Roullete (pronounced: roo-lay) is a casino game in which players place bets on which number or grouping of numbers a small ball will land in as the revolving disc comes to rest. The rules are simple, and the game is very popular in both land-based casinos and online. The odds of winning are approximately 50%. There are many different bet types, and some have higher house edges than others, so it’s important to know the odds before placing your chips on the table.
Roulette first appeared in the casinos of Europe around the 17th Century, and was probably derived from older games like hoca and portique. Its present layout and wheel structure were probably developed in the late 18th Century. There are a variety of fanciful stories about the origin of the game, including the 17th century French mathematician Blaise Pascal and Dominican monks.
The roulette wheel consists of a solid wooden disk, slightly convex in shape, with a metal spindle and 37 numbered compartments or pockets, painted alternately red and black. There is also a single green compartment, called the “zero” in European wheels, and on American roulette wheels there are two green zeros. The thirty-six colored pockets, grouped nonconsecutively into twelve red and eight black groups, plus the single green compartment, are called a “canoe” by roulette croupiers. The roulette ball is released into the wheel from a trough, and as it slows down, bettors mark off or lay chips on the table map to indicate their choice of a particular number or combination of numbers.
After the wheel has stopped spinning, the dealer places a marker on the winning number and clears away losing bets. Then the winners are paid and new bets can be placed. Some players like to watch the other players, hoping that they can discern patterns in their behavior. But while this may be entertaining, it won’t improve the odds of winning more than luck will.
Roulette has evolved into a wide variety of games played in real-world casinos and at online gambling sites. Several variations have been developed, including multiball roulette with up to three balls and no-zero roulette, which eliminates the single-zero slot. There are also mini-roulette versions, with a smaller wheel and the ability to bet on just 12 numbers. Some casinos even offer a “La Partage” rule, which splits all even-money bets in half, keeping half for the house and giving the other half back to the player. This reduces the house edge to 1.35%, making it lower than that of American roulette.