Those tricksy casinos are always looking for ways to maximise their profits and minimise their customers’ winnings, and triple zero roulette is about as blatant an attempt as you can get.
The game does exist, although it is not widely available thanks to most players being savvy enough to spot the huge disadvantage the game carries.
You are more likely to find it in a physical casino than online, but there are ways this sneaky extra edge can be worked in that are a little more subtle too, which will be made clear below.
The answer to the question then is yes, there is a triple zero roulette; however, it is not easy to find and when you do come across it you should probably keep on walking.
Why is There a Zero in Roulette?
The zero is essentially the number on the wheel that belongs to the house. It’s what makes the game profitable for them, so it needs to be there or the game wouldn’t exist.
Yes, you can bet on it, but it isn’t included in any of the outside bets such as red/black, high/low, odd/even, and this is what gives the house their edge. When the ball lands on zero, all outside bets are lost.
Therefore, if there is more than one zero as there is in American roulette, the house edge increases, meaning the players’ chances of winning decrease. Add a third zero into the mix and you can see what happens:
| # Zeros | House Edge |
|---|---|
| 1 Zero | 2.70% |
| 2 Zeros | 5.26% |
| 3 Zeros | 7.69% |
For further understanding you can look at straight up bets.
A straight up bet on a single zero game has a 1 in 37 chance of winning, because there are 36 numbers on the wheel plus the zero. A straight up bet on a double zero game has a 1 in 38 chance of winning, and a straight up on a triple zero game has a 1 in 39 chance of winning.
However, the payout for a straight up win on all 3 versions of the game remains at 35:1, so you are taking a bigger risk for the same reward on a game with more than one zero.
It’s the same when looking at outside bets. There are 18 winning numbers regardless of which outside bet you choose, so with a single zero you have an 18 in 37 chance of winning, with a double zero your chances are 18 in 38, rising to 18 in 39 with triple zero roulette.
Once again, the payout remains the same at 1:1. The number of winning numbers and the payout remains the same, the only thing that changes is your odds which get worse.
Sneaky Ways Casinos Increase Their Edge on Roulette
All of the above is common knowledge even among most novice gamblers, so anyone playing online is less likely to be taken in by ‘fancy’ new variations that are well marketed but offer worse odds. On the surface at least.
That’s why you are more likely to find plain faced triple zero roulette in a physical location where the casino can catch naïve tourists and conventioneers enjoying their first casino experience. Dazzled by the lights and the buzz of the room, amateurs are unlikely to look much further than what is right in front of them, and this means more money for the casino.
However, disguising the zero with a different symbol, such as the logo of the casino itself, and marketing it as some kind of ‘special’ symbol is one way a casino might try and sneak what is essentially an extra zero onto the wheel.
The table minimum might be lower in a feeble attempt to justify this, or perhaps, as with some online games like Key Bet Roulette, this extra symbol is the gateway to a bonus round that only those with a bet covering the special symbol can access, while everyone else loses their bets. This is how the more seasoned players might be persuaded to try games with higher house edges.
Either way, it’s basically just a way for the casino to make the game more profitable for themselves by giving the player an extra way to lose.
In physical casinos triple zero roulette has so far been restricted to America, and mostly to Las Vegas, but it is spreading. It hasn’t reached the UK yet and since even American roulette isn’t too common over here it’s unlikely to successfully cross the Pacific; but online variants with extra symbols have been available to UK players online for a while.