Deciding the House Edge in Roulette

Everyone would like to set their own odds when playing casino games. Most casino players understand that the House edge is what costs them money when they play at the casino.

Whatever that edge is defines how much they can expect to make over the time that you play. If a game has a 10 percent House edge, you can expect the House to win an average of ten cents out of every dollar you play. Naturally, the lower the House's edge the better.

Deciding the House Edge

The only way to decide the House's edge is to play games with the most player-favorable rules possible and to play the strategy most likely to limit the House advantage. Almost any game allows the ability to do this, including games you would not expect, such as roulette.

The House Edge in Roulette

Despite what some may think, you cannot affect the edge in roulette by employing a certain betting system or by playing a certain type of bet or array of numbers. Controlling the edge in roulette depends on the composition of the wheel.

In a normal American roulette layout, there are numbered spaces from 1 to 36, plus a zero and a double zero. If you hit a number, receive a payout at 35-to-1, since there are 35 numbers for the ball to land on other than the one you picked.

However, this calculation does not figure in the zero and double zero, and this is where the House gets its edge. You get paid 35-to-1, but the odds are really 37-to-1 against.

Deciding the House Edge in Roulette

How does this knowledge help you decide the edge? You can decide to play on a European roulette wheel that only has a single zero. On these tables, your true odds are 36-to-1 for a 35-to-1 payout. It may not seem like much, but it is.

On the American roulette wheel the edge is about 5.26 percent. Cutting the number of zeroes in half cuts the House edge nearly in half, to around 2.7 percent for the European wheel.

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