The House Edge
The roulette odds here are 20 to 18 –or 10 to 9- while playing on double-zero wheels while the odds will be 19 to 18 when playing on the European single-zero wheels. Of importance to note is that the American wheel shorts a player two units since the payout on winning bets is one-to-one. European roulette has a 2.70% house edge, while French roulette has a 1.35% house advantage. Both games are better than American roulette, which offers a 5.26% house edge. You obviously want to play European or French roulette if they’re available because they give you a better chance to win.
The most classic bet in roulette is the red or black bet. This means that you can bet on on of the colors, let’s say red, and if the ball stops on any of the red numbers you win, and any other color will lose. The roulette odds is seemingly 50-50 for both of the outcomes, and the bet payout would be 1:1, you get double your money back. However, when you look closer at the roulette odds table, you see that while the payout is 1:1, the probability of winning the bet is only 48.6%, where did the other 1.4% go?
American Roulette Odds Calculator
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This is what is called the “House Edge”, the casinos fee for running the game, employing dealers and entertaining guests that aren’t gambling at the moment, and it exists because of the green zero on the roulette wheel. You see, since we don’t include the zero in the calculation of payouts, the will always be a small difference in the roulette odds and the roulette payouts. In the case of the red or black bet, the payout on either outcome is 1:1, but the different chances on the respective outcomes are 48.65% for landing on a red number, 48.65% for landing on a black number and 2.70% for landing on the green zero. The roulette house edge is therefore 2.70%