American Roulette remains a staple at both land-based and regulated online casinos in the US, with players enjoying both live dealer and digital versions across mobile platforms.
Players tend to enjoy the simplicity of winning based on how the ball falls upon the spinning wheel. Plus, a roulette wheel is a pretty common symbol for casino games. Familiarity always breeds popularity.
The game is fairly simple. Still, there are a few nuances to understand that will make you a more effective player. So in this guide, we’ll explain how to play American roulette, discussing its bets and odds. We will also show you where you can play online.
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What is American roulette?
American roulette features a wheel that has 38 pockets on it, with red and black numbers 1–36, a zero, and a double zero.
The game’s goal is to predict where a small white ball that spins along the wheel’s edges will land and place bets accordingly.
The bets are divided into two categories — inside and outside bets. The former are the wagers you place within the main number grid. You can put some chips on single numbers, split the chips across the grid on multiple numbers, or bet on number groups consisting of two to six numbers. The odds for getting inside bets right are longer, hence the bigger payouts.
On the other hand, the outside bets are simple, more generic wagers you place on red or black, high or low number categories, and even larger groups of numbers. These outside bets offer better odds, but the payouts are smaller, between 1:1 and 2:1 at best.
The difference between American roulette and European roulette is an extra number space, which contains the double zero. The addition of the double zero (00) increases the house edge, making it a riskier choice compared to its European counterpart. With a house edge of 5.26%, American Roulette has an RTP of approximately 94.74%, significantly lower than European Roulette’s 97.3%.
If you’re looking for longer playing time or better odds, European Roulette may be the smarter choice, though American remains the standard in US casinos.
American roulette strategy
American roulette is a game that is almost exclusively based on luck. There’s no uniform approach that could guarantee victory. The closest you can come is using one of the positive and negative progression betting strategies. The most common systems are the following:
Note that these systems can put a lot of pressure on your bankroll since they require you to double your losing bets or increase your losing bets until you win. However, they can give you a sense of control over the situation if the game seems to be too overwhelming.
The other way to ensure your best performance at the roulette wheel is to must leverage different bets and understand their odds and payouts. There are more than twenty different bets you can place in American roulette in addition to the straight bet. The next section will lay all that out.
How do American roulette payouts work?
Although the odds and payouts vary on American roulette, the house edge rarely changes. Over time, your results are statistically likely to be the same.
The following table will give you a full overview of American roulette odds and payouts for each bet, so you can determine which ones are the best in terms of probability.
Wager Odds Payout House edge
Straight bet 2.63% 35:1 5.26%
Split bet 5.3% 17:1 5.26%
Street bet 7.9% 11:1 5.26%
Corner bet 10.5% 8:1 5.26%
Six-line bet 15.8% 5:1 5.26%
Dozen 31.6% 2:1 5.26%
Column 31.6% 2:1 5.26%
Even bets 47.4% 1:1 5.26%
Five-number bet 13.2% 6:1 7.89%
As you can see, pretty much any bet you make should, over time, yield similar results. If you had $1oo to wager, you should, on average, be able to make the same kind of bet over and over again and walk away with just under $95. However, some bets are going to pay out smaller amounts far more often (like a bet on evens). Other bets (like a bet on a single number) will pay out less often but will give bigger wins when they do.
That’s why our biggest piece of advice would simply be to walk away when you are up. You are far more likely to drop back down than to keep going up, unfortunately.
The only bet we would recommend avoiding is the five-number or basket bet, which consists of 0, 00, 1, 2, and 3. It has a rather nasty house edge of 7.89%, which is worse than any other wager on the board.
Read our page about roulette strategy to learn more.
Where can I play American roulette online?
Here are the options available to you to play American roulette.
Online Casinos
Players physically located in the following states can sign up and play at real money online casinos such as BetMGM Casino, Caesars Palace, DraftKings Casino, and FanDuel Casino.
- Connecticut online casinos
- Delaware online casinos
- Michigan online casinos
- New Jersey online casinos
- Pennsylvania online casinos
- West Virginia online casinos
You can usually play American roulette in a computer simulation at these online casinos. However, most players prefer live dealer roulette, which is usually available at online casinos as well.
Sweepstakes and Social Casinos
Sweepstakes casinos and social casinos are available at most states in the US. Most of these sites allow you to redeem winnings for cash prizes. Only around half offer roulette games, but those that do have similar options to the American roulette games you would find at online casinos.
Free American roulette
At PlayUSA.com we offer the ability to play free roulette variants such as American. This requires no sign up or download. Just pick the game you want to play and enjoy.
