Actually, outside bets have a slightly lower house edge than all other bets on a European Roulette table, because if 0 comes in you back half of your outside-stake bet. So you have 18/37 chance of losing your bet, 18/37 chance of doubling your bet, and 1/37 chance of losing half of your bet. I think that halves the house edge. If they returned your entire bet, then the game would be even. But of course they won't do that.;) I have never played at an American casino, so I don't know if similar rules apply there.
Regardless of odds and house edges, the casinos do tend to have another advantage: overall, they usually have more money than the players. Generally in a gambling game, if either party runs out of money the game must stop. Since the casino has so much more money than the average punter, there's a much higher probability that the punter will run out of money first, regardless of the specific odds and house edge (if any) of the game.
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Actually, outside bets have a slightly lower house edge than all other bets on a European Roulette table, because if 0 comes in you back half of your outside-stake bet. So you have 18/37 chance of losing your bet, 18/37 chance of doubling your bet, and 1/37 chance of losing half of your bet. I think that halves the house edge. If they returned your entire bet, then the game would be even. But of course they won't do that. ;) I have never played at an American casino, so I don't know if similar rules apply there.
Regardless of odds and house edges, the casinos do tend to have another advantage: overall, they usually have more money than the players. Generally in a gambling game, if either party runs out of money the game must stop. Since the casino has so much more money than the average punter, there's a much higher probability that the punter will run out of money first, regardless of the specific odds and house edge (if any) of the game.