Most gamblers know that when they walk into a casino the odds are stacked against them. They are, in fact, in the house's favor. In early gambling saloons, the house set the odds on roulette tables at 27 to 1. What that meant is that for every $1 you bet, if you won you would get $27 and the house would keep your initial dollar. Today, most casino odds are mandated and set by law. Typically they must be either 34 or 35 to 1. Therefore the house pays you $34 or $35 respectively and you get to keep your original dollar bet.

There are other terms for the house edge. It's also commonly known as the house average or expected value and is the amount the player loses relative to the bet he/she makes. Betting on a single number in American games there is the probability of 1/38 that the player wins 35 times. There is also a 37/38 chance the player loses their bet. This equates to an expected value of 5.62% house edge. For European roulette, this number is different because the wheel only has a single 0 whereas the American Wheel has 00. For European roulette, a single number wins 1/37 and loses 36/37. Therefore the house edge is equivalent to 2.70%. There are better odds for the player in European roulette.

The only house edge is technically the presence of the green squares. Outside bets will always lose when a single or double zero come up. The house does also, however, have an edge on inside bets because pay outs are always set at 35 to 1. Do not confuse the house edge with the hold. The hold simply means the total amount of cash the table changes for chips less any chips taken away from the table. This depicts the actual "win", in other words, amount for the casino. In Atlantic City, The Casino Control Commission releases a monthly report that demonstrates the win/hold amounts for each casino. The average for double zero wheels is between 21-30%. In casino gaming, this is known as churning and is particularly true of slot machine players who consistently lose all of their wagers.

A house edge applies to each bet made. It does not apply to the total money. This means the player can end up losing significantly more than 5.26% of his starting money. A player with $100 that is making $10 bets on red is going to be able to most likely bet more than 10 times because sometimes he will win. Let's say he bets 20 times on red. The expected value is then 20*$10*5.26%=$10.52. Over 10% of his money is considered in the hold even though the house advantage is 5.26%. This play, if continually bets, will give the house 100% hold if they bet until they run out of money