Casino Game: Roulette

Roulette is one of the most famous casino games, featured in books and popular culture since the 18th century, and now almost one of the symbols of the casino industry. The name comes from the French for ‘little wheel’ and that is exactly what it is, a wheel with numbered grooves spun in one direction with a ball added and spun in the opposite direction. Eventually the ball will come to land in one of the grooves and all betting is based on where it lands, with the grooves numbered and coloured alternately in red and black. You can bet on the exact number the ball will come to rest in, a sequence of numbers, whether it will be odd or even, or the colour.

Rules

Roulette rules are quite simple. There will be a period of time in which you can palace your bets on the table. The croupier will then spin the wheel and add the ball in the opposite direction. It will be announced when no more bets are allowed and then it is a matter of waiting to see where the ball lands and hopefully taking your winnings!

Variations

Despite its apparent simplicity there are still a few different variations of roulette which can be played on land-based and online casino sites. These are based primarily on the number of house slots. In American roulette there are two house slots, a zero and a double zero, giving the house a greater advantage than in European roulette where there is only a single zero. French roulette is another popular variation. It is based on the single zero European roulette wheel but if the balls lands on zero the house only takes half the money wagered. It is therefore amongst gamblers but rarely offered in casinos because of the diminished house advantage. French roulette also offers a number of different ways to wager, offering different groupings of numbers to those available on American or European roulette tables. Other variations of roulette are possible but relatively rare. One example is Roulette Royale in which there is a progressive jackpot paid out if the same number is hit five times in a row. There are also roulette games on live casino sites where live dealers deliver the live table action via video streams.

Strategies

There a number of strategies you can use designed to minimise the bias which you may accidentally introduce in your playing strategy. Ultimately the house does have a slight advantage but it is possible at least to make sure you give yourself a good chance of winning. Some strategies used include the Martingale strategy, the Labouchere system and the D’alembert system.

History

Roulette was invented in France in the 18th century, stemming from the earlier 17th century work of a mathematician called Blaise Pascal who was experimenting with creating a perpetual motion machine. Roulette was played in its present form in France form the 1790s. Originally the wheels had two slots or grooves reserved for the house, zero and double zero, and if the ball landed in them then the house took all the money wagered. In the 19th century roulette spread throughout Europe and the U.S.A., fast becoming one of the most popular casino games. From the early 1800s wheels with a single zero were beginning to be used in Germany and after the German government banned gambling in the 1860s this is the game that transferred to the gambling mecca of Monte Carlo and is still the dominant game played in European casinos today. It was the double zero game that travelled to America though, sometimes even adding a third house slot with an image of the American eagle. It is the double zero game which still predominates in the Americas to this day. 

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