Roulette is a game of chance that requires no special skill to play. However, there are a few rules that should be understood before placing your chips. Also, it’s important to understand the odds of the different bet types before placing your chips.
The croupier throws a ball into a spinning wheel, announcing “no more bets.” Once winning bets are cleared off the table and paid, the next round begins.
Origin
Despite the many theories, no one knows exactly how roulette came to be. Some historians claim that it was invented by a 17th-century French mathematician named Blaise Pascal as part of an experiment to create a perpetual motion machine. Others believe that it originated from an Italian board game called biribi, in which players place bets on the numbered sections of a layout.
The first modern roulette wheels appeared in Paris in 1796. They featured numbered pockets from 1 to 36 and red and black backgrounds, and were played in gambling houses. These early versions were very similar to today’s games. However, they did not have a single-zero wheel, which is what has made roulette so popular worldwide. Eventually, the game was brought to England and then America.
Variations
Although the basic rules of Roulette remain unchanged, some games offer different variations that boost payouts and add new elements to gameplay. For example, Double Ball Roulette uses a European wheel and offers inside and outside bets, but has a higher house edge of 2.7%. Another popular variant is Key Bet Roulette, which expands betting options with novel features like multipliers and additional bets. Other interesting titles include Lightning Roulette from Evolution Gaming, which features payouts of up to 500x the initial bet.
Bets
There are a variety of bets available on the roulette wheel. They range from the higher risk, higher payout inside bets to the lower risk, lower payout outside bets. Choosing the right bet for you will depend on your experience level, performance preferences, and what you hope to get out of your game.
Street Bet/Three Number Bet/Split Bet: This is a bet on one number and the numbers either side of it on the roulette wheel. This bet pays 17-1. The Split bet is also known as a cheval in French and involves placing your chip(s) to straddle the line between two numbers on the roulette wheel.
Payouts
Besides standard bets, there are also different payouts available on roullete. Some of these bets can be quite lucrative, but others have a higher risk but offer a lower payout. These bets include the Split Bet (also known as cheval in French), the Street Bet, and the Line Bet. With a Split Bet, your chip(s) will straddle the line between two numbers on the layout. If either number wins, the payout is 17-1. A Street Bet covers an entire row of three consecutive numbers and has a payout of 11-1.