Roullete is a game that combines glamour and mystery with a surprising level of depth for serious players. It involves a spinning wheel and a small ball that settles on a number or grouping of numbers. If you bet correctly on the number, its color (red or black), whether it’s odd or even, and/or one of two value ranges – high or low – you win money.
Roulette is one of the few casino games that attracts large crowds of people. The game is particularly popular in Monte Carlo and other European casinos. Despite this, it doesn’t draw the same numbers as slot machines or video poker and is losing ground to games such as blackjack and craps.
Before playing, determine the size of your betting unit based on your bankroll and stick to it, even if you win multiple rounds in a row. This will keep you from over-betting or risking more than you can afford to lose.
A roulette wheel is a solid wooden disk that’s slightly convex in shape with metal partitions, called frets, around its rim. The compartments are painted red and black, except for a green compartment that carries the sign of 0 on European wheels and a green pocket with the sign of 00 on American ones.
When you’re ready to play, place your chips on the roulette table in front of the dealer. The dealer will then spin the wheel in one direction and roll a small ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track that runs along the outside edge of the wheel. When the wheel stops, the dealer will clear off losing bets and pay winners before starting a new round.
The house edges for roulette bets vary, but aren’t as varied as those for craps. For instance, a straight bet on number 1 costs 17 chips to complete and pays 392 chips if it wins.
The house edge for roulette is lower in the European version of the game, which doesn’t have a double-zero. In the United States, however, a single-zero wheel can raise the house edge to as high as 7.89 percent.