Roulette Wheel

When it comes to the game of roulette, there’s no more important feature than the roulette wheel. Within this page, we’ll explore the roulette table wheel in more detail, as well as the nuances found on roulette wheels and roulette betting tables that can affect the house edge.

A deeper look at the roulette wheel

The roulette wheel is the integral feature of this classic casino table game. Although most roulette wheels have the same numbered pockets on them, did you know that the sequencing of the numbers differs from game to game?

Although each roulette wheel has the same amount of red and black pockets, the positioning of each number alters depending on whether you play American or European/French roulette: American Roulette number sequencing

The American Roulette wheel has the highest house edge out of all roulette game variants. That’s because it is a double-zero game, with a single zero and a double zero pocket added to the numbers 1-36. This extra pocket almost doubles the house edge of American Roulette from 2.70% to 5.26%.

If you’re wondering how the numbers are sequenced on an American Roulette wheel, you’ll generally find this pattern in a clockwise fashion:

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

European/French Roulette number sequencing

The European and French Roulette wheel has one less number than the American Roulette wheels. It only has a single zero pocket and doesn’t have the double zero pocket. This cuts the house edge of European Roulette and French Roulette to 2.70% and 1.35%, respectively.

Let’s look at the number sequence on a European or French Roulette wheel in clockwise order:

0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34, 6, 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, 33, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26

Some retail casinos in the US are even exploring adding a triple zero pocket. This is bad news for players as this extends the house edge to 7.69% over the long term.

A roulette table comes in many different layouts

The roulette table layout is similar for European and American Roulette variants. Although the number sequencing differs on the wheels, the numbers are still laid out in the same format.

The main difference between a European and American Roulette table layout is that the latter displays ‘RED’ and ‘BLACK’ in words, while the former displays the betting boxes using coloured diamond shapes.

The French Roulette table layout differs somewhat from European and American Roulette tables. The ’19 to 36’ betting box is moved on the opposite side of the table to ‘1 to 18’. It’s similar to the ‘Odd’ and ‘Black’ betting boxes, which are also positioned on the opposite side.

The RTP depends on your bet & roulette table setup

The number of pockets on your roulette wheel determines the game’s overall casino RTP percentage. The house edge, also known as the RTP percentage, is defined by the number of zero pockets on your wheel.

Most online casino sites like Wildz Casino will allow bettors to place five types of ‘Outside Bets’ (Red/Black, Odd/Even, High/Low, Columns and Dozens) and seven types of ‘Inside Bets’ (Straight Up, Split, Street, Corner, Line, Basket and Snake).