In our last post we talked about the house edge that comes with casino games and how the house edge is particularly low with games like poker. One of the most exciting casino games that you can play is roulette but unfortunately it has one of the highest house edges that you will find in a casino game.
For the American version of the game the house edge stands at 5.26% and the European game stands at 2.7%. If you go to Las Vegas you will be pushed to find a game that isn’t the American version so you will always be playing against a 5.26% house advantage. This is understandable really, after all, you’re in America so why would you expect to find a European game?
If you’re to have a go at online roulette then you will find plenty of variety in the games on offer. Obviously you get the American and European games as discussed above but you also get other variations such as French, Mini, Royale and Live roulette to name just a few of them.
Even if you play at a USA casino and you’re in the USA, you still get a variety of games to choose from so in this respect, online roulette is a more appealing option because you get a wider variety of games to choose from.
The game that has the best odds is French roulette because it has slightly tweaked rules compared to the European game. They both have just one green slot (zero) and with the European game, you lose all bets when the zero hits unless of course you’ve bet on it. With the French game you get half of your losing even chance bets back when the zero hits so your losses aren’t as sever.
Compare this to the American game, there are two green slots (0 and 00) and you get nothing when they hit so it really doesn’t make sense to play the American game if you have access to one of the other games.
However we should point out that if you’re on vacation in Las Vegas then you’re maybe more focussed on having a good time than you are in the odds of the game. There’s no question that sitting at a real wheel in Las Vegas is more exciting than sitting in your home playing online so in this respect it may be worth playing at a game that gives you worse odds.