When you play roulette, you bet on a number or small group of numbers. These bets fall into two categories: inside bets and outside bets. Each has different payout odds and risks.

The wheel has 37 red and black compartments numbered 1 to 36 (American roulettes have a green 0 and 00). Bets are placed until the dealer says, “No more bets.”

Origin

The word roullete is French for wheel and the game itself emerged in France in about 1790. Its earliest Parisian wheels were painted red and black, a convention that later morphed into the standard green zero pockets we recognize today. Roulette quickly grew in popularity because it was easy to play and offered a wide range of betting options that allowed for dramatic swings in fortune, unlike the more deterministic dice or card games. This duality-mathematically precise yet existentially random-explains the game’s symbolic appeal.

It crossed the Atlantic with the settlers of New Orleans and became a fixture in the city’s gambling houses. From there it spread throughout the world, establishing itself as the aristocrat of chance games and overshadowing dice and card games.