An American wheel adds a double zero: 38 pockets instead of 37. An even-money bet still wins on 18 of them, so the house edge rises from 1/37 (2.70%) to 2/38 (5.26%). La Partage, available on European tables, returns half of an even-money bet when zero hits and cuts the edge to 1.35%.
The lab opens on a European wheel with flat betting. The tables below run every strategy on all three wheels with identical seeds, so the only difference between rows is the wheel.
Open this experiment in the lab ↑All numbers below were computed by the same simulator and models that run in the lab above, when this page was built.
Every bet in roulette has a negative expectation. A betting system changes how stakes are distributed over time, not the edge per coin wagered.
| Wheel | House edge | Expected loss · Flat bet | Mean final · Flat bet | Survived · Flat bet | Survived · Martingale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European wheel (2.70%) | 2.70% | 270 | 724 | 98% | 14% |
| American wheel (5.26%) | 5.26% | 520 | 475 | 90% | 6% |
| European wheel with La Partage (1.35% on even-money bets) | 1.35% | 135 | 861 | 100% | 17% |
400 sessions per strategy, 1,000 spins each, 1,000-coin bankroll, 10-coin base unit, 5,000-coin table maximum, American wheel (5.26%). The same 400 seeds are used for every strategy.
| Strategy | Survived | Median final | Mean final | Avg wagered | Expected loss | Observed loss | Avg longest losing streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat bet | 90% | 460 | 475 | 9,873 | 520 | 525 | 10.2 |
| Martingale | 6% | 0 | 257 | 10,753 | 566 | 743 | 7.7 |
| Fibonacci | 10% | 0 | 255 | 11,494 | 605 | 745 | 8.4 |
| D'Alembert | 1% | 0 | 73 | 15,209 | 800 | 927 | 7.4 |
| Labouchère | 1% | 0 | 121 | 15,538 | 818 | 879 | 6.2 |
| James Bond (7.0 / 2.5 / 0.5) | 99% | 491 | 481 | 9,987 | 526 | 519 | 6.2 |
Almost twice as costly per coin wagered: 5.26% against 2.70%. Over 1,000 flat bets of 10 coins that is an expected loss of about 526 coins instead of 270.
A European rule: when zero hits, even-money bets lose only half the stake. It halves the edge on those bets to 1.35%.
No. Strategies change the variance and total wagered, not the edge per coin, so the gap between wheels stays the same for every system.
No. Virtual coins only, no deposits, no prizes, 18+.
Free-to-play entertainment and math education with virtual coins only. No real money, no deposits, no withdrawals, no prizes. 18+. Simulated results do not predict real outcomes.