How to play Roulette

The roulette wheel is a game that no casino is complete without. In fact, not only do casinos have roulette wheels, there are many sites that also offer roulette today. Basically, roulette is a simple game where you can make numerous bets based on numbers found on the roulette wheel. 

The roulette wheel is found on a roulette table which has a felt board having 36 numbers. Of these 36 numbers, 18 are red and 18 are black where all the numbers are laid out on a grid. You find a green zero and a double zero at the top of the board. Mind you, it is only American Roulette that offers double zero in roulette.

There are additional bet options like red or black, odd or even, 1^st 12, 2^nd 12, 3^rd 12, 1^st Column, 2^nd Column, 3^rd Column, 1- 18 and 19-36 found on the sides of the board. Then there is the roulette wheel that has all these numbers printed over tiny slots where the roulette ball may fall.

To play roulette, you just have to place or drag in case of online roulette, the number of chips you intend to bet on the table. If you play one number, it pays 35 to 1, two numbers pay 17 to 1 and is called a split bet while three numbers pay 11 to one and is called a street bet. A four number bet is called a square or corner bet that pays 8 to 1, five numbers pay 6 to 1 while six numbers or a line bet pays 5 to 1.

You can bet the first half of the numbers, the second half, black, odd, red or even found on the side. They all pay even money. The croupier spins the wheel once all chips have been placed. The ball is spinned in the opposite direction, in a rut found under the top of the wheel.

Once the croupier shouts ‘no more bets’, no chips can be placed on the roulette table. After bouncing around the wheel, the ball lands in one of the slots where the number above the slot is the winning number. Bets are then paid accordingly.

In roulette, the house gets its edge through the zeros. Payouts in roulette are fixed depending on the possibility of a number coming up without actually taking any zeros into account. This is why you are at a benefit if you play at a roulette table with only one Zero, and not two zeros. Without zeros, a single number pays at 35 to 1; however with one zero, the odds are 36 to 1 and with two zeros, 37 to 1. This is where the house gets its edge in roulette.

Whichever roulette you play, you should try out the different possible bets you can make as there is no bet that is better than the other in roulette.