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Online roulette: wheel types and where it's legal

Published Apr 28, 2026 7 min read

Roulette’s rules are simple enough to explain in a sentence, but one structural difference between wheel types changes the math more than almost anything else in the game.

American versus European wheels

American roulette wheels carry 38 numbered pockets: 1 through 36, plus a single zero and a double zero. European wheels carry 37 pockets, the same 1 through 36, but only a single zero, with no double zero. That one extra pocket on the American wheel is the entire source of the difference in house edge between the two versions, and it’s easy to miss if you’re not specifically looking for the double-zero pocket on the wheel layout.

Why one pocket doubles the house edge

European roulette’s house edge sits at approximately 2.7 percent, calculated from the single zero being the house’s only structural advantage over an even-money bet. American roulette’s house edge jumps to approximately 5.26 percent, nearly double, because the additional double-zero pocket gives the house a second way to win even-money bets that would otherwise be a push or a player win on a European wheel. This makes wheel type the single most important factor in roulette’s odds, more significant than any betting pattern layered on top of it.

Some regulated casinos also offer French roulette, a variant of the European wheel that adds a rule called “la partage,” returning half of an even-money bet if the ball lands on zero. Where available, French roulette’s rule pushes the house edge down further, to roughly 1.35 percent on those specific even-money bets, making it the best mathematical option of the three when it’s offered.

Betting systems don’t change the math

Strategies like the Martingale system, doubling a bet after every loss to try to recover previous losses on the next win, are popular precisely because they feel like they should work, but they don’t change the underlying house edge in any way. The wheel’s pocket count is fixed regardless of bet sizing or sequencing. What a betting system actually does is change the shape of variance across a session, meaning bigger swings and faster bankroll depletion in a bad run, not the long-run edge itself.

Which wheel to choose

Since European roulette’s house edge is roughly half that of American roulette, checking which version a specific table uses before playing is a straightforward way to improve your odds without changing anything about how you actually bet. Most regulated online casinos in the seven states with legal online casino gambling offer both wheel types, often as clearly labeled separate tables, so the choice is usually just a matter of picking the right one from a lobby menu.

Where online roulette is legally available

Regulated real-money online roulette operates in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island, covered in full on the online casinos by state page. Live dealer roulette, which streams an actual spinning wheel rather than using a random-number generator, is covered separately on the live dealer casinos page.

Reference

Frequently asked questions

Is online roulette legal in the US?
Regulated real-money online roulette is legal in the seven states with licensed online casino gambling: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island. Sweepstakes-model platforms offer roulette elsewhere under a separate legal framework.
What's the difference between American and European roulette?
American roulette wheels have 38 pockets, including both a single zero and a double zero. European wheels have 37 pockets, with only a single zero. That one extra pocket increases the house edge on American roulette to about 5.26 percent, roughly double the 2.7 percent house edge on European roulette.
Which roulette wheel should I play?
European roulette, when available, offers a meaningfully better house edge than American roulette due to having one fewer pocket. Most regulated online casinos offer both versions, so checking which wheel type a specific table uses before playing is worth the extra few seconds.
Do betting systems like Martingale change the house edge in roulette?
No. Betting systems change how quickly a bankroll rises or falls and how bet sizes are distributed across a session, but they don't alter the underlying house edge built into the wheel itself, which is fixed by the wheel's pocket count regardless of betting pattern.