Roulette has been offering glamour, mystery and excitement to casino-goers since the 17th century. Its relatively simple rules and surprisingly high rewards have made it one of the most popular casino games in the world. It is easy enough to pick up and play, but it offers a surprising level of depth for serious betters who take the time to study the game.
There are two categories of bets in roulette: inside and outside bets. Inside bets include bets on individual numbers, or groups of numbers in a row on the table map. There are also bets on lines, or squares. Each of these bets pays a different amount depending on the location of the winning number on the wheel and layout.
The outside bets in roulette are made by placing chips on a group of numbers on the table map, or “dozens.” Each dozen contains 12 numbers. You can bet on either the first or last dozen, or on both. The odds of the winning number being in any of these dozens are 2-1. If the ball lands in a 0, or on a double zero, all outside bets lose.
Unlike other casino games, in which players use regular chips, in roulette each player receives colored chips of a specific denomination. The dealer, or croupier, asks each player what denomination they want to designate for their chip. The dealer then marks the chip with this information and hands it to the player.
When the bets are placed, the croupier spins the roulette wheel. The ball then bounces around the wheel until it comes to rest in a compartment marked with a number. If the ball has landed in a bet you have won!
The roulette wheel is a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape. Around its perimeter are metal separators or frets, and the compartments between them, called canoes by roulette croupiers, are painted alternately red and black and numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. On European-style wheels, a 37th compartment painted green carries the sign of 0, and on American roulette wheels there are two green compartments on opposite sides of the wheel carrying the signs of 0 and 00. These compartments are arranged in such a way that the odds of the ball landing on any given number are evenly balanced.