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Free casino roulette games: pick the right wheel to practise on
Free casino roulette games come in two main versions and the difference is one green pocket. On a demo it changes nothing, because there is no money for the pocket to take. On a real table it nearly doubles what the game costs. The time to learn which wheel you are looking at is now, while it is free.
Spotting the wheel in a demo
Look at the top of the layout. One green box marked 0 is a European or French table. Two, marked 0 and 00, is American. On the wheel itself, count green pockets. The game's name often says it, but not always; some generic "Roulette" demos are American without a word about it.
What the pocket does to the odds
Every payout on both wheels is the same. 35:1 on a number, 1:1 on red. A European wheel has 37 pockets, so a straight-up wins 1 time in 37 and the house keeps 2.70% of all bets on average. An American wheel has 38, the same payouts, and keeps 5.26%. There is no bet on the American wheel that is a better deal than the same bet on the European one, and one bet, the five-number basket, is worse still at 7.89%.
In demo mode you will not notice. Over an hour of real play at £5 a spin you will: about £8 on the single-zero wheel and about £16 on the double-zero one, for the same bets.
French roulette in demo
French tables use the single-zero wheel with one extra rule. La Partage returns half of an even-money stake when zero comes up, which cuts the edge on red, black, odd, even, high and low to 1.35%. Some tables use En Prison instead, which holds the stake for the next spin with much the same effect. The layout looks slightly different, with French labels and the outside bets arranged along both sides. If the site you are practising at has a French demo, learn on that; it is the cheapest roulette there is.
Which to practise on
The one you will play for money, which should be European or French. Practising on American builds no useful habit, since nothing about the layout transfers except the basket bet you should never place. If a free game only offers the American wheel, find another free game.
The practice routine on a single-zero table
Twenty spins at minimum on red, watching the longest losing run. Twenty spins with five chips on one number, counting hits. Ten spins using the racetrack. Then, if the table is French, ten spins on red specifically watching what happens on a zero, because seeing half the stake come back once is worth more than reading about it.
When you move to real stakes
The demo told you which wheel it was. The lobby at a real-money site will not shout it. Filter for European or French, check the single zero on the layout before the first bet, and skip any table where the help screen does not confirm 35:1 on a straight-up.
FAQ
- Why do free roulette games often default to American?
Habit, mostly. Many practice games were built for a US audience where the double-zero wheel is standard. The odds difference is invisible in a demo because no money is involved, which is exactly why it is worth noticing now.
- Is French roulette available in demo mode?
At sites that carry it, usually yes. It is worth seeking out: the La Partage rule halves the house edge on even-money bets, and learning it in demo costs nothing.