Roulette is a casino game played on a circular table with a spinning wheel. Players place bets on numbers, colors, or groups and watch the dealer spin the wheel and drop a ball.

The roulette wheel consists of thirty-six red and black compartments (called frets by roulette croupiers) numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. The wheel also contains two green pockets labelled 0 and 00 on American-style wheels.

Origin

There are a few theories surrounding the origin of roulette. One is that the game was invented by the 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal while trying to develop a perpetual motion machine. It is also said that a Chinese version of the game was brought to France by Dominican monks and then spread throughout Europe.

The word ‘roulette’ is derived from the Latin rotella or little wheel. It is thought that this is a reference to early games similar to roulette, such as portique, hoca, bassette and roly poly.

In the late 1700s, the Blanc brothers modified a roulette wheel to remove the double zero, giving us the modern European-style roulette wheel that is still used today. This version of the game became popular with the upper class and royalties in France.

Variations

There are many roulette variants available, each with its own unique game play experience and payout structure. Some are more suitable for beginners than others, depending on their skill level and knowledge of the game. For example, some variants feature additional bets or special rules, while others have a higher house edge.

The most common variation is European Roulette, which features 38 pockets and a single zero. This makes it a simpler and more straightforward game to play. Other variations include Double Ball, which follows the same European Roulette layout but uses two balls instead of one. The house edge for this game is lower, but the payouts are smaller. Lighting Roulette, on the other hand, offers high payouts for straight bonus wins. Players can win up to 1:12,000 for this variant.