The Basic Rules of Roulette
By 2008, there were several hundred casinos worldwide offering roulette games. The double zero wheel is found in the U.S., Canada, South America, and the Caribbean, while the single zero wheel is predominant elsewhere. The sum of all the numbers on the roulette wheel (from 0 to 36) is 666, which is the “Number of the Beast”. Mar 14, 2018 Roulette is a game played with a large wheel that contains either 37 or 38 pockets. These stops are numbered from 0 to 36, while the American roulette wheel also contains a 00 pocket. All the pockets are all colored; the zeroes are green, while the other spots are evenly divided between 18 red and 18 black pockets. The croupier then ends the betting session and spins the wheel. What are the numbers on a roulette wheel? The numbers on the wheel are 1 to 36, assorted in a specific, non-chronological order. In addition, there will be one green zero pocket on a European roulette wheel or two green zero pockets on an American roulette wheel.
Roulette is a game played with a large wheel that contains either 37 or 38 pockets. These stops are numbered from 0 to 36, while the American roulette wheel also contains a 00 pocket. All the pockets are all colored; the zeroes are green, while the other spots are evenly divided between 18 red and 18 black pockets.
The dealer spins a ball on the outer rim of the wheel, after which it will eventually fall into one of the numbered spaces. The object for the player is to guess what number the ball will land in.
Before each spin, players have the opportunity to place bets around the roulette table. Players can bet on individual numbers or virtually any combination of numbers.
Once the ball falls into a pocket and rests there, the dealer will call out the winning number as well as the color of the pocket it landed in. Markers are typically used to protect winning bets, after which all losing bets are swept off the table. The dealer will pay all winning bets and, once all of the payouts are completed, players may place bets for the next spin.
Playing Roulette
The way you choose to play roulette will depend on a number of factors, not least your bankroll and your betting strategy. Put simply, if you don’t have much to play with, it isn’t wise to wager a large proportion of your bankroll at a time: if you think it’s impossible for a roulette wheel to land on red five times in a row, you’ve never played roulette. In other words, don’t count on certain bets coming in ‘sooner rather than later’. This might sound obvious, but remember that the outcome of any particular spin of the wheel is not affected by anything that’s gone before.
Placing Roulette Bets
If you’re playing roulette in a casino, there are all kinds of betting areas where you can place your chips. The only thing limiting you is your number of chips and the available space; if there are a lot of players involved, it may be a struggle to physically find the space to place your chips. You’re spared all that when you’re playing at an online casino of course, be it virtual roulette or a live dealer game.
Pocket Roulette Wheel
Calculating Your Odds
There are basically two types of bets you can place in roulette: inside and outside. Outside bets have a greater chance of success because your odds are close to 50/50, whereas inside bets have greater odds but greater risk too. If you ever hear stories of individuals selling all their possessions, travelling to Vegas and betting everything on a spin of the roulette wheel, you can bet they’re putting it all on black or red. They could alternatively bet on Evens/Odds or 1 to 18/19 to 36 (also known as High or Low), which would give the same odds as red or black, but is perceived as being less romantic. ‘All on black’ just sounds more emphatic.
Other bets you could place are 1st Dozen, 2nd Dozen or 3rd Dozen, which offer odds of 2 to 1, the same as you’ll be offered for 1st Column, 2nd Column, 3rd Column. Six Line is any six numbers from two rows, Corner is any four numbers in a block and Street is any three numbers horizontal. Basket is 0, 1, 2 or 0, 2, 3 and Split is any two numbers vertical or horizontal, odds for which will come in at 17 to 1. That just leaves Straight Up, where you wager on a single number but are rewarded with the most handsome odds of all – 35 to 1.
The House Edge
The casino has to take its cut, because nothing in life comes for free, and that cut comes when the ball lands on zero. When that happens, the casino makes its cut. When you’re playing American roulette, there are two zeroes to contend with (that’s why it’s also sometimes called double zero roulette) and thus the house edge is increased. The zero and double zero sit opposite one another on the American roulette wheel and are usually marked in green.
Fun fact: when you’re playing European roulette on the other hand, sometimes also referred to as French roulette, you don’t automatically lose when the ball lands on zero: instead the ball is classified as being “in prison” and your wager remains fixed in place for another spin. If this one fails to win, the chips go to the casino. The casino might profit when the ball lands on zero or double zero, but players are still allowed to bet on this position.
Choosing Your Strategy
If you’re averse to risk, or to high degrees of risk at least, it stands to reason you’ll want to avoid inside bets as these have the lowest chance of success. Although you don’t need to memorise the odds and bet names to be successful at roulette, it’s good to have a rough idea of what your approximate return will be.
Don’t simply place scattershot bets and hope for the best: master your strategy and then make every spin count. Get your strategy right and those rewards can be substantial.
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Join Britannica's Publishing Partner Program and our community of experts to gain a global audience for your work!Roulette, (from French: “small wheel”), gambling game in which players bet on which red or black numbered compartment of a revolving wheel a small ball (spun in the opposite direction) will come to rest within. Bets are placed on a table marked to correspond with the compartments of the wheel. It is played in casinos worldwide. Roulette is a banking game, and all bets are placed against the bank—that is, the house, or the proprietor of the game. As a big-time betting game, it has had its popularity superseded in the United States and the Caribbean islands by others, notably craps, blackjack, and poker.
Fanciful stories about the origin of roulette include its invention by the 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal, by a French monk, and by the Chinese, from whom it was supposedly transmitted to France by Dominican monks. In reality, roulette was derived in France in the early 18th century from the older games hoca and portique, and it is first mentioned under its current name in 1716 in Bordeaux. Following several modifications, roulette achieved its present layout and wheel structure about 1790, after which it rapidly gained status as the leading game in the casinos and gambling houses of Europe. During the years 1836 to 1933, roulette was banned in France.
Equipment
The roulette table is composed of two sections, the wheel itself and the betting layout, better known as the roulette layout. There are two styles of roulette tables. One has a single betting layout with the roulette wheel at one end, and the other has two layouts with the wheel in the centre. The wheel spins horizontally.
Heading the layout design, which is printed on green baize, is a space containing the figure 0 (European style) or the figures 0 and 00 (American style, although such wheels were used also in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries). The main portion of the design is composed of 36 consecutively numbered rectangular spaces, alternately coloured red and black and arranged in three columns of 12 spaces each, beginning with 1 at the top and concluding with 36 at the bottom. Directly below the numbers are three blank spaces (on some layouts these are marked “2 to 1” and are located on the players’ side of the table). On either side of these or along one side of the columns are rectangular spaces marked “1st 12,” “2nd 12,” and “3rd 12” on American-style layouts. On European-style layouts these terms are “12p” (première), “12m” (milieu), and “12d” (dernière douzaine). Six more spaces are marked “red” (rouge), “black” (noir), “even” (pair), “odd” (impair), “1–18” (low, or manque), and “19–36” (high, or passe).
The roulette wheel consists of a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape. Around its rim are metal partitions known as separators or frets, and the compartments or pockets between these are called canoes by roulette croupiers. Thirty-six of these compartments, painted alternately red and black, are numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. On European-style wheels a 37th compartment, painted green, carries the sign 0, and on American wheels two green compartments on opposite sides of the wheel carry the signs 0 and 00. The wheel, its spindle perfectly balanced, spins smoothly in an almost frictionless manner.
The standard roulette table employs up to 10 sets of wheel checks (usually called chips). Each set is differently coloured; each traditionally consists of 300 chips; and there is one set for each player. The chips usually have a single basic value, although some casinos also sell chips of lesser value. The colour of the chips indicates the player, not the value of the chips. If a player wishes to buy chips of slightly higher value, the croupier places a marker indicating that value on top of the table’s stack of chips of the colour corresponding to the chips purchased. Most casinos also have high-value chips that can be wagered at any gaming table. Unlike roulette chips, these have their numbered values printed on them.
Roulette Wheel Of Pocket
Bets
It is possible to place the following bets in roulette: (1) straight, or single-number (en plein), in which the chips are placed squarely on one number of the layout, including 0 (and also 00 on American layouts), so that the chips do not touch any of the lines enclosing the number; a winning single-number bet pays 35 to 1 (for each unit bet, a winning player receives his original bet and 35 matching units); (2) split, or 2-number (à cheval), in which the chips are placed on any line separating any two numbers; if either wins, payoff odds are 17 to 1; (3) street, or 3-number (transversale pleine), in which the chips are placed on the outside line of the layout, betting the three numbers opposite the chips; payoff odds on any of the three numbers are 11 to 1; (4) square, quarter, corner, or 4-number (en carré), in which the chips are placed on the intersection of the lines between any four numbers; payoff odds are 8 to 1; (5) line, or 6-number (sixaine or transversale six), in which the chips are placed on the intersection of the sideline and a line between two “streets”; payoff odds are 5 to 1; (6) column (colonne), or 12-number, in which the chips are placed on one of the three blank spaces (some layouts have three squares, marked “1st,” “2nd,” and “3rd”) at the bottom of the layout, thus betting the 12 numbers above the space; payoff odds are 2 to 1; (7) dozens (douzaine), or 12-number, in which the chips are placed on one of the spaces of the layout marked “12,” betting the numbers 1–12, 13–24, or 25–36; payoff odds are 2 to 1; (8) low-number or high-number, in which the chips are placed on the layout space marked “1–18” (manque) or on the space marked “19–36” (passe); payoff is even money; (9) black or red, in which the chips are placed on a space of the layout marked “black” (noir) or on a space marked “red” (rouge; some layouts have a large black or red diamond-shaped design instead of the words); payoff is even money; (10) odd-number or even-number, in which the chips are placed on the space of the layout marked “odd” (impair) or on the space marked “even” (pair); payoff is even money.
On layouts with a single zero (European style), the 0 may be included in a 2-number bet with any adjoining number, in a 3-number bet with 1 and 2 or with 2 and 3, and in a 4-number bet with 1, 2, and 3 at the regular odds for these bets. With the American-style 0 and 00, a 5-number line bet also is possible, the player placing his chips on the corner intersection of the line separating the 1, 2, 3 from the 0 and 00, with payoff odds of 6 to 1.
The play
The game begins when one of the croupiers (dealers) in attendance calls for the players to make their bets, which they do by placing chips on the spaces of the layout on any number, group, or classification they hope will win.
The croupier usually starts the wheel spinning in a counterclockwise direction and then spins a small ivory or plastic ball onto the bowl’s back track in the opposite direction. Players may continue to place bets while the wheel and ball are in motion until the ball slows down and is about to drop off the back track, at which time one of the croupiers announces that no more bets may be made.
When the ball falls and comes to rest between any two metal partitions of the wheel, it marks the winning number (or a 0 or 00), the winning colour, and any other permitted bet that pertains to a winning number or symbol. The dealer immediately announces the winning number and its colour and places a special marker on the corresponding number on the layout. He first collects all losing bets, not disturbing the chips that are resting on winning spaces, and then pays off any winning bets.