Roulette is a casino and a gambling game. It’s name is derived from the french words meaning little wheel. In this game, players place bets on a number, a range of numbers, the color red or black, or whether the number will be odd or even. The winning number and color is determined by a croupier who spins the wheel in one direction and a small ball in the opposited direction around a tilted circular track that runs around the circumference of the wheel. Eventually, the ball loses momentum and falls onto the wheel and into one of the thrity seven or thirty eight colored and numbered pockets on the wheel. European roulette wheels have thirty seven pockets while American roullete wheels have thirty eight pockets. Below is a picture of a sample roulette wheel.
The very first form of roulette was played in 18th century France. Blaise Pascal introduced a primitive form of a roulette wheel in the seventeenth century as part of his search for a perpetual motion machine. Today, it is believed that the roulette wheel is a fusion of several English wheel games, including Roly Poly, Reiner, Ace of Hearts, and E.O. combined with the Italian board games called Hoca and Biribi, and a French board game called Roulette already in existance.
In its present form, roulette has been played since the eighteenth century, as early as 1796 in Paris. In the French Novel La Roulette, ou le Jour by Jaques Lablee, there is an early description of the roulette game as it is currently played. In his description, Lablee mentioned the two house pockets that are reserved for the bank, which is what gives casinos their mathematical advantage. He also describes the two betting spaces as having the numbers zero and double zero. This book was published in 1801, and there exists an even earlier reference to the game of Roulette. Its name was actually published in the regulations of New France, which is now Quebec, in 1758. The regulations banned the game along with all games of dice, hoca and faro.
There are certain rules that govern the play of roulette in a casino. Players have many betting options. An inside bet is the term that refers to selecting an exact number of a pocket, or a small range of pockets that is based on their proximity on the layout. Outside betters usually bet on larger positional groupings of pockets, pocket colors, or whether the winning pocket will be odd or even. The payout odds for each type of bet is determined by its probability.
Roulette tables in casinos will generally impose a minimum and maximum bet on the table, and these rules generally will apply seperately for all of the player’s inside and outside bets of each spin. Inside bets at roulette tables sometimes will use seperate table chips of various colors to distinguish the different players at the table.
This article was written by Chloe Marine.