The Basics of Roulette
Roulette is a gambling game in which players place bets on which number or type of number the ball will land in as it spins around the wheel. The game has attracted countless gamblers from all over the world who hope to beat the house edge and turn their bets into big wins. The rules of the game are relatively simple, but there is a surprising amount of depth to this casino classic.
Roulette was first developed by Frenchman Blaise Pascal in the 17th century. Although he was originally looking for a way to create a perpetual motion machine, his invention ended up being something completely different. More than 300 years later, the game of Roulette continues to offer glamour, mystery and excitement to casino-goers around the world.
The roulette wheel consists of a solid, slightly convex disk with 36 compartments painted alternately red and black, and numbered 1 to 36. There is also a green division marked 0 on the European wheel and two green compartments labelled 00 on the American wheel. A croupier spinning the wheel will release a ball into one of the compartments where it will eventually come to rest. The player’s bets are placed on a table marked to correspond with the compartments on the wheel.
Before a single chip is placed, the table is clearly labeled with the minimum and maximum betting limits. The table also includes a description of the odds and payouts on each type of bet. In addition, the dealer will tell you how many chips it takes to “complete” a bet. For example, a straight bet will require 36 chips to complete, while a dozen bet will only require 12.
After the bets are placed, the dealer spins the wheel and announces the winning number. The losing bets are cleared off the table, and the winners get paid. Then the process starts again. If you win a bet, be sure to cash out your winnings as soon as possible and don’t dip into them for future bets.
A common mistake that some people make is to use a roulette system to try and improve their odds of winning. A simple search on Google will return millions of systems for playing (and supposedly winning) roulette, some easy to understand and others very complex. But no system can overcome the house edge, which is always about 1.35 percent.
Before playing, choose a roulette table that fits your budget. The roulette tables at online casinos will usually carry placards indicating the minimum and maximum bet amounts. You can also look for the roulette tables that feature a “la partage” rule, which reduces the house edge on even-odds bets that lose to zero by giving half of the money back to the player. You can also use an online casino’s practice play mode to test out your strategies. This is a great way to familiarize yourself with the rules of the game before you play for real money.
