Roulette is a casino game that brings glamour, mystery, and excitement to online and land-based casinos all around the world. It is easy to learn and offers a surprising amount of depth for players who choose to take it seriously. But before you get involved with this game, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the rules and types of bets.
Roulette was invented in the late 1700s and soon became a fixture in many gambling dens throughout Europe and America. Nowadays, a casino isn’t a casino without at least one roulette table on offer. But not all casinos and roulette games are created equal. Each has its subtle differences that are important for the player to understand in order to maximize their chances of winning.
The most common and widely played variation of Roulette is European Roulette. This variant features a single zero pocket that dramatically reduces the house edge to a coveted 1.35%, making it the best-in-class roulette game in terms of winning probabilities. The other main roulette version is the American Roulette, which differs primarily in the layout of its wheel and betting board, which was developed to prevent cheating devices from being used by players and dealers alike.
Before the dealer spins the wheel, players place their chips on the roulette board. They can make bets on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the color red or black, odd or even, or a combination of these choices. Bets placed on the numbered pockets are called inside bets, and those on other sections of the board are called outside bets. The payout odds for each type of bet are based on the probability that the ball will land in the chosen pocket.
The roulette wheel consists of a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape, with a rim that’s divided into thirty-six compartments or ‘pockets’ painted alternately red and black. The compartments are separated by metal separators, or ‘frets’ that the croupiers call “canoes” in French. Two green compartments, marked 0 and 0, are also on the American wheel.