Roulette has offered glamour, mystery and excitement to casino-goers since its inception in the 17th century. It’s now a staple at online and land-based casinos, and it’s one of the most popular games in the world. It’s also a game that offers surprisingly deep strategy for the serious player.
In the game of Roullete, players place their chips on a betting mat and then wait for the dealer to spin the wheel. The ball then lands in one of the many divisions around the edge of the wheel. If the ball hits your selected number, you win a payout that is proportional to the amount of chips you wagered. The game of Roulette has a number of different types of bets, including straight, corner, and split bets. Each type of bet has a different paytable and varying odds.
A Roulette wheel consists of a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape and surrounded by metal separators called frets, or compartments, that resemble a pinwheel. Thirty-six of these compartments, painted alternately red and black, are numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. A green compartment carries the number 0, while two red ones carry the numbers 1, 2, and 3. The roulette table has a map with the various bets labelled. Each player is assigned a color of chips to distinguish them from other players. It’s recommended that spouses stay separated at a roulette table. When a winning bet is made, the losing bets are cleared off the table and the winner’s chips are paid out to them.
During the early 19th century, a single-zero pocket was added to the European version of the game. This reduced the house edge and boosted its popularity. The new game spread quickly from France to gambling dens in the American Continent, and eventually made its way up the Mississippi River to New Orleans. There it developed into the American roulette wheel and table.
