American Roulette (Red Rake) carries a listed RTP of 97.74%, which is the highest figure among Red Rake Gaming’s four roulette tables and sits 0.77 points above the average across the wheels catalogued here. That number is worth pausing on, because a standard double-zero wheel returns 94.74% on every bet except the basket. Either this table is not a plain 38-pocket layout, or the figure reflects something the rules screen will explain — and that is the first thing to read before you fund a session.
Is American Roulette (Red Rake) worth your spins?
If you want the honest short answer: it depends entirely on whether the 97.74% figure applies to the bets you plan to make. A textbook double-zero wheel gives back 94.74% in the long run, and no arrangement of chips changes that. A 97.74% return implies an edge of 2.26%, which is closer to a single-zero wheel than to a classic American one. FACTS does not tell you how that number is reached, and I am not going to invent a mechanism for it.
What I can tell you is what to look for. Open the game’s own rules or paytable screen and check three things: the pocket count, the straight-up payout, and whether even-money bets are refunded in part when zero lands. Those three items determine your real cost per spin far more than the title does. If the table turns out to be a genuine 38-pocket wheel with 35:1 straight-up payouts and no zero refund, then the listed RTP and the maths disagree, and you should trust the maths in the game itself.
For a player who simply wants to spin a wheel for entertainment, this is a perfectly reasonable place to do it, and the free demo removes any cost from finding out. For a player trying to minimise the house edge, verification comes before commitment.
Red Rake Gaming and this wheel
Red Rake Gaming keeps a small roulette range: four tables in total, averaging 97.41% RTP across them. This one is the outlier at 97.74%; the other three all sit at 97.30%. That is a tight, deliberate-looking spread rather than a scattered catalogue, which suggests the studio treats these as a matched set rather than one-off releases.
If you want the wheel where the published maths is easiest to reason about, European Roulette (Red Rake) is the natural comparison at 97.30% — a single-zero layout normally carries a 2.70% edge, which lines up almost exactly with that figure. For even-money betting specifically, French Roulette (Red Rake) is the one to check, because French rules conventionally include a zero refund on outside bets; confirm that on its own rules screen rather than assuming it from the name. There is also VIP Roulette (Red Rake) at the same 97.30%, worth a look if you care about the staking range, though FACTS lists no table limits for any of these so you will need to read them in-game.
This table sits at rank 206 in the catalogue, in the 8.1st popularity percentile. It is not a heavily played page. That says nothing about the quality of the maths — popularity and value are unrelated in roulette.
House edge: 2.70%, 5.26% or 1.35%?
Three numbers cover almost every roulette table you will meet, and knowing which one you are playing is the whole game.
- 2.70% — a single-zero European wheel, 37 pockets. A straight-up number pays 35:1 against true odds of 36:1. That one-pocket gap is the entire edge, and it applies identically to every standard bet on the layout.
- 5.26% — a double-zero American wheel, 38 pockets. Same 35:1 payout, but now 37 losing pockets face you instead of 36. The five-number basket bet on that layout is worse again at 7.89%.
- 1.35% — a single-zero wheel with La Partage or En Prison, where half your even-money stake comes back when zero lands. This is the best standard bet available in roulette anywhere.
The name of this game points toward the 38-pocket layout, and the variant note attached to it describes exactly that: 0 and 00, with an edge near double the European wheel’s. But a name is a hint, not a rule. Read it as “this is probably a double-zero wheel, so expect a 5.26% edge unless the rules screen says otherwise” — and then go and read that screen. The listed 97.74% RTP is precisely why you should not take the name at face value here.
Bet types, payouts and true odds
The table below sets out a standard double-zero layout, the arrangement the game’s name points to. Confirm the payouts against the in-game paytable before staking.
| Bet | Pockets covered | Payout | True odds (38 pockets) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight up | 1 | 35:1 | 37:1 |
| Split | 2 | 17:1 | 18:1 |
| Street | 3 | 11:1 | 11.67:1 |
| Corner | 4 | 8:1 | 8.5:1 |
| Basket (0, 00, 1, 2, 3) | 5 | 6:1 | 6.6:1 |
| Line | 6 | 5:1 | 5.33:1 |
| Dozen or column | 12 | 2:1 | 2.17:1 |
| Red, black, odd, even, high, low | 18 | 1:1 | 1.11:1 |
Every row except the basket carries the same 5.26% cost on a 38-pocket wheel. Inside and outside bets differ in variance, not in expected value: a straight-up bet loses most spins and pays large, an even-money bet resolves close to a coin flip. Neither is cheaper per unit staked.
What experienced players actually do
They stake flat. Martingale, Fibonacci, D’Alembert, “wait for five reds then back black” — none of these alter expected value by a single fraction of a percent. Spins are independent and the wheel has no memory. What progressions actually do is reshape your variance: they turn a lot of small losses into rarer, much larger ones, and they run you into the table maximum exactly when you can least afford it. No number, colour or sector is ever due, hot or cold, and logging previous results on an RNG wheel gives you nothing predictive.
So the levers that genuinely exist are these. Pick the lowest-edge bet available on the table you are actually sitting at — which on a single-zero wheel with a zero refund means even-money bets at roughly 1.35%, and on a double-zero wheel means anything except the basket. Set a session length and a loss limit before you start, and treat both as fixed. Keep stake size constant so your cost per hour is predictable: at flat stakes, expected loss is simply total staked multiplied by the house edge, which is arithmetic you can plan around. And accept that over a short session, results will diverge widely from the maths in both directions. That divergence is the entertainment; the edge is the price.
Free play before real money
A free demo is available for this table, so you can check the pocket count, the payout schedule and the staking range at zero cost. Use it for exactly that — verifying the rules that FACTS does not specify, including limits and whether any zero refund applies. What the demo cannot do is forecast real-money outcomes. Short runs of results are noise, and a demo session that runs hot tells you nothing about the next hour with your own money.
Roulette is for players aged 18 or over. Decide your budget before you open the game, stake only money you are comfortable losing, and treat any winnings as a pleasant accident rather than a plan. This is entertainment, not income, and if it stops feeling like entertainment, close the tab.
Final take
The interesting thing about this table is the tension between its name and its number. Red Rake Gaming lists 97.74%, the best of its four wheels, on a game titled after the layout with the worst standard house edge in mainstream roulette. FACTS gives no explanation, so the answer sits on the game’s own rules screen and nowhere else.
Play the demo, read the paytable, count the pockets. If it is a true 38-pocket wheel, expect 5.26% and skip the basket bet entirely. If you want the clearest low-edge option in this studio’s range instead, the single-zero and French-rule tables are one click away and no mystery attaches to their maths.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I play American Roulette (Red Rake) free with no download?
Yes. A free demo is available for this table and runs in the browser, so you can check the pocket count, payout schedule and staking range without depositing. Use it to verify the rules that are not published here. Demo results carry no predictive value for real-money play, however hot or cold a session looks.
What is the American Roulette (Red Rake) RTP?
The listed RTP is 97.74%, implying a house edge of 2.26%. That is the highest of Red Rake Gaming's four roulette tables, which otherwise sit at 97.30%, and 0.77 points above the catalogue average of 96.97%. It is also higher than a textbook double-zero wheel returns, so read the in-game rules screen.
Is this a double-zero wheel with a 5.26% house edge?
The name and variant note point to a 38-pocket layout with 0 and 00, which normally means a 5.26% edge on every bet except the five-number basket at 7.89%. That is a strong hint, not confirmation, and it sits awkwardly beside the 97.74% figure. Check the pocket count in-game.
Does the Martingale or any pattern system work on this table?
No. Progressions and pattern-spotting cannot change expected value, because spins are independent and the wheel has no memory. Martingale, Fibonacci and D'Alembert only redistribute variance, converting frequent small losses into rare large ones and pushing you toward the table maximum faster. No number or colour is ever due.
How does it compare with European Roulette (Red Rake)?
European Roulette (Red Rake) lists 97.30%, which matches the 2.70% edge a single-zero wheel normally carries, so its maths is easier to verify. This table lists a higher 97.74% but a name pointing to the worse layout. If you want predictable low-edge betting today, the European or French tables are the safer read.
