Roulette is a gambling game that has been around for many years. It was
born in France in the 1600's and, centuries later, is still one of the most
popular land and online casino gambling games in the world today.
The game of roulette is based around a rectangular table which can accommodate a
maximum of eight players at once. The table contains a numbered 'grid' which
corresponds to the numbered slots on a roulette wheel. The objective of
roulette is to predict where the ball will land after each spin. This is no easy
task and involves a fair bit of luck.
The wheel is spun by a casino croupier or dealer. He handles all money, bets and
payouts. It is important to note that European roulette wheels have 37
slots - 36 numbers and a single zero, whereas American roulette wheels
have 38 slots - 36 numbers and two zeros.
The croupier allocates a different color chip to each player to differentiate
their bets. Playing roulette is relatively simple. Each player places
chips on numbers that he or she things will come up next. Once the croupier has
announced 'no more bets', all betting ceases, he spins the wheel and
releases the ball.
When the ball comes to a stop in a slot, the croupier places a 'dolly' on the
winning number on the table and clears away all losing bets. While he
pays out the winners, the rest of the players are free to place bets for the
next spin and so forth.
In terms of pay outs, a bet on a number pays 35 to 1, the highest pay out
in roulette. A two-number or 'split bet' (when your bet straddles 2 numbers)
pays 17:1, a three-number bet or 'street bet' pays 11:1 and a four-number
bet or 'corner bet' pays 8:1. A six-number bet pays 5:1, a bet on
the outside dozen or column pays 2:1 and a bet on the outside even money bets
pays 1:1.
It is widely accepted that the house advantage on a single zero roulette
table is 2.7%. On a double zero roulette table this advantage increases to
almost 5.3%.
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