing the European version of roulette provides the players with more chances of winning the game. It has less house edge. The European roulette has more winning odds for the players in other senses, as well. There is a rule which will take you half of the bet money, even if you lose the bet.
However, you have to make sure whether these special rules are available in the online casinos where you play the game. The rules of the virtual casinos may change from casino to casino. However, the single zero and double zero pockets remain the same for European and American casinos across all the online casinos.
