The roulette wheel is a quintessential symbol in the world of gambling. It is one of the most recognisable images when it comes to casinos and a common sighting at many gambling establishments both online and offline.
To the untrained eye, the roulette wheel may seem like a complicated mass of numbers and colours, but to the more experienced, it signifies excellent potential to win big. The key to enjoying a successful roulette gaming experience is to understand not only the roulette wheel, but the logic of the game and its design.
It is a common belief that the positioning of the numbers is random, and it may certainly seem that way at first glance, but this is far from the truth. The positioning of the numbers differs between game variations, most notably European and American roulette, and is definitely done this way for a reason.
Take a stroll with us as we detail the different roulette wheels and how it may affect your gameplay.
American Roulette Wheel Sequence
American roulette is known for having the highest house edge of all roulette games at 5.26%. This is due to an extra numbered slot, represented by the ‘double zero’. Thanks to this seemingly small addition, the total number of the pockets become 38 instead of 37 in standard roulette versions. The sequence is laid out as follows:
0, 28, 9, 26, 30, 11, 7, 20, 32, 17, 5, 22, 34, 15, 3, 24, 36, 13, 1, 24, 10, 25, 29, 12, 8, 19, 31, 18, 6, 21, 33, 16, 4, 23, 35, 14, and 2.
European Roulette Wheel Sequence
This is the more popular version of the two and features 37 numbered pockets, including the numbers 1 – 36 and a single zero. Because of the single zero, the house edge is significantly lower than its American counterpart with an average of only 2.7%. This means that European roulette offers more winning potential than American roulette. The sequence of the numbers appears as follows:
0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34, 6, 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10,5, 24, 16, 33, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26
The Logic Behind the Roulette Wheel Layout
The sequence of the numbers on the roulette wheel is carefully designed to accomplish several things and is not random in any way.
Red and black will always alternate – Regardless of the type of wheel you are playing, two adjacent pockets will always have different colours. You will never come across a roulette wheel with adjacent pockets featuring the same colour.
Low and high numbers should alternate – The European roulette wheel will rarely feature low and high number next to each other, except the 5 and the 10. In American roulette, however, there are often high numbers next to low numbers, making European roulette the more balanced of the two versions.
Odd and even numbers are distributed evenly along the wheel – Generally speaking, there shouldn’t ever be more than two odd or even numbers next to each other on a European wheel.
As you can see, the roulette wheel is as complicated as it is fascinating. You can play online roulette here at Conquer Casino which plays out in exactly the same manner. We reckon to learn about the roulette wheel and all its quirks to benefit you in your next roulette session.