A beginners guide to Roulette

Who would have thought that a game of trying to predict where a ball would land on a rotating wheel could be popular? Well, believe me, it is. The number of people generally huddled around a roulette table in a casino will show you how popular the game of roulette has become principally because the basics of the game are so easy to pick up and the rewards are potentially huge, although it's fair to say that luck will play a huge part in you landing the larger payouts.

History of Roulette

Roulette originated from France with records showing that the game was played as early as the 17th century. it wasn't until 1842 though that the Blanc brothers decided to add a zero to the wheel, which ultimately gave the house an edge over its players. At the beginning of 19th century, the game spread to the United States where an additional zero was added to the wheel giving the house an even larger edge. There is a myth that one of the Blanc brothers ended up selling his sole to the devil in exchange for information on how to create European Roulette. This story seems to stem from the fact that if you add up all of the numbers from one to 37 (the number of compartments on a Roulette wheel), they total 666 - the supposed 'number of the beast.' As with most myths, this story has never been proven though.

Objective

As mentioned above, the general aim when playing Roulette is to try to predict where a white ball will land on each spin of the roulette wheel. Before the ball comes to a halt, players place a number of different bets on a specially designed table … and hope that Lady Luck is on their side!

Betting on Roulette

The types of bet open to a roulette player generally fall into two different categories. "Inside bets" which are much less likely to come off but offer a larger return on your initial stake and "Outside bets" which offer a smaller cash prize but are much more likely to be succesful. Inside Bets

• A straight up bet occurs when a bet is placed directly on one number. All chips must be placed on a particular square of the table without any of the box edges being touched. If you are correct in predicting where the ball will land, you will be paid 35x your initial cash stake.
• A split bet is where a wager is divided between two numbers. Chips are placed on the dividing line between the two chosen numbers before the ball comes to land. If one of these numbers comes in, the player will be awarded 17x their initial stake
• A street bet is similar to a split bet although the player splits their bet between three different numbers rather than two. A winning bet will pay the player 11x their initial stake.
• A corner bet is divided between four different numbers. Chips are placed so that a part of the chip is in all four of the relevant boxes on the table. When succesful, the player will receive 8x their original bet.
• A line bet is split across six numbers in two different rows. Chips must be placed so that a portion of the chip stack is in each box. A winning bet will be multiplied 5x when the player's prediction is correct

Outside Bets

• A column bet occurs when a player places a chip stack at the bottom of the table to cover an entire column of numbers. If the ball lands on a number in this column, the player will win 3x his/her initial stake.
• A dozen bet covers twelve different numbers. A player must decide to bet on numbers 1-12, 13-24 or 25-36 by placing chips in specially designated boxes to the side of the main betting area. If a player predicts correctly then they will win 3x their initial stake amount.
• A colour bet allows a Roulette player to make a straight decision between whether they think the ball will land on a red number of a black number. Chips need to be placed in a one of two specially designated boxes (one with a red diamond, the other black diamond) and a correct guess will see the player double their chip stack
• An even/odd bet gives players the option to guess whether the final number will be odd or even. A correct guess will see the player double his/her chip stack.
• A low-high bet offers players a split decision between whether they believe the final number will be between 1-18 or 19-36. Again, there are specially designated betting boxes for players to place their chips into and they stand to double their initial stake if they are correct in their predictions.

Zero Rule

Have a hunt around for the best online casino for you. The reason for this is that some casinos will allow you to bet on the number zero and pay you accordingly when it comes in. However, it's important to check before playing as many casinos will deem all bets losing bets, if the ball lands in the area marked zero on the wheel.

Different Varieties of Roulette

There are two different varieties of Roulette. The most commonly seen game isknown as "European Roulette" and is played on a wheel containing 37 numbered slots: a single slot labelled zero (0) and 36 other slots numbered 1-36. The odds of a player winning on this type of wheel is much higher than in the other variety of Roulette: American Roulette.

In American Roulette, an extra slot is added giving a total of 38 different slots on the wheel. This extra slot is usually labelled a double zero (00)