Roullete is a game of chance that brings its own unique thrill to the player. It’s a game that’s simple to learn but can be difficult to master. In the end, it is all about luck and knowing when to walk away. Despite that, there are several strategies that can be used to increase your chances of winning in roulette. Some of these strategies involve placing “outside bets” (groups of numbers instead of individual digits) and betting opposite the biggest bets.
While fanciful stories of roulette’s origin include that it was invented by 17th century French mathematician Blaise Pascal and by a Dominican monk, the game really took shape in gambling dens around the world. Its current design, a static bowl with a rotating wheelhead in the center, dates to the mid-18th century.
The wheel has in its center a number-marked table and, on European-style wheels, a 37th compartment painted green with the sign 0, while American wheels have two green compartments on opposite sides. The other thirty-six compartments, which are painted alternately red and black and numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36, form the compartments for the ball to land in.
Players place their bets on the table before a croupier throws the ball into the spinning wheel. Once the ball hits a pocket that marks a particular number, the winning bets are paid out. The house edge in a game of roulette depends on the type of wheel and table being used, whether double-zero or not. In the US, double-zero roulette games offer the lowest house edge while European-style tables and wheels have the highest edge.
There are three main types of bets in roulette: inside, outside and announced bets. Inside bets have the best odds for winning and pay out at 1-1. Outside bets cover multiple numbers and have a lower payout than inside bets, but still offer decent odds for a win. Announced bets are special betting combinations most commonly found in French Roulette, though they can also be played online with some European Roulette variants.
For example, the Dozens Bet, called the ‘Douzaine’ in French, places your chips on the first dozen, the second dozen or the third dozen. These bets are considered to be ‘even money’ because they pay out 2-1 if the winning number is in one of these groups.