Roulette, which means little wheel in French, is a casino game that has many different betting options. It involves spinning a numbered wheel and predicting the number the ball will land in. The game can be found at most casinos, but there are some key things to keep in mind if you want to play the best version of it.
A standard roulette table has a round, red and black layout that goes in numerical order, with the numbers alternating between odd and even. A croupier spins a ball around the outside of this bowl-shaped table, while a track runs along the inside. The number slots are numbered and a green compartment, called a “canoe,” on European wheels and two green ones on American wheels each carry the number 0.
There are other interesting symmetries to look out for. On the European wheel, for example, the low red numbers and high black numbers are on one side of the zero, and the other contains the second dozen (29-7-28-12-35-3-26-0-32), which gives you odds of 2-1.
When the croupier announces that betting for a round is closed, players will place their bets on the number they think the ball will land in. Each player receives a color of chips to help differentiate their bets from each other, and you can only bet with those chips. Once you’re ready to leave the table, you give them to the dealer and they will exchange them for normal casino chips.
The Roulette Wheel
The Roulette wheel consists of a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape with a metal track that is engraved with numbers and slits, which are called compartments by roulette croupiers. Thirty-six of these compartments, painted alternately red and black, are numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36; on European wheels a 37th pocket carries the sign 0 and on American wheels there are two additional green pockets that also have the sign 0.
A croupier spins the ball in a circular motion, and it lands in one of the pockets. If you’ve bet on the right number, you win! The payout for this bet is equal to the total value of your bet.
