The American roulette odds are generally acknowledged to be lower compared to the odds in European roulette. That's why one of the basic tips for roulette is to play European roulette rather than American game variant as it is actually more profitable.

American roulette house edge

The presence of a second zero pocket ('00') makes the American roulette house edge higher - about 5.26%. This means that the player gets paid less than his or her true odds claim. As far as the American roulette wheel has a total of 38 different color numbered pockets, the true odds for a straight (single-number) bet are 37 to 1. In fact, the player only gets paid at 35 to 1 for a bet on a certain number.

The American roulette odds are also made lower by the fact that the second zero pocket on the roulette wheel increases the player's chances to lose the bet as far as most bets will lose if the wheel hits any of the two zeros. It is especially crucial as the American roulette rules ignore the highly favorable additional rules of La Partage and En Prison which are to be found in some casinos with European roulette wheels. All this decreases the American roulette odds greatly.

Betting probabilities in American roulette

You may get acquainted with the payouts and probabilities chart for the American roulette bets:

Bets	Payouts	Probabilities, %
Red	1 to 1	46.37%
Black	1 to 1	46.37%
Even	1 to 1	46.37%
Odd	1 to 1	46.37%
Low (1 to 18)	1 to 1	46.37%
High (19 to 36)	1 to 1	46.37%
1st dozen	2 to 1	31.58%
2nd dozen	2 to 1	31.58%
3rd dozen	2 to 1	31.58%
Straight bet (1 number)	35 to 1	2.63%
Split bet (2 numbers)	17 to 1	5.26%
Street bet (3 numbers)	11 to 1	7.89%
Corner bet (4 numbers)	8 to 1	10.53%
Line bet (6 numbers)	5 to 1	15.79%
Five number bet (0-00-1-2-3)	6 to 1	13.16%

How to improve your odds in American roulette

As it was already mentioned, one of the best tips for roulette is to avoid playing American roulette at all. If you still found yourself at an American roulette table, get acquainted with our tips for improving American roulette odds:

• Avoid bets on a single number and the five-number bets on 1, 2, 3, '0' and '00'. These bets actually have the bigger difference between the true odds and actual payouts, e.g. your odds for hitting a single number are 37 to 1 in American roulette, but you are get paid at 35 to 1 only.
• Prefer to make even money outside bets - Red-Black, Odd-Even, High-Low. Even if these bets offer lower payouts - 1 to 1 or even money, you get more chances that the needed number will be eventually hit.