There are various layouts you will see in roulette. We explain the difference.
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When you are playing roulette, you have two choices on the type of wheel to play on. You can either spin an American Roulette wheel that has two zero pockets, or you can play on a European Roulette wheel that has one zero pocket (check out the basic European Roulette at Playtech which is a no frills version of this game).
The distribution of the numbers on the wheel is also different, as you can see on the images below, and some bets are unique to one variant over another.
The wheel consists of 36 roulette numbers and either one or two zero pockets.
In addition to this, you’ll also see plenty of other variations online, but most are variations on a European roulette wheel, such as 3 Wheel Roulette, French Roulette (uses a European wheel but plays La Partage Rule) and Double Bonus Spin Roulette, for example.
It is important to understand that there are these two basic wheel setups, because it affects the odds that you’ll get when you play. Any additional side bets with an extra well in the wheel will affect the odds, much like the extra zero. The house edge will increase.
The house edge in American Roulette is higher than it is in European Roulette, which means that the odds of you winning are lower.
One of the most important roulette tips you should remember is the following: where you can, always play European Roulette. It just doesn’t make sense to play on a table with lower odds.
The house edge in European Roulette is 2.6%. This goes up to 5.2% if you play on an American Wheel (it goes even higher if you play the 5 Number Bet).
You can reduce this to 1.3% by playing on a French Roulette wheel that plays “La Partage Rule“, where you get half your bet back if the ball drops into the zero pocket on an even-money bet like red or black.
This is similar to the “En Prison” rule (which we haven’t seen offered online). Both rules drop the house edge by the same amount on even money bets.
If you have the choice of a European and an American Wheel, play on the European Wheel!
If you are playing European or American Roulette, the table layouts will be similar. The key difference is that there are 2 zero spaces to lay your chips on in the American version, the 0 and the 00 at the end of the columns. If you are really keen on zero betting, you can also lay a split bet across 0 and 00. If you place your chip on the intersection between 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 then that is a % Number Bet. We wouldn’t advise making this bet though – it has the worst odds in roulette!
American Table Layout
European Table Layout
On a European table, the betting layout only has one zero of course. You can lay a bet on the intersection of the 0, 1, 2 and 3 (the Four Number Bet). The odds on this bet are fine.
French Table Layout
When you get to French Roulette, the table layout looks quite a bit different. It’s not really, it’s very similar to a European table.
The dozens bets are tucked to the right of the black bet. Other than that, the layout is almost the same except the bets are in French of course.
