House Edge
High In American Roulette
When it comes to betting their money, roulette
players have options and more options.
On the inside of the table layout, they can bet on any of the
single numbers, split a bet across two numbers, bet three-number
streets,
four-number corners, a five-number combination on 0, 00, 1, 2
and 3 or six-number streets.
On the outside, they can bet red or black, even or odd, high
or low, dozens or columns.
They can make several bets on one spin of the wheel, or stick
to one favorite play.
Which bet is best?
No one in particular. In American double-zero roulette, the house
edge on all bets but one is 5.26 percent. That means for every
$100 we wager, in the long run the casino will keep $5.26.
Let's imagine a perfect series of 38 spins in which the ball
lands once in each number–1 through 36 plus 0 and 00. Let's
say you're
betting $1 on each spin on 29. With 38 spins, you risk a total
of $38. Winning wagers pay 35-1, so on the one spin that the
ball lands on 29, you keep your $1 bet and pick up $35 in winnings.
You lose $1 on each of the other 37 spins.
At the end of 38 spins, you have $36 of the $38 you've risked.
The house has won $2 from you. Divide that $2 by your $38 in
total wagers, and you have the house edge–5.26 percent.
We can try the same thing with any other bet on the wheel.
Let's say you bet $1 on black on each spin. That's an even-money
bet–
when your color comes up, you win $1 for every $1 you wager.
There are 18 black numbers, so on the 18 spins black comes
up, you keep
your $1 wager and win $1. On the other 20 spins, you lose.
At the end of our 38 spins, you have $18 in winnings plus $18
in
wagers
you didn't lose, a total of $36. The house has $2. Divide that
$2 by $38 in total wagers, and you get 0.0526. Multiply by
100 to convert to percent, and you have a house edge of 5.26
percent.
In the real world, there's no such thing as a perfect sequence
in which each number comes up once in 38 tries. Sometimes your
single number is going to come up twice, even three times in
38 spins. Sometimes black will come up 25 times instead of
18. On
those occasions, you'll win. But sometimes your single number
won't come up at all, or black will come up only 11 times.
Then you'll
lose at a rate faster than expected. With millions of customers
and billions of wagers, everything balances out for the casino–the
house wins 5.26 percent of the money wagered.
The only wager on the wheel that does not carry that 5.26 percent
house edge is the five-number bet on 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3, which
pays 6-1. It's worse, with a house edge of 7.89 percent. Any
strategy
at American roulette should start with avoiding the five-number
combination.
In European roulette, with just a single zero, there is no
five-number bet. Instead, a four-number combination of 0, 1,
2 and 3 pays
the same 8-1 as a four-number corner bet.
With only one zero on the wheel, European roulette also has
a house edge only about half that on the American game. Let's
go
back to
our perfect sequence, with each number turning up once. Only
now, there are only 37 numbers in the sequence–1 through 36,
plus a
single 0.
If we bet $1 on black each time, we wager a total of $37. On
each of the 18 black numbers, we keep our $1 wagers plus pick
up $1
in winnings. So at the end of the sequence, we're left with
$36. Divide that by the $37 in total wagers, and you're left
with
a house edge of 2.7 percent.
In Europe, casinos often have a rule called "en prison," which
trims the house edge all the way to 1.35 percent. When the ball
lands on 0, even-money bets such as red or black don't lose. Instead
they're imprisoned for one spin. Let's say you bet on black, and
the spin is 0. Your bet stays on the table. If the next spin is
0 or red, you lose. If it's black, you don't win, but your bet
is returned to you.
With that rule, single-zero roulette has a low enough house
edge that it's one of the better bets in the casino. But in
the United
States, single-zero wheels are not common, and the en prison
rule is not offered. If you want to cut the house edge below
5.26 percent,
you'll usually have to look to other games.
|
