American Roulette
American roulette is the double-zero wheel: 38 pockets, 1 to 36 plus a green 0 and a green 00. Everything else — the layout, the bets, the payouts — is the European game unchanged, which is exactly the problem.
Adding a pocket without changing a payout takes the house edge from 2.70% to 5.26%. It is the same game costing nearly twice as much, and nothing about the extra pocket gives the player anything back.
The Same Bets, Priced on 38 Pockets
Worked from the wheel: the chance is the pockets a bet covers divided by 38, and the edge is what the payout leaves behind. Every bet lands on 5.26% — except the last one.
The Five-Number Bet, and Why Not To
The five-number bet covers 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 for 6 to 1. It exists only on this wheel, because only this wheel has both zeros, and at 7.89% it is the worst bet in roulette — roughly half again as expensive as everything else on the same felt.
The five-number bet (0-00-1-2-3) is worse still, at 7.89%. There is no situation in which it is the right bet; the same five numbers can be covered more cheaply as separate bets.
American Roulette Games
American Roulette: Pros and Cons
Select an option to sort the items by category or impact.
Advantages
Familiar layout
The double-zero wheel is the one on a US casino floor, and the racetrack and call bets work the same way as on any other table.
Widely offered
It is easy to find, including at live tables, so it is rarely a question of availability.
Disadvantages
Nearly twice the price
The same 35 to 1 payout on 38 pockets instead of 37 puts the table at 5.26%. One extra pocket, and it is the single most expensive choice at a roulette table.
No French rules
La partage and en prison do not appear on double-zero tables, so there is nothing to claw the extra pocket back.
The five-number bet
0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 on one chip pays 6 to 1 and costs 7.89% — the only bet on either wheel priced worse than the rest of its own layout.
Impact Analysis
American Roulette FAQs
History rather than design: the double-zero layout is the older one, and it survived in the United States while single-zero wheels became standard in Europe. For the player the consequence is simple — an extra pocket with no extra payout, which takes the house edge from 2.70% to 5.26%.
Only when it is the wheel on offer. It costs nearly twice what the single-zero game costs and plays identically, so any table listing both makes the choice for you. Playing it free costs nothing either way.