While it’s true that certain online casino games– card games orslot games, for example – attract hardcore devotees who aren’t inclined to give other options a go, it’s equally true that the game of roulette attracts its own army of dedicated patrons.

In fact, more people than ever are engaging in online casino games in the wake of the COVID-19pandemic.It’s likely that many of these are trying – and enjoying– roulette for the first time in their lives. 

However,they have a quandary: not all roulette games are the same. In fact, there’s one major distinction: American rouletteis similar but not identical to European roulette.

If you’re contemplating a spin of the wheel at the best NJ online casino, for example, it’s worth knowing a little about what those differences are. The best online hosts such asResorts Casino have evolved their online presence after decades of experience with brick-and-mortar casinos, and will make the rules of each game clear to newbies. However,there’s nothing like a little preparation before you place a bet on that little white ball dancing over the wheel’s deflectors at the roulette table.

The first thing that most keen-eyed people notice is that the roulette table layouts are subtly (but, as we’ll see, importantly) different for American and European roulette (‘roulette’ is simply the French word for ‘little wheel’).

Both roulette wheels have the familiar circular array of red and blackpockets edged by deflectors for the ball to eventually rest in. However,American wheels have 38 pockets, while European wheels have just 37. That’s because the latter has only one green-colored ‘zero’ pocket, while the American wheel has two: one for zero, 0, and one for ‘double zero’, 00). 

The rest of the numbers (1-36) are distributed in the red or black pockets, though not in the same order between the two types of wheel. That’s a fairly trivial difference, however. It’s the number of zeroes that makes the biggest difference. 

The reason is that two zeroes give the house edge an additional advantage: two zeroes mean a lower chance of winning than one zero. What thisboils down to is that the house edge in American roulette comes in at 5.26%, while the house edge in European roulette is slashed to almost half that at 2.7%.

In other words, with European roulette, there’s a 35to 1chance of the ball finally settling in a numbered pocket. Players get their stake back if the ball lands on the number they’ve bet on.While there’s also a 35to1chance of the ball landing in a numbered pocket in American roulette (because both games feature the numbers 1-36), that extra 00 pocket does diminish the chances of winning.

Although the payouts are pretty much identical for the two versions of the game, there’s no getting away from the obvious conclusion: at a European roulette table, players face significantlybetter odds against a smaller house edge than they would at an American roulette table.

This doesn’t mean that players should never play at an American roulette table. While novices might feel thisodds differential most acutely, seasoned players with well-crafted roulette strategiescan reduce the house edge appreciably.