Roullete, or roulette, is one of the gambling industry’s most popular games and it’s a staple at both land-based casinos and online. It’s all about predicting where the ball will fall when the wheel is spinning, and it has a cult following in many parts of the world. But there are several important things you should know about the game before you play.
First, there are different variations of the game. American roulette, European roulette, and French roulette have subtle differences that will affect your chances of winning. The game also features different automated betting options, ranging from simple red and black bets to complicated side bets that can pay out up to 25 times your stake.
When you make a bet you’ll place chips on the table to indicate what you’d like to win. When the dealer finishes up a decision she’ll let you know how much each of your chips will be worth and then parcel them out to you. She’ll then remove the buck, or puck, which is sitting on top of your chips and indicates which number was hit on the last decision.
The wheel is a solid wooden disk slightly convex and divided into thirty-six compartments, or pockets, alternately numbered in red and black. The compartments are called frets or ‘canoes’ by croupiers, and the wheel is surrounded by a metal rim. The numbers are painted in nonconsecutive groups of two, three, and four, while the wheel’s rim contains a single green pocket marked ‘0’ on European-style wheels and a double green pocket on American-style ones.
A bet placed on the outside of the board has a higher chance of winning than an inside bet but lower payouts. You can bet on one of the ’12’ sections of the board by placing your chip at the bottom of a column to wager on which of its numbers the ball will land in. A successful column bet will yield a payout of 2 to 1. The ‘En Prison’ rule, which translates to ‘in prison’ in English, allows players to get back half their even money bets when the ball lands on zero.