American Roulette

What Is American Roulette?

American roulette is the version you'll see across casinos in the US, Canada, and most of South America. The giveaway is the green 00 sitting opposite the single 0 on the wheel, 38 pockets total instead of the European 37.

One extra pocket sounds harmless. It isn't. The house edge nearly doubles: 2.70% on European, 5.26% on American. Payouts don't change. You just hit less often. Same bet, worse odds.

Why play it then? Because if you walk into a casino in Vegas or Atlantic City, this is what's on the floor. American roulette also has the top line bet, a 0/00/1/2/3 combo that doesn't exist on a European wheel. The simulator below is the full thing: 38 pockets, real wheel layout, no money on the line.

How to Play American Roulette

Same flow as any roulette variant. Drop chips on the betting grid, hit Spin, watch the ball drop. You can bet a single number, a colour, odd/even, or a column. Pile up as many bets as you want before each spin. The grid mirrors a European table except for one extra row at the top: the 00.

When the ball lands, winners are paid out and losing chips clear. The next round opens straight away.

Both 0 and 00 act as house numbers. You can stake either alone, split between them, or rope them into a top line bet alongside 1, 2, and 3.

American Roulette Bet Types

The same betting menu as European, plus one US-only extra:

Inside Bets: Straight up (35:1), split (17:1), street (11:1), corner (8:1), six line (5:1). Tighter targets, bigger payouts, longer waits between hits.

Outside Bets: Red/black, odd/even, high/low (all 1:1), dozens and columns (2:1). These cover roughly half the wheel and hit close to half your spins.

Top Line / Basket Bet (6:1): The American-only bet. Covers 0, 00, 1, 2, and 3. Pays 6:1, sounds reasonable until you do the math: 7.89% house edge, the worst single bet on the table. Skip it.

The American Roulette Wheel Layout

38 pockets on the wheel: numbers 1 through 36 in alternating red and black, plus a green 0 and a green 00. The number order is nothing like the European arrangement. The 0 and 00 sit directly across from each other, and the rest of the numbers are spread to keep high/low and odd/even balanced on each half.

The full sequence: 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. If you've put in time on a European wheel, expect the order to look wrong for a while.

American Roulette Payouts and House Edge

Payouts mirror European exactly. Straight up pays 35:1, splits pay 17:1, even-money bets pay 1:1. Same numbers, but you're hitting them less often, because there are 38 pockets instead of 37. The payout math was designed for a 36-number wheel, and the 5.26% house edge is what falls out when there are actually 38.

Practically: stake 100 coins on American roulette over a long enough run and you'll see about 94.74 come back. On European, that'd be 97.30. A few percent doesn't sound like much on a single spin. Across hundreds of them, it's the difference between leaving with chips and leaving without.

The top line is the one bet that breaks the pattern. Cover 0, 00, 1, 2, and 3 at 6:1 and the house edge swells to 7.89%, the only bet on either wheel where the math is uglier than the standard.

American vs European Roulette: The Honest Comparison

If odds are all that matters, European is the obvious pick. 2.70% vs 5.26% house edge isn't close. Run 1,000 spins at 100 coins per bet: you'd lose roughly 2,700 on European and 5,260 on American. Almost double.

American still earns its keep in two situations. One: you're heading to a US casino and want to practise on the wheel you'll actually find there. Two: you're curious about the top line. Both fair reasons, as long as you go in with the math in mind.

Try them side by side on the simulator. Switch over to our European roulette simulator to feel the difference.

Strategies for American Roulette

Every standard system carries over: Martingale, D'Alembert, Fibonacci, Labouchere, James Bond. None of them move the math; they just shape how your bankroll bleeds. Expected results shift slightly worse on American because you're starting from a higher house edge.

If you take one strategy idea away from this page, make it this: don't bet the top line. At 7.89% it's a meaningful step worse than every other bet on the table. After that, the usual rules. Set a budget, walk when it's gone, don't chase. Our full strategy guide has the rest.

Why Play on Our Simulator?

Every spin runs through a cryptographically secure random number generator, server-side, so results can't be predicted or gamed. Each account picks up 1,000,000 free coins a day. No deposit, ever.

Plays in any browser on desktop, tablet, or phone. Nothing to install. Once you find your feet on the solo wheel, multiplayer tables and tournaments are one click away.

Play Responsibly

Virtual coins only. No real money goes in or comes out. If you ever take this to a real-money table, set a budget before you sit down and treat it as the price of an evening's entertainment.

Frequently Asked Questions