Roullete is a casino game in which the player wagers on the outcome of a spin of a numbered wheel. The bettor can select either a single number, various groupings of numbers, the color red or black, whether the number is odd or even, or if it falls within certain value ranges. The winner is determined when the ball comes to rest in one of the number slots.
While roulette is often portrayed as a simple game of chance, it offers surprising depth to serious betters. The rules are straightforward and the house edge low, but winnings can be significant. Baccarat and Roulette have offered glamour, mystery, and excitement to casino-goers since the 17th century, but they differ in key ways that make them unique.
The wheel used in the game of roulette consists of a solid, slightly convex disk with a trough around its rim that contains metal compartments (known as separators or frets by croupiers) and thirty-six of them are painted alternately red and black; a 37th, green, division is present on European-style wheels and two green compartments are present on American-style wheels. A small ball, a bit of ivory originally, is spun around the inside of the wheel and bounces until it finally stops in one of the compartments. A successful bet wins the player a prize equal to the amount of money placed on it.
Prior to the spinning of the ball, players place bets on what number or types of numbers they think will come up by laying down chips on a betting mat with their precise location indicating the bet being made. Bets on six numbers or less cost more and pay out 392 chips if they win; those on 12 numbers or more are called “Outside bets.”
There are many fanciful stories surrounding the origin of roulette, including that it was invented by the 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal, a Dominican monk, or by the Chinese. In any event, the game reached its present form by the late 1790s and became the most popular casino game in Europe.