How to Beat Roulette - American vs European Roulette
When I look at my gambling career and how to beat roulette, I’ve played roulette less than any other table game. The reason is simple: American roulette has a higher house advantage than most other casino games.
Moreover, since I am proud of following sound casino mathematics while gambling, it’s only logical that I would play low-house percentage games like craps, baccarat and blackjack instead of winning at roulette.
However, over the years I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in Europe and have played in many casinos, especially in France. I’ve always been amazed at the popularity of roulette. In France and Italy, this game is taken very seriously by professional gamblers.
The theoretical roulette probability in European roulette is a low 1.35%. This is actually lower than our popular game of craps which is 1.40% and much lower that American roulette which is 5.26%.
Typically, American roulette has double zero wheels which translate to a 5.26 house percentage. European wheels are single zero, which cuts the house percentage to 2.63.
In the European casinos if you make an even money bet, that is red-black, odd-even, high-low and the ball lands on 0 (green), you are offered two options:
- You can lose half of your bet.
- You lose nothing, but your bet stays as is for the next spin, which then decides whether you win or lose.
This second option is called “en prison” (in prison). Your bet is imprisoned by a tiny cage placed over your bet to distinguish it from the other bets.
In Europe the “en prison” option is overwhelmingly chosen over losing half you bet. With the single zero wheel it doesn’t matter if the half bet loss or en prison is used, the house percentage reduces to a meager 1.35% which helps at winning at roulette. Again, this is lower than craps which is 1.40.
Armed with this low house percentage, European gamblers have successfully played roulette for many years. And believe it or not, playing our casino roulette strategy in teams at some of the smaller casinos resulted in breaking the bank frequently. Some of the smaller casinos in France have banned this type of play.
But I could see that some modifications would have to be made to accommodate the American wheel in order to show how to beat roulette. These modifications have been worked on for the last two years. I have finally perfected this system so it can be successfully played in American casinos. In addition, some American casinos, like the ones in Atlantic city, have adopted the European rule of returning half your bet on even money bets if the ball lands on zero or double zero. This cuts the roulette probablity to about 2.63%
After making the appropriate adjustments in the betting pattern and testing, you now have a winning roulette system. The key to the success is in the way the betting pattern is manipulated. Moreover, you will play simultaneous even money bets. These bets will act a s both a natural hedge and an effective parlay.
Bottom line, you cannot play this way with any other table game. True, in craps you can play both the don’t and the do sides and in baccarat you can play both the banker and the player. But if you play both bets at the same bet size they naturally offset each other for a net zero result. In black jack there is only one bet. Yes you can play more than one hand but these hands are independent of each other.
However, in roulette you can bet even money on red-black, odd-even and high-low and take advantage of making these bets at the same bet size without them always offsetting each other. These bets which are only available in roulette leave you with a natural hedge and parlay strategy. Play smart and learn with our gambling strategy.
