How to play roulette

One of the most popular casino games, which has spread well beyond the gambling zones, is roulette. Its principle is used in many online games, and the minimum entry threshold ensures roulette’s popularity. But newcomers to the casino market often have questions on how to grasp the basic rules of roulette.

History and Rules

Although there is no official confirmation, many sources point out that French mathematician Blaise Pascal was the inventor of roulette. After all, the very definition of the word came from the French roulette (wheel). Currently, there are a few popular kinds of roulette: American and European.

They differ only in the number of cells. The American has 38 (zero and double zero), and the European has 37 (zero). All sections of the roulette wheel are numbered from 1 to 36. These alternate by colour and the zero is marked in green.

Before the wheel is unwound the dealer takes the bets. Players place their chips on the table. When the dealer finishes taking bets, the ball goes around the roulette wheel. If the ball stops in one of the boxes, it either wins the player’s money or cuts off the player’s bankroll.

In the case of a guessed number, the bet is calculated with odds of 35. A guessing a colour will bring the player a win at odds of 2.

Betting and payout

Professional casinos divide roulette bets. Typically, bets are divided into internal and external bets.

Internal

These include bets on a certain number. For example, if a player puts 1000 roubles on the number 35, and it doesn’t fall out, the bet amount is completely burned. If, however, the number does come up, he gets 35000 roubles.

The player is allowed to bet on two numbers. The numbers can be adjacent, but the odds drop to 17. Some casinos allow you to bet on three numbers as well. Also in American Roulette define the following types of bets:

Corner – a bet on four numbers when the chip is placed in the connecting corner of them. The odds are 8.
Street – placing in a horizontal strip, odds are 11.

Outside Bets

If we’ve talked about inside-the-field (exclusively numbers) betting before, here we’ll talk about outside-the-field betting. It is more varied, but the odds are much lower.

Three dozen – bets on the numbers 0-12, 13-24, 25-36. If the player is able to guess which sector the ball will fall into, the bet is calculated at odds of 3;
Vertical columns – a bet on hitting the ball in a cell, which is located in one of the three selected columns;
Colour – the most common type of bet. The player must guess the colour of the cell in which the ball hits. The odds are 2;
Evenness – a player guesses the evenness of the dropped out number. Factor – 2;
Small/Small – sector 0-18 means small numbers and 19-36 – big numbers. Odds of guessing a sector is 2.

Interesting facts

The order of placement of roulette colours has not changed since the 19th century.
Roulette’s popularity only increased after the banning of casinos in the 20th century in the United States.
One of the most famous domestic roulette fans was Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. He spent a lot of time in casinos, which inspired the great writer to write his novel The Gambler.

Strategies

Beginners, as well as professionals, are convinced that there is a pattern in roulette and it is quite realistic to derive. Many players have already tried to create their own strategies, but there is no single correct and winning one. There are only tactics that bring winnings over a short distance. One of the most popular is the Martingale principle, where a player doubles each of the following bets to make a profit.