Roulette is made up of two main components: the roulette wheel and the roulette table. While the table handles all the bets, the wheel is where the action of game takes place.

Once the croupier, or dealer, calls an end to the bets, he releases the ball into the wheel. The wheel is made up of pockets. The whole objective of roulette is to guess which pocket of the wheel the ball will stop in.

When you are out and about looking at roulette games you will find two main versions: American Roulette and European Roulette. And each one has its own wheel.

Let’s start with the American wheel.

The American wheel is made up of thirty eight pockets. Thirty six of those pockets will be numbered one through thirty six. The last two pockets will be labeled zero and double zero. The zero and double zero pockets will be green in color. The remaining thirty six pockets will be randomly yet equally divided between red and black.

Now we will take a look at the European wheel.

At a glance these two wheels will look the same. But the European wheel is only made up of thirty seven pockets. This wheel still has thirty six pockets numbered one through thirty six. The difference is that there is only one zero pocket and no double zero pocket. The zero pocket is still green, and the other numbered pockets are still randomly and equally divided between red and black.

The wheel is what sets the odds and player chances for the game. The American Roulette wheel carries a house edge of 5.26%, whereas the European Roulette wheel carries a house edge of only 2.7%. Yes, that big of a difference is made by the European wheel having one less pocket. So whenever you have the opportunity, it is advisable to stick with European Roulette.