Roulette House Edge

OK- so if you have been visiting this site for any amount of time now to get roulette tips and tricks, you will realise that the house, or casino, has an edge in roulette.

We are certainly not going to tell you otherwise. If someone is trying to sell you an infallible method of winning at roulette, they are trying to con you. But you know that, you're not stupid.

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But people do win at roulette, right? The answer is yes, but it is important to understand that over the long term and averaged over many players, the house has the overall edge.

So how do you calculate the house edge in roulette? We believe the most important thing is to understand the mechanics behind the game- that way, you can pick the best roulette bets with the lowest edge.

Here is how you calculate the Roulette House Edge:

Subtract the theoretical payout (with no house edge) from the actual payoff (that is advertised in the casino) and multiply it by the mathmatical probability of winning your bet. Multiply that by 100 to arrive at percentage edge. Got it? Well, if that sounds like Double Dutch, here are some examples:

Let's take American Roulette as an example.
There are 38 pockets on the wheel (36 numbers and 2 zero pockets). The casino pays 1:35 and the probability of you winning is 1:37.

So the house edge is:
[37/1 - 35/1] x 1/38 x 100 = 5.263%.

Now let's take European Roulette and do the same.
There are 37 pockets on the wheel (36 numbers and 1 zero pocket). The casino pays 1:35 and the probability of you winning is 1:36.

So the house edge is:
[36/1 - 35/1] x 1/37 x 100 = 2.703%.

The moral of the story? Easy. Always play European Roulette unless you particularly like betting on the 00 pocket.

Also, see our article on the zero house edge roulette that is offered by Betfair Casino.