For hundreds of years, the image of a roulette wheel has signified casino gambling glamor and sophistication. Films that want to illustrate a casino scene often feature the roulette table where players can combine luck and betting savvy to enjoy interactive high-energy competition and real money payouts.
Roulette is also featured at the online casino where you can play at your leisure on your PC or mobile device and add casino bonus give-aways to your gaming event. The online casino offers an additional advantage that you won't find at many land-based casino venues – a choice of playing one of two online gambling real money no deposit roulette variations -- American or European roulette.
Which roulette alternative should you choose? There are pros and cons to both types of roulette. Grande Vegas breaks it down for you so that you can choose the version of roulette that best meets your individual gaming preferences.
Roulette
Both American and European roulette derive from the work of French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal who wanted to develop a perpetual motion machine in the 17th century. The wheel that he developed didn't fulfill his vision but it did serve as the foundation for a game that the French called roulette – little wheel.
Europe's gambling houses discovered that the Pascal device could be adapted for gambling purposes and by the late 18th century it had become a staple of the gambling houses that were springing up along the Riviera. The game's popularity surged, much to the dismay of more conservative elements in the French government which succeeded in having it banned in the 1800s.
The game was quickly picked up in Germany where a new variation was added – a single zero roulette wheel which was offered alongside the double-zero wheel. The double-zero wheel became known as the "American roulette wheel" while the traditional single-zero wheel became known as the European roulette wheel.
Roulette became the premier gambling game at the new casinos that were built along the French Riviera. It was favored by European royalty and members of high society, making it the casino game most associated with elegance and wealth. European casinos tended to offer the single-zero wheel but American gambling houses promoted the double-zero wheel which they called "American Roulette" in order to promote it to American audiences.
American and European Roulette
Other than the extra double-zero pocket that's featured in American roulette wheels, there are no other differences between the two versions. The game is played the same with both the single-zero and double-zero variations – the player predicts the pocket into which a tossed ball in the roulette wheel and bets on his/her prediction.
The ball is then tossed into the spinning roulette wheel. There are a possible 37 pockets into which the ball can land in a European wheel and 38 pockets into which the ball can land in an American roulette wheel. (36 colored/numbered pockets plus a zero pocket in the European wheel and a zero pocket AND a double zero pocket in the American wheel).
Bets can be placed on predictions of the color of the pocket where the ball will land, the number of the pocket into which the ball will land, whether the ball will land in an odd-numbered pocket or an even-numbered pocket and various groups of numbers.
Which Roulette is Better?
Should you play European roulette or American roulette? It's important to remember that both versions deliver the same level of payouts for the same bets. Your odds are better if you play European roulette.
However, while there are no real strategic advantages to playing American roulette, some gamers prefer American roulette because they see it as a "pure" gambling experience that delivers a higher risk and higher volatility than the European wheel. They find that the higher house edge simply adds to the thrill of the gaming event.
In the end, it's up to each gamer to decide which variation suits his or her individual gaming preferences.
Roulette Tips
Once you've decided on your preferred roulette variation, you can check out some other roulette tips that will help you get the most out of your gaming experience.
- Stick to outside bets. Outside bets are bets that are placed on large groups of pockets – odds/evens, black/white, high/low. Inside bets are those that are placed on individual pockets or small groups of numbers. Outside bets offer a nearly 50/50 chance of winning and pay out at even money while inside bets, while delivering massive payouts, give you low odds of hitting. The payouts for winning outside bets are smaller than those of winning inside bets but betting on outside bets allows you to keep your bankroll going longer.
- Stay away from betting systems. Betting systems (Martingale, D'Alembert, Fibonacci) which promote the idea that, by basing your bets on previous results, you can increase your odds of hitting, are fallacies. That's because each spin of the roulette wheel is an independent event – previous results have no impact on future results. Using such systems is unsustainable in the long run – the house edge cannot be defeated by a betting system.
Play smart and you'll be able to maximize your roulette adventure!
