There are two types of roulette wheels – those featuring one zero and those featuring two zero. For the smart roulette player, there is no contest between the two, as single zero roulette offers much smaller house edge thus higher payout to the player.
Single zero roulette wheels are available in many parts of the world and are the standard offering throughout much of Europe. You’ll also find roulette with single zero in the US, although in many cases these games are reserved for players at high-limit games.
There are two versions of the game that feature a single 0 – these being the European and the French versions. Below we will break down the main differences between these two roulette wheel layouts as well as explain various betting options.
Single Zero Roulette – Explained
There are 37 slots on a single zero roulette wheel
The slots are numbered from 1 to 36 and you’ll find an additional 0 slot. The 0 slot is colored green and the other numbers will alternate from red to black in color. It might seem that the numbering on the single 0 roulette wheel is somewhat random; however, the distribution is arranged so that the sum of a group of numbers on one part of the wheel will be similar to another area of the wheel of the same size.
Roulette Wheel With Single Zero – Betting
There are two distinct areas when betting at roulette – inside and outside bets. The roulette rules are easy to follow as you will read below and smart roulette bets are easy to figure out.
Inside bets refer to bets you’ll place on individual numbers on the roulette wheel. Outside bets refer to the groups of numbers on the table you’ll bet on.
Inside Bets – The most popular inside bet is the straight bet (also referred to as a single bet) where your chips will be placed on one individual number.
You’ll also be able to place split bets, which are bets on two adjacent numbers, and corner bets, bets which cover four separate numbers linked together in a square. Additionally, you’ll be able to place street bets, which covers a particular row on the betting area. The final inside bet is the basket bet, which covers the 0, 1, 2 and 3 slots.
Outside Bets – Outside bets cover larger groups of numbers.
The most popular outside bet is whether the ball will land in red or black, which pays out at odds of even money. Similarly, bets on odd or even or 1-18 or 19-36 will also double your stake. Other outside bets available are column and dozen bets which pay out at odds of 2 to 1 – dozens being in groups of 1-12, 13-24 and 25-36 whilst column bets are based around the columns in the betting area.
Single Zero Roulette – Wheel Layout
You’ll find that both European and French roulette have just single zero thus there is no difference in the wheel layout in itself. European roulette offers all of the above bet types, whilst French roulette offers some other options and rule variations alongside the above bet types (you might find some of these options at particular versions of European roulette as well, especially when playing roulette online).
French Roulette Variations
Call Bets – These bets are ones that you will place on certain sections of the wheel.
These are ‘voisins du zero’ (neighbors of zero) which covers the eight numbers either side of the zero and the zero itself, ‘le tiers du cylindre’ (thirds of the wheel) which covers the twelve numbers opposite the zero and ‘orphelins’ (orphans) which cover the other eight numbers. Call bets are also sometimes known as announced bets.
La Partage and En Prison
These rule only applies to even money bets such as red/black or odd/even and when the ball lands in the zero slot. Only one of these two rules will apply at any particular table. Under the La Partage rule, the player will have half their bet refunded. Under the En Prison rule, the bet will remain on the table and will await the outcome of the next spin. If the spin is successful, the bet will be returned to the player or the house will retain the bet.
Roulette With Single Zero – Odds
In general, a smart roulette bet would be to play European roulette as the house edge is only 2.70% which means that your odds of winning are higher than if you played American roulette.
However if playing French Roulette and gambling on an even money shot, this house edge is reduced to 1.35% thus your roulette odds increase in your favor. This reduction in house edge doesn’t apply to any non-even money bets. Double zero roulette offers a house edge of 5.26%, so we would recommend playing single 0 roulette if you have the option of playing either. Many online casinos feature a choice of French, European or American roulette and we would advise choosing the French option of the three.
Important: Double zero roulette’s house edge is 5.26% thus always try playing single 0 roulette wheel
