Online Roulette

Roulette (sometimes known as 'rulet') is a casino game named after a French diminutive for "little wheel". In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even. To determine the winning number and color, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track running around the circumference of the wheel. The ball eventually loses momentum and falls on to the wheel and into one of 37 (in French/European roulette) or 38 (in American roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel.

The first form of roulette was devised in 18th century France. Blaise Pascal introduced a primitive form of roulette in the 17th century in his search for a perpetual motion machine.^[2] The roulette wheel is believed to be a fusion of the English wheel games Roly-Poly, Reiner, Ace of Hearts, and E.O., the Italian board games of Hoca and Biribi, and "Roulette" from an already existing French board game of that name.
The game has been played in its present form since as early as 1796 in Paris. An early description of the roulette game in its current form is found in a French novel La Roulette, ou le Jour by Jaques Lablee, which describes a roulette wheel in the Palais Royal in Paris in 1796. The description included the house pockets, "There are exactly two slots reserved for the bank, whence it derives its sole mathematical advantage." It then goes on to describe the layout with, "...two betting spaces containing the bank's two numbers, zero and double zero." The book was published in 1801. An even earlier reference to a game of this name was published in regulations for New France (Québec) in 1758, which banned the games of "dice, hoca, faro, and roulette.

In 1843, in the German spa casino town of Homburg, fellow Frenchmen François and Louis Blanc introduced the single "0" style roulette wheel in order to compete against other casinos offering the traditional wheel with single and double zero house pockets.
In some forms of early American roulette wheels - as shown in the 1886 Hoyle gambling books, there were numbers 1 through 28, plus a single zero, a double zero, and an American Eagle. The Eagle slot, which was a symbol of American liberty, was a house slot that brought the casino extra edge. Soon, the tradition vanished and since then the wheel features only numbered slots.^[4]
According to Hoyle "the single 0, the double 0, and eagle are never bars; but when the ball falls into either of them, the banker sweeps every thing upon the table, except what may happen to be bet on either one of them, when he pays twenty-seven for one, which is the amount paid for all sums bet upon any single figure."

In the 1800s, roulette spread all over Europe and the U.S.A., becoming one of the most famous and most popular casino games. When the German government abolished gambling in the 1860s, the Blanca family moved to the last legal remaining casino operation in Europe at Monte Carlo, where they established a gambling mecca for the elite of Europe. It was here that the single zero roulette wheel became the premier game, and over the years was exported around the world, except in the United States where the double zero wheel had remained dominant. Some^[who?] call roulette the "King of Casino Games", probably because it was associated with the glamour of the casinos in Monte Carlo.^{[citation needed]}
A legend tells François Blanc supposedly bargained with the devil to obtain the secrets of roulette. The legend is based on the fact that the sum of all the numbers on the roulette wheel (from 1 to 36) is 666, which is the "Number of the Beast".
In the United States, the French double zero wheel made its way up the Mississippi from New Orleans, and then westward. It was here, because of rampant cheating by both operators and gamblers, the wheel eventually was placed on top of the table to prevent devices being hidden in the table or wheel, and the betting layout was simplified. This eventually evolved into the American style roulette game as different from the traditional French game. The American game developed in the gambling dens across the new territories where makeshift games had been set up, whereas, the French game evolved with style and leisure in Monte Carlo. However, it is the American style layout with its simplified betting and fast cash action, using either a single or double zero wheel, that now dominates in most casinos around the world.
During the first part of the 20th century, the only casino towns of note were Monte Carlo with the traditional single zero French wheel, and Las Vegas with the American double zero wheel. In the 1970s, casinos began to flourish around the world. By 2008 there were several hundred casinos world wide offering roulette games. The double zero wheel is found in the U.S.A., South America, and the Caribbean, while the single zero wheel is predominant elsewhere.

Roulette players have a variety of betting options. Placing 'inside' bets is either selecting the exact number of the pocket the ball will land in, or a small range of pockets based on their proximity on the layout. Players wishing to bet on the 'outside' will select bets on larger positional groupings of pockets, the pocket color, or whether the winning number is odd or even.^[5] The payout odds for each type of bet is based on its probability.
The roulette table usually imposes minimum and maximum bets, and these rules usually apply separately for all of a player's 'inside' and 'outside' bets for each spin. For 'inside' bets at roulette tables, some casinos may use separate roulette table chips of various colors to distinguish players at the table. Players can continue to place bets as the ball spins around the wheel until the dealer announces "no more bets" or "rien ne va plus".
When a winning number and color is determined by the roulette wheel, the dealer will place a marker also known as a dolly on that winning number on the roulette table layout. When the dolly is on the table, no players may place bets, collect bets, or remove any bets from the table. The dealer will then sweep away all other losing bets either by hand or rake, and determine all of the payouts to the remaining inside and outside winning bets. When the dealer is finished making payouts, the marker is removed from the board where players collect their winnings and make new bets. The winning chips remain on the board.

The pockets of the roulette wheel are numbered from 1 to 36.
In number ranges from 1 to 10 and 19 to 28, odd numbers are red and even are black. In ranges from 11 to 18 and 29 to 36, odd numbers are black and even are red.
There is a green pocket numbered 0 (zero). In American roulette, there is a second green pocket marked 00. Pocket number order on the roulette wheel adheres to the following clockwise sequence:
Single-zero wheel: 0-32-15-19-4-21-2-25-17-34-6-27-13-36-11-30-8-23-10-5-24-16-33-1-20-14-31-9-22-18-29-7-28-12-35-3-26
Double-zero wheel: 0-28-9-26-30-11-7-20-32-17-5-22-34-15-3-24-36-13-1-00-27-10-25-29-12-8-19-31-18-6-21-33-16-4-23-35-14-2

The cloth covering with the betting areas on a roulette table is known as a "layout." The layout is either single zero or double zero. The French style layout is a single zero, and the American style layout is usually a double zero. The American style roulette table with a wheel at one end is now used in most casinos. The French style

		0	↔	00
1- 18	1st 12	1	2	3	←
		4	5	6	←
odd		7	8	9	←
		10	11	12	←
red	2nd 12	13	14	15	←
		16	17	18	←
blk		19	20	21	←
		22	23	24	←
even	3rd 12	25	26	27	←
		28	29	30	←
19- 36		31	32	33	←
		34	35	36	←
		↑	↑	↑

Inside bets

• Straight-up: a single number bet. The chip is placed entirely on the middle of a number square.
• Split: a bet on two adjoining numbers, either on the vertical or horizontal (as in 14-17 or 8-9). The chip is placed on the line between these numbers.
• Street: a bet on three numbers on a single horizontal line. The chip is placed on the edge of the line of a number at the end of the line (either the left or the right, depending on the layout).
• Corner (or square): a bet on four numbers in a square layout (as in 11-12-14-15). The chip is placed at the horizontal and vertical intersection of the lines between the four numbers.
• Six Line (or Double Street): a bet on two adjoining streets, with the chip placed at the corresponding intersection, as if in between where two street bets would be placed.
• Trio: a bet on the intersecting point between 0, 1 and 2, or 0, 2 and 3 (single-zero layout only).
• Basket: a bet on 0, 1, and 2; 0, 00, and 2; or 00, 2, and 3 (double-zero layout only). The chip is placed at the intersection of the three desired numbers.
• Top Line: a bet on 0, 00, 1, 2, and 3 (double-zero layout only). The chip is placed either at the corner of 0 and 1, or the corner of 00 and 3.

[edit] Outside bets

Outside bets typically have smaller payouts with better odds at winning.

• 1 to 18: a bet on one of the first low eighteen numbers coming up.
• 19 to 36: a bet on one of the last high eighteen numbers coming up.
• Red or Black: a bet on which color the roulette wheel will show.
• Even or Odd: a bet on an even or odd number.
• Dozen Bets: a bet on the first (1-12), second (13-24), or third group (25-36) of twelve numbers.
• Column Bets: a bet on all 12 numbers on any of the three vertical lines (such as 1-4-7-10 on down to 34). The chip is placed on the space below the final number in this string.
• Snake Bet is essentially a special "Dozen Bet" consisting of a bet of the following numbers: 1,5,9,12,14,16,19,23,27,30,32 & 34. Some gambling experts consider it a "sucker bet" as they claim that the player has to bet a unit on each of those numbers. However, some casinos which allow the "Snake Bet" (not all casinos do) allow the table minimum to be bet on "The Snake" by placing the bet on the lower corner of the "34" spot which touches the "19-36" even money bet.

In the UK all bets have the same play to payout ratio, for instance putting one chip on each number 1-12 will yield the same outcome as 12 chips on the first dozen (assuming the original stake is removed). The exception is the very outside bets (red/black, odd/even, low numbers/high numbers) when zero is the result only half of the original stake is captured by the dealer !

(The initial bet is returned in addition to the mentioned payout )
The payout (for American and European roulette) can be calculated by:
payout = (36 − n) / n
Where n is the number of squares the player is betting on.

Bet name	Winning spaces	Payout	Odds against winning	Expected value (on a $1 bet)
0	0	35 to 1	37 to 1	−$0.053
00	00	35 to 1	37 to 1	−$0.053
Straight up	Any single number	35 to 1	37 to 1	−$0.053
Row 00	0, 00	17 to 1	19 to 1	−$0.053
Split	any two adjoining numbers vertical or horizontal	17 to 1	19 to 1	−$0.053
Basket	0, 1, 2 or 00, 2, 3 or 0, 00, 2	11 to 1	11.667 to 1	−$0.053
Street	any three numbers horizontal (1, 2, 3 or 4, 5, 6 etc.)	11 to 1	11.667 to 1	−$0.053
Corner	any four adjoining numbers in a block (1, 2, 4, 5 or 17, 18, 20, 21 etc. )	8 to 1	8.5 to 1	−$0.053
Top Line	0, 00, 1, 2, 3	6 to 1	6.6 to 1	−$0.079
Six Line	any six numbers from two horizontal rows (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 etc.)	5 to 1	5.33 to 1	−$0.053
1st Column	1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	−$0.053
2nd Column	2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	−$0.053
3rd Column	3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	−$0.053
1st Dozen	1 through 12	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	−$0.053
2nd Dozen	13 through 24	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	−$0.053
3rd Dozen	25 through 36	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	−$0.053
Odd	1, 3, 5, ..., 35	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	−$0.053
Even	2, 4, 6, ..., 36	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	−$0.053
Red	1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	−$0.053
Black	2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 35	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	−$0.053
1 to 18	1, 2, 3, ..., 18	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	−$0.053
19 to 36	19, 20, 21, ..., 36	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	−$0.053

Note also that 0 and 00 are neither odd nor even in this game.