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American Roulette & European Roulette Explained on Slotland

Though Roulette originated in 16th century France, it quickly caught on in the Americas as a glamorous and exciting game of chance. The Old World version is known as European roulette, which is the most famous and well known version played today. American Roulette originated much later and has minor differences compared to its European cousin. Slotland Casino offers online roulette and online poker as well.

The European game has as its central character a wheel, upon which the croupier or dealer’s ball is thrown, and a table, where bets are placed by all the players. Numbers are engraved into the perimeter of the roulette wheel, from 1 to 36, with each number being either red or black. This results in an equal number of blacks and reds, odd and even numbers, as well as high (18-36) and low (1-17) numbers. Apart from 36 numbered slots, there is a single green slot bearing the number zero.

The green slot is also known as the “house number” because it maintains a small house edge against the players. Else, if a player were to wager on “black” or “red”, the odds would be 50/50 that the ball would land on red or black. This would be identical odds to flipping a coin for heads or tails. The single green zero slot adds a 37th slot in the roulette wheel that the ball can land on, making the odds of the ball landing in red or black slightly less than 50/50. Due to the random movement of the ball, if it ends up on the green slot, then all bets on “red” or “black” will lose to the house, or casino. This ensures that the casino always has a 2.70% edge, playing by European roulette rules.

When you play American Roulette, the game is essentially the same as the European version, but for one difference. There is an extra green slot on the wheel, called the “double zero” or “00”. This makes a total of 38 slots that the ball could land on. This nearly doubles the house edge to 5.26% compared to the European version. Players stand to lose more money but they get a faster game.

There’s one more quirk in European roulette strategy. There, players have an option to use the “en prison” rule. This allows a player to either surrender half of his/her “outside” wagers, or to leave them for the next game, if the zero comes up.

When you factor this “Surrender” option, the house advantage drops even lower in European Roulette, taking it to 1.352 percent (from 2.7%), which makes the Old World game even more lucrative for a player, compared to the 5.26% House edge in the United States.

Whether you choose to play American Roulette or play European Roulette, we at Slotland are sure you will enjoy both!

Online Gambling: Online Keno – How To Play Keno Explained On Winaday Casino

An Introduction to Keno

Keno is a precursor to Bingo, and is a popular betting game offered at many casinos, both online and “real”. It originated in China hundreds of years ago, and there are various legends about its origins, which we shall not cover here. Some state lotteries have a public Keno game as well which works like a lottery. You too can learn how to play keno online or offline.

The Basics
In Online Gambling, Live casino keno uses a circular glass “bubble” containing 80 balls which determine the ball-draw result. Each ball is has a number from 1 to 80. During the ball-draw, a tube blows air into the bubble and mixes the balls. The “caller”, a casino employee, presses a lever to open a tube and that lets balls up into a “V” shaped tube known as “rabbit ears”. The caller and a “verifier” record the numbers of 20 balls thus drawn. A computerized keno system calculates all bets based on these numbers. Online keno uses numbers selected by a computer’s random number generator.

Playing Keno
The online casino’s web page becomes your keno lounge. You can point and click with your mouse to select numbers that you want to play, while in offline casinos you have to mark an “S” over the “spot” choices on a blank keno ticket form with 82 numbered selection boxes (1 to 80). You will have flags, windows and sounds to alert you when games are open or closed to betting, as well as to guide you through game play. After all players have put down their wagers, the casino draws 20 balls at random. At some casinos, you will notice that they automatically call the ball-draw at preset times, whether or not anyone is wanting to wager.

Paytables
“Paytables” are lists of pay scale choices set by the casino. You are paid based on how many numbers you drew match the numbers selected on the keno ticket, as well as your amount wagered as per the table. Casinos can have a wide variation of paytables, with a considerably large deviation in the house edge set for their paytables. You may see many different paytables and specialty keno bets for you to choose from, each with its own unique house edge. Some casinos offer as many as 20 or 30 different paytables which you can select from. The house edge ranges from 4%- 35% compared to between 0%- 5% for non-slot games.