Roulette is one of the most popular casino games. Its origin is disputed but it probably evolved from earlier games like Roly Poly and Even Odd and the Italian game Biribi. The game reached its modern form around 1790 in France and soon became a fixture at casinos and gambling dens throughout Europe. The house edge in roulette varies but is usually lower than that in craps.
Players make bets by laying down chips on a betting mat, the precise placement of which indicates the type of bet being made. Bets can be made on a single number, various groupings of numbers, red or black, odd or even, high or low and whether the numbers are in the first, second or third dozen. Bets on six or less numbers are called “Inside bets”. Bets on more than 12 are referred to as “Outside bets”.
The wheel is a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape with metal divisions around its perimeter, known as separators or frets. The divisions are painted alternately red and black and numbered 1 to 36, with a green compartment labelled 0 on European-style wheels and two extra green compartments marked 00 on American ones.
When the croupier drops the ball into the wheel it will land in one of the compartments and if there are winners they will be paid according to their betting odds. Depending on the bet placed there may be additional rules that apply such as those governing the placement of numbers in the “0” and “00” compartments.
A number of different systems have been developed to beat the house edge in roulette. Many are simple and some are ludicrous but others, such as the James Bond strategy, combining a number of bets to give you the best odds of winning requires a substantial bankroll.