My somewhat sketchy understanding of roulette: American Roulette wheels have 38 stops (the little pockets where the ball lands) 1-36 plus Zero and 00. Whereas the rest of the world plays English roulette, where the wheels have only 37 stops, 1-36 plus zero. The 00 stop is absent, as it should be. BTW on a 50/50 black or red bet, the odds are 7.29% in favor of the house when using 00 wheels, but the house edge drops to (2.70%) In casinos using English roulette wheels, having of course no 00. (just going by what I have read, here and there, math wise.)
Anyway my question: When did all this 00 crap start and why did it catch on only in American casinos. Also what American casinos, if any, play sans the 00?
And why is it called English roulette? Isn’t roulette a French word.
P.S. I found this on the web (see below) but I would rather visit Nevada than New Jersey.
“Atlantic City. The surrender rule applies to even money bets on the table, when a 0 or 00 is landed half your wager is returned. On these bets the house edge is only 2.63%, slightly better than European Roulette. Of course the large bets are unavailable to you, who may or may not be a problem depending on your preferred betting strategy.”
P.P.S. Searching for gambling info on the web is nearly as risky to your computer as is browsing porno. Beware of pop-ups, or worse. :eek:
Simple answer: to increase the House’s odds. How do you think they pay for those big fancy casinos?
Ah, But of course, how stupid of me, :smack: in Europe all the casinos are smelly old circus tents with dirt floors.
Ah, but you haven’t taken into account American GREED.
Which was my point, NOT the bizarre allegation about “smelly old circus tents” that never even crossed my mind.
IRRC, Caribbean casinos have a zero, double zero and an Eagle. This further increases the odd in favor of the house from about five point something percent to some other number I am too weary to calculate at the moment.
All in all Roulette is a sucker’s game. I avoid it.
A new thread on the peculiar nature of American GREED vs. the rest of the worlds greed sounds fascinating, but my questions are more simple and factual: Who what, when, where and why, then emotional or philosophical.
Thanks anyhow.
First of all, you get back half your money on red/black or odd/even bets if a 0 or 00 come up. So if you’re making these types of bets, you’re better off with the 38-slot wheel.
The casinos in AC have 37-slot wheels available for players. But very few people play on them. So I doubt that greed has anything to do with it. If players really felt that strongly about the slight odd differential for hitting a number, they would have migrated to the 37-slot tables forcing the casinos to change.
[IMHO]All in all, the 38-slot wheel is better aesthetically. The symmetry gives you better perspective while its spinning. You can follow your numbers better. Players like this and play more. Just another example of American ingenuity. [/IMHO]
My second post was my feeble attempt at sarcastic humor, I apologies if you took it the wrong way, but the greed reply was not an unexpected one. In written comuntions such as this, the spirit in witch comments are made is sometimes ambiguous and difficult to judge, particularly since I am rather new at this. I didn’t intend to write anything “bizarre“ or crack wise.
Some people gamble for fun not to pay the rent, thanks for the info about the Caribbean. BTW is there much gambling in Saudi Arabia?
I have seen European casinos in old James Bond movies and they seemed pretty fancy to me. Are the circus tents with dirt floors only seen in certain European countries?
thats -written communications :smack:
I have seen them in the Stratosphere in Vegas, but that was about 3 years ago.
Incidentally, the house edge on a double-zero wheel is about 5.26%. I’m not sure where you got 7.29%.
This page lists various American casinos that have (or had) single-zero wheels, among other roulette trivia.
Your best (heh-heh) bet in any casino is either craps or basic-strategy blackjack.
Yes, that is the correct odds on a North American wheel with two green slots.