Roulette is one of the world’s most famous casino games and provides an exciting, glamourous and high-risk gambling experience. It’s also a game with a surprising level of depth for serious betters and the right strategy can reap high rewards. In this article we’ll look at the basics of the game and how to make your bankroll last longer while playing roulette.
A Roulette Wheel
The roulette wheel consists of a solid, slightly convex wooden disk with metal separators or frets around its edge and thirty-six compartments or pockets, painted alternately red and black. There is a green compartment labelled 0 on European-style wheels and two of them, labeled 00 on American-style wheels. The numbers, from 1 to 36, are arranged in groups of three and four, with the exception of the single zero and double zero, which are separated by six other compartments. A croupier or dealer, known as the rouleur, spins the wheel and then pushes a small ball into a corresponding compartment.
During the game players place bets on the number, section or color of the wheel that the ball will land on. Outside bets include all red-black, odd-even, first and second dozen etc. Players then watch as the croupier or dealer spins the wheel and throws the ball into a numbered compartment in the table. If the player’s bet won they get paid out according to the odds of the wager.
There are many different roulette variants but we recommend novice players to always play the European version. This has a lower house edge of 2.7% than the American variety and this makes it more likely for you to win.
Roulette has a long and mysterious history. It’s alleged to have been invented in the 17th century by French mathematician Blaise Pascal and it spread quickly to France’s illegal gambling dens. It then made its way up the Mississippi and westward, where it adapted rapidly in the face of rampant cheating by gamblers and operators alike.