It’s hard not to love the excitement of a game of roulette and – if you are anything like me – you spend hours playing the game when visiting the casinos. After quite a few months of roulette, I was surprised to discover that there is a difference between the roulette that is played in the United States and the roulette that is played elsewhere in the world – a game that is known as European roulette.

Apparently, European roulette was the original game before it found its way to the United States. The main difference between European and American roulette is that the former has only one zero (instead of the double zero found on an American roulette wheel), besides the traditional numbers 1 through to 36. If you stop to think about it, the fact that there is one less number on the wheel means that the house edge in this form of roulette is significantly lower. In fact, I found that it was about half the house edge for American roulette.

It makes a lot of sense, then, to stick to European (sometimes known as English) roulette when visiting the casinos. The problem is that most U.S. casinos don’t offer this game as an option. Thankfully, I’ve discovered that I find this gaming option on the internet at several online casinos.

Another thing that typifies European roulette is the fact it only uses one color chip, in comparison to the Americans that use a variety of colored chips. Also, in European casinos, you will find that the croupier (dealer) uses a rake to call in the chips on the table, while their American counterparts use hands.

There are no other fundamental differences between the two types of roulette and so – if you have the option between European and American roulette – I strongly suggest going for the European version, simply due to the low odds.