Roulette is a game in which players place chips on groups of numbers or colors, then spin the wheel. If the ball lands on your predicted number or group, you will win a payout based on the odds.
You have until the croupier announces “no more bets” to put your chips down. This ensures that losing bets are cleared before winning ones are paid.
Origin
The history of roulette is a bit of a mystery. Many believe that it was invented by a French mathematician in 1655 as part of his attempts to create a perpetual motion machine. Others claim that it originated in China and was brought to France by Dominican monks. Either way, the game is based on a revolving roulette wheel that contains the numbers 1 to 36 (plus one or two zeros) and a betting table.
There are several other games that may have been precursors to roulette including portique, hoca and bassette. As more Europeans moved to America, roulette eventually followed and was incorporated into American gaming. Today, the American version of the game differs from the original French Roulette wheel which has two green zero slots as opposed to the single red zero slot of the European Roulette wheel.
Variations
Roulette offers players a wide range of different variants that each provide a unique experience. Some variations are based on the distribution of numbers and others on a theme. These include the progressive jackpot version, known as Roulette Royale, and Astro Roulette, which follows European Roulette rules with a single-zero wheel but replaces traditional numbers with zodiac signs. Some of these variations are more popular than others. The reason for this is that, when gambling, players are not only concerned with odds and expected value but also seek a pleasant experience – and variation contributes to it. Turn order, for example, has no effect on the overall loss probability but influences the single-pull probability.