Roulette is a casino classic, a game that has been around in its modern form for more than 200 years.
Its roots are in an English game called “roly-poly,” invented in 1720. The roly-poly wheel was divided into black and white slots. There were no numbers. Wagering was the equivalent of betting red or black on today’s wheels.
Roly-poly was banned in the United Kingdom, but the wheel made its way across the English Channel... The French developed it into roulette, with modern-looking wheels complete with 0 and 00 traced to Paris in 1796.
Today, roulette is well entrenched as a casino option. Its popularity is stronger in Europe than in the United States, largely due to better odds. But both online and offline, a steady stream of players keep roulette tables busy around the world.
Roulette is easy to play. There are no complex strategies to learn. But you do need to know how the bets work.
The wheel is divided by frets (or virtual frets) into segments for numbers 1 through 36, a 0 and, sometimes, a 00. In the United States, most wheels have both 0 and 00, but in Europe wheels with a single 0 are more popular.
Usually, most of the wheel is made of highly polished wood, but the numbered segments and frets nearest the wheel center are metallic.
The backgrounds for 18 numbers are black, while another 18 are red. Backgrounds for 0 and 00 are green.
Segments are not arranged in numerical order but do alternate red and black numbers. On a double-zero wheel, for example, 0 has black 2 to its left, then red 14, and to its right, red 9 and black 26. On a single-zero wheel, 0 has black 26 to its left, the red 3, and to its right, black 15 and red 19.
The wheel has a handle on top, used by the dealer to give it a spin.
Online, this is done with a virtual representation of a ball and wheel, and the result is determined by a random number generator.
The numbered grid is for what are termed “inside bets.” Just below the grid and to one side are areas for “outside bets” in which you bet on 12 or 18 numbers at once.
At the bottom of the grid are spaces marked “2-to-1.” These are to bet on columns formed by numbers on the layout. For example, the first column contains 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31 and 34.
On the side of the layout nearest the first column are spaces marked red, black – usually with red or black rectangles or diamonds instead of words – as well as even, odd, 1 to 18, 19 to 36, first 12, second 12 and third 12.
If you bet on black, you win if the ball lands on any black number. If you bet on a column, you win if the ball lands on any number in that column. These are all easy bets that give you multiple chances to win.
For example, if the placard says “$5 minimum, $1 each inside bet,” it means that to play red or black, odd or even, or other outside bets, each bet must be at least $5. On inside bets on the numbered spaces, you must bet a total of $5, but it can be broken down into several wagers as long as each is at least $1.
Offline, some roulette games have electronic betting pads that allow players to bet in a similar manner.
However, many offline tables, including the large majority in the United States, have players place physical chips on the layout.
Each player who buys in at a roulette table is given his or her own color chips. This is for the dealer’s convenience. Players usually make several bets at once, spreading chips around the layout, and the colors tell the dealers which players to pay off.
When you buy roulette chips, you tell the dealer what denomination the chips will be. At a $5 minimum table with $1 minimums on inside bets, a low roller might want his chips to be valued at $1. Then if you buy in for $50, you will bet 50 chips and the dealer will put a $1 marker atop a chip of your color to tell him its value.
When you finish playing, the dealer will take any roulette chips you have and give you casino chips to take to the cage to cash in. The roulette chips themselves might have a different value for the next player, so they can’t be taken directly to the cage.
** SPLITS (two numbers): Pays 17-1. Place chips on the line between two numbers.
** STREETS (three numbers): Pays 11-1. Place chips on the line outside a row, and all three numbers in the row win.
** CORNERS (four numbers): Pays 8-1. Place chips at the intersection of four numbers.
** BASKET (five numbers): Pays 6-1. Available only on double-zero wheels, place chips at the corner line between 0 and 1, and 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3 are all winners.
** DOUBLE STREET (six numbers): Pays 5-1. Place chips outside two rows, straddling the line between them.
You get 18 numbers on red or black, odd or even, or first 18 or second 18, and payoffs are 1-1.
On a double-zero wheel, the payoff on a single-number bet is 35-1. However, the true odds are 37-1 – 37 losing numbers and only one winner.
That yields a house edge of 5.26 percent. Any bet can win or lose on any spin, but over extended play, the house expects to keep an average of $5.26 of every $100 wagered.
On a double-zero wheel, every wager except the basket has a 5.26 percent house edge. On the basket, the edge rises to 7.89 percent, making it a bet to avoid.
On single-zero wheels, the difference between payoffs and true odds is less, and the house edge is reduced to 2.7 percent.
Some casinos have special rules that reduce the edge on some bets. In Atlantic City, the casino takes only half your bet when the ball lands in 0 or 00 on 18-number bets such as red or black. That drops the edge to 2.63 percent.
The reality is that results are almost always random, whether by a random number generator online or by a wheel given proper maintenance online. With extended play, the odds of the game will lead toward an edge for the house.