European, American and French Roulette: What Actually Changes Between Them, in Pounds and Percentages

European, American and French roulette all use a spinning wheel and a ball, but they don't cost the same to play. The wheel itself changes the house edge between European and American versions, and French roulette adds extra betting options on top of the same wheel European tables use. Here's exactly what changes, and what each version actually costs per pound staked.

The Three Variants at a Glance

Last verified: 11 September 2026

VariantWheelStandard house edgeWhat's different
EuropeanSingle zero, 37 pockets2.70%The baseline game most online roulette is built from
AmericanDouble zero, 38 pockets5.26%An extra zero pocket, plus a Top Line bet
FrenchSingle zero, 37 pockets2.70% (or 1.35% on even-money bets, where offered)A racetrack betting area for extra bets, and sometimes a rule cutting the edge on even-money bets in half

American Roulette: The Extra Zero, and the Top Line Bet

American roulette adds a second zero pocket, 00, bringing the wheel to 38 total pockets rather than European roulette's 37. That extra pocket is the entire source of the higher house edge: standard bets on an American wheel carry a 5.26% house edge, nearly double the European wheel's 2.70%, because payouts stay priced as though there were only 36 non-zero numbers while the wheel now carries two zeros instead of one.

American tables also offer a Top Line bet, covering the five numbers 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 in a single wager, paying 6 to 1. This specific bet carries a 7.89% house edge, worse than every other bet on the American wheel, since its five-number spread doesn't divide evenly the way every other inside bet does.

Worked example: stake £10 on Red at an American wheel. Win, and you get £10 profit, £20 back total. Lose, and the £10 is gone. Across many repeated £10 bets at the 5.26% edge, the expected average loss works out to around 53p per bet, roughly double the 27p average loss the identical £10 Red bet would produce on a European wheel.

European Roulette: The Baseline Single-Zero Game

European roulette is the 37-pocket, single-zero game every other variant on this page gets compared against. Every standard bet on a European wheel, straight-up numbers, splits, dozens, columns, and the even-money bets, carries the same 2.70% house edge, since the single green zero is the only pocket giving the house its advantage, and it sits outside every bet category equally.

Worked example: stake £20 on Black at a European wheel. Win, and you get £20 profit, £40 back total. Across many repeated £20 bets, the 2.70% edge produces an expected average loss of about 54p per bet.

French Roulette: Same Wheel, Extra Betting Options

French roulette runs the identical single-zero, 37-pocket wheel as European roulette, so a standard inside or outside bet carries the same baseline 2.70% edge on both. What French roulette adds is a "racetrack," an oval betting area laid out to mirror the wheel's actual physical number order, offering four specific grouped bets known as announced or call bets.

Last verified: 11 September 2026

Call betNumbers coveredHow many numbers
Voisins du Zero0, 2, 3, 4, 7, 12, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 3517
Tiers du Cylindre5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33, 3612
Orphelins1, 6, 9, 14, 17, 20, 31, 348
Jeu Zero0, 3, 12, 15, 26, 32, 357 (a tighter cluster around zero, overlapping Voisins)

These four groupings are built from each number's physical position on the wheel rather than its position on the standard betting grid, which is why Voisins du Zero, Tiers du Cylindre and Orphelins between them cover every one of the wheel's 37 numbers exactly once. Each call bet is actually a bundle of several smaller individual bets, split and straight-up wagers placed on the covered numbers, rather than one single bet type with its own payout odds, so its overall cost still reduces to the same 2.70% edge underneath, spread across several individual stakes at once.

The La Partage Question: Does French Roulette Always Include It?

A rule called La Partage, returning half the stake on a losing even-money bet when zero hits, is commonly associated with French roulette, and where it's offered it cuts the even-money house edge from 2.70% down to 1.35%. It is not, however, guaranteed by the name alone: a table labelled "French roulette" describes the wheel and the racetrack layout, not automatically a specific house rule about zero outcomes. Some operators offer La Partage or the closely related En Prison rule as standard on their French roulette tables, and others don't, calling the game French roulette purely for its racetrack layout.

Worked example: £10 on Red across 20 spins at a French roulette table without La Partage costs an expected £5.40 (£10 x 20 x 2.70%). The identical bet at a table where La Partage is confirmed active costs an expected £2.70, exactly half. Checking a specific table's own rules panel for the words "La Partage" or "En Prison," rather than assuming either way from the name French roulette alone, is the only way to know which figure actually applies.

Myth: Betting the Racetrack Beats Betting the Grid

Placing a call bet through the racetrack feels like a different, perhaps cleverer way to bet compared with placing individual chips on the grid, since it covers an oddly specific cluster of numbers rather than a clean row or column. It isn't a better bet in expected value terms: a call bet is a bundle of ordinary straight-up and split bets underneath, each one carrying the same 2.70% edge any other straight-up or split bet on a European or French wheel carries. The racetrack is a faster way to place several specific bets at once, not a way around the wheel's built-in edge.

Reading a Table Before You Sit Down

Checking three things before playing roulette tells you exactly what a session will cost on average: whether the wheel has one zero or two, since that alone roughly doubles the edge on American wheels; whether a racetrack layout is present, which only changes how bets are placed rather than what they cost; and whether La Partage or En Prison is confirmed active on the table's own rules panel, since that's the one factor genuinely capable of halving the edge on even-money bets specifically.

Responsible Gambling

None of the differences between these three variants changes the fact that every bet on every version carries a built-in house edge, and no betting pattern or previous spin's result changes the odds on the next one. Confirm any operator holds a UK Gambling Commission licence before playing, and GAMSTOP offers free self-exclusion across every licensed UK operator, with BeGambleAware providing confidential support for anyone who wants it.

Popular posts from this blog

Every Roulette and Baccarat Bet Explained: What Each One Pays and What It Actually Costs You

A roulette table has more than a dozen different bets on its felt, and a baccarat table has three, but both share the same trap: the bet that pays the most is rarely the one with the best odds. Here's what every common bet on each game actually pays, and what the house edge costs you on top of that payout. Roulette Inside Bets: Payout and House Edge Inside bets sit on the numbered grid itself. All of these figures assume European (single-zero) roulette, since the house edge on American double-zero wheels is roughly double across every bet on this table. Bet Where it sits Payout House edge Straight Up (En Plein) A single number 35 to 1 2.70% Split (À Cheval) Two adjacent numbers 17 to 1 2.70% Street (Transversale) A row of three numbers 11 to 1 2.70% Corner (En Carré) Four numbers meeting at a corner 8 to 1 2.70% Line (Six Line) Two adjacent rows, six numbers 5 to 1 2.70% Every one of these carries the same 2.70% house edge on a single-zero wheel, because the ma...
Read more

Baccarat's Third Card Rule, Hand by Hand: When Player and Banker Draw, With Worked Examples in Pounds

In baccarat you never decide whether to take a third card. A fixed rule decides it for both hands, and the dealer applies it automatically. Player draws on 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7. Banker's decision depends on its own total and, often, on the third card Player drew. That second part is why Banker wins slightly more often. First, How Hands Are Counted Every card has a points value, and only the last digit of the total counts. Card Points Ace 1 2 to 9 Face value 10, Jack, Queen, King 0 So a 7 and an 8 make 15, which counts as 5. A King and a 9 make 9. The highest possible hand is 9, and the lowest is 0, which UK tables sometimes call baccarat. Step 1: Check for a Natural Both hands get two cards. If either Player or Banker has 8 or 9, that's a natural. Both hands stand, no third cards are dealt, and the higher total wins. If both have the same total, it's a tie. Step 2: Player's Rule If there's no natural, Player goes first. Player's two card total W...
Read more