American Roulette

American Roulette is a form of roulette that is played in many casinos across the US. The game is very similar to the game of European roulette, with one simple difference. The American roulette game gives the house and added advantage, which is why many people prefer the European game; however this form of the game can be just as enjoyable.
American Roulette is played on a wheel that contains 38 pockets as opposed to the 37 pocket wheel that is offered by the European roulette game. There is a third major variation called French roulette, but the difference between this and the other two is a quite big. Almost everything about the European game and the American game is the same, except for the difference in the number of pockets on the wheel.

Playing American Roulette

The American game uses a wheel similar to that used in the European version, with the slanting path for the ball and the slotted inner section. The presence of the 00 pocket in the American version means that this wheel has 38 numbered slots. In American Roulette, each of the numbers, with the exception of the 0 and 00 are colored either red or black. The first 10 numbers and the numbers from 19 up to 28 are similar in that the odd numbers are colored red and the even numbers are colored black. In the remainder of the wheel, the red numbers are even and the black numbers are odd.
The number sequence on the wheel is also different in the American version of the game.

The sequence followed is 0 – 28 – 9 – 26 – 30 – 11 – 7 – 20 – 32 – 17 – 5 – 22 – 34 – 15 – 3 – 24 – 36 – 13 – 1 – 00 – 27 – 10 – 25 – 29 – 12 – 8 – 19 – 31 – 18 – 6 – 21 – 33 – 16 – 4 – 23 – 35 – 14 – 2

Payouts for Various Bets in American Roulette

The betting odds of an inside bet are much lower than that of the outside bets. If a player makes a straight bet, the payout is 35:1, when there is a split; the payout is reduced to 17:1. Bets with four numbers or corner bets pay out 8 to one, while those with three numbers (either row bets or trios) have a payout of 11 to 1. Finally, inside bets with the first five numbers (0, 00, 1, 2 and 3) have a payout of 6 to 1 and the two street bets pay 5 to 1.

In the case of outside bets, the highest payout is for either the dozen bet or the column bets. Both these bets are on a set of 12 numbers, and their payout is double the original bet. All other outside bets, like the even/odd, red/black or the hi/low (1-18 or 19-36) are even money bets, which means the payout is 1:1.