There’s no doubt it – roulette is definitely one of the best, most popular and, overall, most intriguing casino games out there. It regularly dominates physical casinos across Europe, and while online slots will always be number one, roulette will always have a major place in all online casinos. Live roulette, in particular, has been enjoying tremendous success recently due to how well-made and exciting the game is. But if you’ve played live roulette or, hell, any type of roulette in an online casino, you might have noticed something rather peculiar about it – there are three distinct versions of roulette, namely European Roulette (also known as just Roulette in the UK, because, well, the UK is more or less part of Europe), American Roulette and French Roulette. An ordinary player may not be aware of the differences, not even after playing the game, so allow me to set the record straight.

First of all, it’s important to note that the versions aren’t really all that different. The odds are exactly the same, so if you’ve recently had roulette odds explained, then that knowledge will not go to waste. No, the difference is very small, almost insignificant, but over hundreds of spins it makes up and eventually can mean the difference between success and failure. The secret lies in the small, green zero that most people don’t even pay any attention to. The normal version of roulette, also known as European, has one zero. What people don’t know is that this zero represents the house edge. When playing roulette, a lot of people prefer to bet on red or black, as one is guaranteed to win, but since the zero is green, and as such is neither red nor black (in case you’re colorblind or a dog), so the house ends pocketing the bets.

As such, the Americans have decided to play smart and increase their house edge by adding a second zero. As you’ve guessed, this actually doubles the house edge, which in turns means that the player is screwed. In English, what I’m trying to say is that if you have the choice between American and European roulette, you should absolutely pick European, since your chance to win is bigger. Not that much bigger, but bigger nonetheless. But what if I told you that there’s an even better version? French Roulette also has only one zero, which puts it on equal grounds with European Roulette. Except if the ball lands on 0 and you lose because of that, in French roulette you can have half of your bet back, which, honestly, is a pretty nice deal – you’d still be losing, but you’d be losing a lot less. Bottom line: If you have a choice between American, French and European roulette, French is definitely the way to go!