The American roulette wheel and layout, and how to spot them

38: 0, 00 and 1 to 36. Eighteen red, eighteen black, two green. On the layout the zeros sit side by side above the first row, 0 over column one and 00 over column three. On the wheel they are directly opposite each other.

Clockwise from 0:

0 · 28 · 9 · 26 · 30 · 11 · 7 · 20 · 32 · 17 · 5 · 22 · 34 · 15 · 3 · 24 · 36 · 13 · 1 · 00 · 27 · 10 · 25 · 29 · 12 · 8 · 19 · 31 · 18 · 6 · 21 · 33 · 16 · 4 · 23 · 35 · 14 · 2

The design rule is different from the European wheel's: consecutive numbers sit across the wheel from each other (1 opposite 2, 3 opposite 4, and so on), colours alternate, and the zeros split the wheel in half. It is a tidy arrangement with no bearing on the odds.

Identical to the European grid apart from the second green box. The basket bet, 0-00-1-2-3, is placed on the corner where the zeros meet the first row. Dozens, columns and even-money boxes are where they always are. Because the basket is the only layout difference, a table can be American while looking almost exactly like a European one at a glance; the second green box is the tell.

The French section bets are defined by arcs of the European wheel. On the American sequence those arcs contain different numbers, so Voisins, Tiers and Orphelins do not exist, and most American tables omit the racetrack entirely. Some online versions include a neighbours bet based on the American sequence; it carries the same 5.26% as everything else on the wheel.

• Two green boxes at the head of the layout.
• A 00 on the wheel graphic or the physical wheel.
• "American" in the game name, though not always.
• No racetrack.
• A stated RTP of 94.74% in the help screen.

Any one of these is enough. The European table from the same provider is usually the next tile.

Habit, licensing convenience and margin. Providers make both; operators list both; some players pick the American table because it is the one they know from films or from a trip. None of those is a reason that survives looking at the pocket count.

Studios run American wheels for markets where it is the norm, and UK lobbies sometimes carry them. Same dealer, same stream, same production as the European tables beside them, at nearly twice the price per spin. The limits panel will not warn you; the second green pocket on camera will.