Roulette is a traditional casino game and certainly one of the most famous, present in casinos all over the world and depicted in many films, TV shows and classic novels. The game was created in France, combining elements from an old Italian game with a device invented by a French physicist called Blaise Pascal. The game as we know today was first recorded in a novel by Jacques Lablee, in which French nobility played the game at a luxurious palace in Paris.
The game of roulette is favoured by many punters due to its straightforward rules and for being easy to play, as the bets are all visible in the table, and also for the variety of bets and the many ways to place chips on the table. It has been a staple at casinos since the start of the century, and it’s also the most recognizable casino game.
Roulette is also one of the most popular table games online, and it has been available on these websites since their creation in the 1990s. Currently, online casinos offer many variations of the game, including themed versions, live dealer games and novelty variants like multiball and pinball roulette. In this article, you’ll find a few tips that will help you get a better understanding of the game.
The basics
Players can choose from a wide array of bets and place their chips on the numbers field. The croupier then spins the wheel in one direction, and launches the ball on an inside track in the opposite direction. After the wheel spins for some time, the dealer announces that no more bets can be placed. The ball then stops at a pocket that is designated by a number and a color – red, black, or green for zero pockets. The croupier places a marker on the winning number, called a dolly, and begins collecting chips and paying winners.
Wheel layout
The game is divided into two main variants, French roulette and American roulette, and the main difference between the two is the wheel layout. The French wheel has 36 number pockets and only one zero pocket marked in green. The numbers are laid out to alternate and spread odd and even numbers, highs and lows, reds and blacks. Amounting to 37 pockets, the French version has a house advantage of just 2.7%.
The American wheel has 36 numbers as well, but it presents both a single zero and a double zero pocket. But the numbers are not as spread as in the French variant, and are laid out in a random pattern, so some numbers from the same group are placed in adjacent tiles. With 38 pockets in total, the American wheel has a higher house edge of 5.26%.
Bets
In standard games, roulette bets are divided into two categories: inside and outside bets. Inside bets have higher payouts but lower odds, which means players have fewer chances of winning. There are six inside bets in the roulette field:
- Straight – single number; including zeros
- Split – two numbers; chips are placed on the line separating any two numbers
- Street – three numbers; chips placed on the line of three consecutive numbers
- Corner – four numbers; chips on the corner joining any four numbers
- Line – six numbers; chips on two lines of three consecutive numbers
- Five – on an American table, this is a bet on the number 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3. On the French version, it represents a bet on 0, 1, 2 and 3.
The outside bets have higher odds, meaning players have more chances of winning, but with lower payouts, usually 1:1. These bets represent wagers on different ranges of numbers, and punters win with any winning number within these ranges. There are six outside bets as well:
- Red or black
- Even or odd
- Low (1-18) or high (19-36)
- First dozen (1-12), second dozen (13-24), and third dozen (25-36)
- Columns (one of three columns of 12 numbers)
Strategies
Roulette is a game of chance, so luck is much more attributed than any other factor, and there aren’t proper strategies that can improve your chances of winning, or tricks like counting cards. The best way of improving winnings is to select the variants with the lower house edge and the higher payouts.
You can also consider using one of the betting systems that can be applied to many casino games, like the Martingale, the Reverse Martingale and the D’Alembert systems. However, most of these systems are based on the gambler’s fallacy and can lead bettors to huge losses.
