Roulette (from French: “little wheel”) is a gambling game in which participants wager on whether a tiny ball (spinning in the opposite direction) will land in a red or black numbered compartment of a revolving wheel. Bets are put on a table with compartments labelled to match to the wheel’s compartments. It is a game that is played in casinos all around the world. Roulette is a banking game, which means that all bets are put against the bank, often known as the house or the game’s proprietor. Other big-time betting games, such as craps, blackjack, and poker, have surpassed it in popularity in the United States and Caribbean islands.
Equipment
The wheel and the betting layout, sometimes known as the roulette layout, are the two elements of the roulette table. Roulette tables are divided into two types. The first has a single betting arrangement with the roulette wheel at one end, while the second has two betting layouts with the wheel in the middle. The wheel revolves in a horizontal direction.
Bets
In roulette, you can place the following wagers: (1) single-number (en plein), in which the chips are placed squarely on one number on the layout, such as 0 (and also 00 on American layouts), without touching any of the lines enclosing the number; (1) split, or 2-number (à cheval), in which the chips are placed on any line separating any two numbers; if either wins, the payoff odds are 17 to 1; (3) street, or 3-number (transversale pleine), in which the chips are placed on the outside line of the layout, betting the three numbers opposite the chips; (4) square, quarter, corner, or 4-number (en carré), in which the chips are placed on the intersection of the lines between any four numbers; payment odds on any of the three numbers are 11 to 1; payoff odds are 8 to 1; (5) line, or 6-number (sixaine or transversale six), in which the chips are placed on the intersection of the sideline and a line between two “streets”; payoff odds are 5 to 1; (6) column (colonne), or 12-number, in which the chips are placed on one of the three blank spaces (some layouts have three squares, marked “1st,” “2nd,” and “3rd”) at the bottom of (8) low-number or high-number, with chips set on the layout space designated “1–18” (manque) or “19–36” (passe); reward is even money. (9) black or red, in which the chips are placed on a layout spot labelled “black” (noir) or “red” (rouge); reward is even money; other layouts include a huge black or red diamond-shaped design instead of the words. (10) odd-number or even-number, where the chips are placed on the space marked “odd” (impair) or “even” (pair) on the layout; payment is even money.
The play is a comedy.
When one of the croupiers (dealers) in the room calls for the players to place their bets, they do so by placing chips on the squares of the layout on any number, group, or classification they think will win.
The croupier normally spins the wheel counterclockwise before spinning a little ivory or plastic ball in the opposite way onto the bowl’s rear track. While the wheel and ball are spinning, players can continue to put bets until the ball slows down and is about to fall off the back track, at which point one of the croupiers declares that no further bets can be placed.
The winning number (or a 0 or 00), the winning colour, and any other permissible bet that refers to a winning number or symbol are all marked when the ball falls and comes to rest between any two metal partitions of the wheel. The winning number and colour are instantly announced by the dealer, who then places a special marker on the relevant number on the layout. He collects all lost bets first, leaving the chips on winning spots alone, and then pays off any winning wagers.