Triple Zero Roulette is Pretty Much Everyflippingwhere in Las Vegas
It started innocently enough. An additional space showed up on a roulette table.
It looked innocuous, just one additional space on one table at Venetian back in 2016, no big deal.
Then triple zero roulette popped up at Planet Hollywood and New York-New York. No big deal, right?
Well, it depends upon who you ask. Or possibly whom. Have you always been this obsessed with grammar? Lighten up, you’re reading a Las Vegas blog.
Math wizards were quick to point out each additional space on a roulette makes the game worse for players.
Longtime roulette players sometimes joke about triple zero roulette, “More ways to win!”
Um, no.
On a table with two zeros, the house edge is 5.26%. Not great, but a table with three zeros bumps the house edge up to 7.69%, or as we call it, the gambler discomfort zone.
Prior to the pandemic, the proliferation of triple zero roulette raised lots of hackles. We should know, we were one of the main hackle-raisers.
Mid-pandemic, lots of things we used to get riled up about seem relatively trivial. Still.
There’s a reason you don’t hear much about triple zero roulette anymore. It’s pretty much everywhere in Las Vegas now.
We’ve visited a number of casinos in the weeks since casinos reopened in June, and we’re hard-pressed to remember a casino where there wasn’t triple zero roulette.
We’ve seen triple zero at Harrah’s, Flamingo, Four Queens, MGM Grand, Linq and others.
We used to keep a list of casinos with triple zero roulette, but that list seems almost quaint now.
We naively hoped lower demand would inspire casinos to dump triple zero roulette, but no such luck. So far.
So, why do people play triple zero roulette when there’s often a double zero roulette table nearby?
There are two answers: One, lower table limits. Two, they just don’t care.
Lower table limits make triple zero roulette tables tempting despite the greater house edge.
As for the “they just don’t care” aspect, we find ourselves in that camp lately.
We are a recreational gambler. We aren’t playing any game for hours on end. That’s true of most Las Vegas visitors, too. You’re lucky or you aren’t. It’s more about fun than math.
Ultimately, gambling is gambling. The odds are always on the side of the house.
If you’re gambling to make money, while possible, you may want to find other pursuits.
One of the worst things that can happen is to let frustration about odds or rules or pay tables overtake your enjoyment of the gambling experience.
Unless it has to do with paper straws being used in your drinks. Those ruin everything.
While it’s not fun having to report triple zero roulette tables are everywhere in Las Vegas, there are bright spots!
For example, downtown’s Plaza hotel has a single zero roulette table on its casino floor.
Cromwell has a single zero table, too. We miss you, Cromwell.
A few other Las Vegas casinos have single zero as well, but they’re typically tucked away in high limit salons where table minimums can be sky high.
Our advice is to find a roulette table with solid drink service and friendly dealers, and just play for fun.
Lucky Luck will either smile upon you or plant her boot firmly in your posterior.
Gamble for the memories, not the return on investment.
And also avoid keno, because the odds absolutely suck.
But mostly gamble for the fun! Life already has plenty of math.
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