The Basics of Roulette

Roulette is a casino game played with a rotating wheel and a ball that is dropped into one of numbered compartments on the wheel. Bets are made on which red or black numbered compartment the ball will fall into as the wheel spins and comes to rest. The numbering on a European-style wheel alternates red and black with a single zero (on American wheels there are two extra green compartments marked 00). The game emerged more than 300 years ago, at the end of the 17th century, and was probably derived from earlier games including hoca and portique. It became a popular game in casinos and gambling dens across Europe and was brought to America by French settlers and eventually spread from New Orleans up the Mississippi and westward.

Players place their bets by laying chips on a betting mat with specific positions for each bet type. Each bet type is based on a particular probability and has its own paytable. A winning bet is paid out immediately. The player’s original stake remains their property, and in the absence of a request to the contrary, will be left up for a future round.

The most common bets are Straight-Up, Split and Corner. Straight-Up is a bet on an individual number and is easy to make. Split bets select two numbers and require that you place your chips on the line connecting these numbers. A Corner bet picks four numbers and pays out if any of them win.

There are also a variety of other special bets which can be placed depending on whether the ball lands in a low or high numbered pocket, on odd or even, or on if the number is high or low. These bets can be made by placing chips on a dedicated section of the table or utilizing the Dozens and Columns sections of the betting mat.