Is there a more exciting casino table game than roulette?

We're not so sure there is: it can be impossible to beat the sensation of watching that ball spin around the roulette wheel, especially if it closes to a stop near one of your bets. In fact, it was because of the best strategy for roulette that casinos in mainland Europe first started getting so successful, and the same can be said over the Atlantic in the US.

This leads us on to an interesting point when it comes to roulette, and one that beginners probably will not even realise. Oh yes, there are actually two separate types of roulette, American and European. What is the difference? And which one emerges as the best variant? You are going to have to read ahead to find that out.

The history behind European and American roulette

First things first, let's take a brief look at the history behind roulette as a whole, and then its fissure into European and American styles of the game. Blaise Pascal is the man widely credited with giving the impetus for roulette to begin in the first place, as his search for a perpetual motion machine laid the foundations for the modern game of roulette.

The Italians were the first to turn it into a gambling game with Biribi, before it turned into the roulette we know today in France. This was in the 19th Century, and it didn't take long for the game to be taken across the Atlantic to French Louisiana. Understandably it took off in America too, and by this point roulette was a truly global game. Now, at some point the Europeans made a fairly crucial alteration to the game, and this is where the difference between American and European roulette actually comes in...

The difference between European and American roulette

Right then, what was that crucial difference? Well, for one reason or another the Europeans decided to omit one of the zero values on the roulette wheel, meaning that there was now only one zero value. This doubled the odds of a win for gamblers, and therefore proved to be very popular on the continent.

The Americans had other ideas though, perhaps preferring to keep the house edge of having two zero values as opposed to one. In the US casinos kept using a roulette wheel with two zero values, and this is where the difference between European and American roulette was formed.

Which one is best? European or American roulette?

We know the question that is going to be on the tip of everybody's lips - which game is best, European or American roulette? Well, it is widely thought that European roulette is the most attractive proposition, purely because the odds of winning are so much higher than on the American version.

Of course some people like the excitement of playing American roulette, but if you have any common sense about you we would suggest playing European roulette wherever possible.