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.

AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN ROULETTE

There are essential two different online roulette variants, American and European. The only difference is that the American roulette wheels have two zeros, whereas its European only has one. Since both versions are generally available online, there is no reason whatsoever to play American roulette based on the odds.

Most online casinos offer both American and European Roulette, and playing the European Roulette is a much better strategy for you as a player. Since it has only a single zero rather than a single and a double zero as on the American Roulette wheel, but gives identical payouts, your winning chances are actually twice as high when playing the European Roulette.

Many people play roulette without a true understanding of the odds of the game or how they work. They know if they hit a single number they get a big pay off, and if they hit something more general like red/black or odd/even, they get an even money payout, but not all players understand why.

Let's take a closer look at the true odds of the game and also pin down some things things to keep in mind when playing online roulette games.

True Roulette Odds

A roulette layout is numbered 1 though 36, meaning each number should show up on average once every 36 times. For every time any specific number comes up, that number should not come up 35 other times, meaning the odds on a number should be 35-to-1. Lo and behold, that is exactly the pay off for hitting one number.

Similarly, hitting one of a two number spread is 17-to-1, and a four number spread 8-to-1. Hitting a number in one of the three columns pays 2-to-1. Hitting red or black pays even money for a 50-50 shot. Seems fair.

Casino Roulette Odds

But wait. We don't have a complete picture yet. This is because we have failed to account for the presence of the green zero and double zero spaces on the wheel. It is in these spaces that the casino house edge is found. The green zero is the where casinos makes money of roulette.

Resulting from these spaces, the odds of hitting any individual number is actually 37-to-1, not 35-to-1, and so on throughout the layout. The presence of the zeroes creates the House edge, which comes out to about 5.26 percent.

What To Know About Roulette Odds

You should know that not all roulette wheels have two zero spaces. Some wheels, known as European Roulette wheels, have only one. Since the House gets its edge from the zero spaces, clearly a wheel with only one zero is much more favorable to the player. A one zero wheel cuts the House edge more than in half, knocking it down to about 2.36 percent.

TYPES OF BETS

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.

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.

Roulette Rules

Now, thanks to the Internet, everyone has a casino in his own home.

All you have to do is log on to an online casino site, download the software and you're ready to go!

If roulette is your game, you're in luck, because roulette is carried by a great many online casinos. If you think roulette may be your game, but you don't know how to play, or aren't sure how it would work online, read on. The roulette rules are very simple.

When you click on the roulette link at your online casino site, you'll be taken to a virtual roulette table. The layout will show numbers from 1-36 as well as 0 and in American roulette, 00. The numbers alternate between red and black. The layout will also be ringed with side bets, with boxes for the first half of the board, the second half, the first, second or third, odd or even, red or black and any column. This setup allows you to bet on almost any collection of numbers.

How To Play Roulette

To play, just drag the amount you want to bet on the number or group where you want to place your bet. The roulette rules are basically all about the roulette odds and placing your bets accordingly. Depending on the level of risk you are willing to take, the higher you get paid off.

In addition to the bets mentioned above, you can bet on two numbers by putting chips in between adjoining numbers, four by putting chips in the center of four boxes, or six by putting chips between two numbers and on the border, indicating the entire line. Spin the wheel, and if your number, color, type of number or group comes up, you win! It's as easy as that.

Players are paid off according to the odds of your number coming up without 0 or 00 taken into consideration. For example, if you bet on a single number, the odds of that one number out of the 36 coming up on the same roll would be 35-to-1, so you are paid off at 35 times the amount of your bet if you win.

That's all you need to know to play online roulette. Have fun and good luck!