The roulette game has been evolving into different variants for more than three hundred years. Today, the main variants you will see in casinos are European, American, and French roulette. Players may consider triple zero roulette as another variant. Across all the variants, roulette-winning strategies are closely the same. The main concept of the game is to correctly predict where the ball will rest after the wheel stops. Despite the simple concept, it is necessary to know how American and French roulette differs.
Differences in design
The major notable difference is in the design of the game. American roulette features a zero (0) and zero, zero (00). French roulette features only one zero (0). The difference in zeros has an impact on how each roulette wheel spins and where the odds of landing are. There are other key differences you will notice in both variants.
Number layout
The number layout on the French roulette wheel starts from 1 up to 36. The wheel revolves clockwise and starts at zero. The number sequence has no relationship with their arithmetic values. Nevertheless, the wheel has a systematic pattern where black alternates with red. The low-value numbers 1-18 and the high-value numbers 19-36 are usually placed next to each other.
Odd and even numbers are distributed evenly across the wheel. When you download an online casino app to play roulette, you will notice these features do not change whether you are playing online or at a traditional roulette table. It does not matter whether you are playing American or French roulette.
There is a slight difference in the American roulette number layout. They start from 1 to 36 but include zero and zero, zero pockets. Number patterns are also different with one sequence starting with zero and the other with zero, zero. The high and low numbers are located in adjacent pockets.
Table arrangement
If you are focused on finding the right casino to play roulette, you might want to understand the table arrangement in each. The arrangement for both variants is standard, but the main difference you will notice is language. The betting names or phrases on the American roulette table will likely be in English, while the French roulette table will be in French.
Playing rules
Throughout the history of roulette, playing rules kept changing until recently, when modern roulette was developed using the latest technologies. French roulette applies two rules: La Partage and En Prison. The first means to divide where you lose half of your bet if you don’t win in a session. The latter means the prison where your bet is ‘imprisoned’ if you lose, and you cannot withdraw, bet again, or change your bet.
Since it has two pockets of zeros, American roulette has a higher house edge of 5.3%, unlike French, which has 2.7%. In American roulette, players make bets either on single numbers, rows, or adjacent numbers. A player may also bet on colors, odd numbers, even numbers, or even 0/00.
