The Ins & Outs of Roulette
A beginner's guide to playing the game • by Henry Tamburin

Take this short quiz to see what you really know about roulette:

1. The probability of any bet winning at roulette is the same. T or F.

2. An American roulette wheel has 36 numbers. T or F.

3. After the roulette ball drops into a pocket, the dealer immediately sweeps all losing bets. T or F.

4. There is a total of 11 different roulette bets. T or F.

5. All the outside bets pay even money. T or F.

6. A player who bets $1 straight up on numbers 2, 6, and 10, plus $1 on red and $1 on odd, has met the $5 minimum bet table requirement. T or F.

7. The odds of a red number winning are 50/50. T or F.

8. The European roulette wheel has one less number than the American wheel. T or F.

9. If a red number has won the last 10 spins in a row, the next spin is more likely to be black number. T or F.

10. Atlantic City casinos have a surrender rule in roulette. T or F.

11. The five number bet is the worst bet on a European wheel. T or F.

12. The table layout has numbers arranged in the same order as the wheel. T or F.

13. Roulette chips can be redeemed at the cashier’s window. T or F.

14. To avoid confusion, roulette players in American and European casinos are assigned their own colored chips to bet with. T or F.

15. There are no progressive betting systems that will alter the casino’s edge in roulette. T or F.

Answers: Questions 4, 8, 10, and 15 are true. The rest are false. For detailed answers, read on!

Roulette is a great, and somewhat glamorous, casino game. It has the advantage over other table games in that there are less decisions per hour (e.g. slower pace), and the amount of your bets and where you place them has no effect on other player bets (i.e. non-intimidating).

History reveals that roulette was first played some 200 years ago in France. Its precursors were the Italian game of biribi and the English game of Roly-poly. It wasn’t until the horizontal gaming wheel was invented (actually for Roly-poly) that roulette became one of the more popular and permanent casino games.

The Wheel

The roulette wheel is a very important part of the game. Its makeup consists of four parts. The stationary "stator" is the base and outside of the wheel. It’s 32 inches in diameter and usually made of polished wood. The inside surface of the stator contains the track where the dealer spins the roulette ball. The rotating wheel or "wheel head" that contains the roulette numbers sits inside the stator (sometimes referred to as the "bowl") on a single ball bearing. The centerpiece (or "spindle and turret") rests atop the rotor and a hole in the wheel head, holding the whole thing together. A fully assembled roulette wheel weighs in at approximately 100 pounds and costs around $9,000.

Inside the rotating wheel are 38 pockets separated by metal dividers or "frets." The pockets contain the 38 roulette numbers and are where the roulette ball finally comes to rest. Most players mistakenly believe that the numbers on the wheel are randomly distributed. This is not true. The order of the numbers around the wheel represents an attempt to distribute high, low, red, black, and even numbers in as balanced a fashion as possible.

For example, starting at the 12 o’clock position on the wheel there is the number 0, followed by alternating red and black numbers around the wheel. The 00 is directly opposite the 0. Directly opposite each odd number is the next highest even number (e.g. directly opposite the number 1 is 2 and opposite 27 is 28). Pairs of odd numbers alternate with pairs of even numbers, and pairs of low numbers are followed by pairs of high numbers.

If you check it out, you’ll find that the first, second and third dozens of numbers are also well distributed around the wheel. You’ll also discover there are no more than one red or black number in a row. In actuality, the roulette numbers are mathematically balanced around the wheel.

Table Layout

The roulette numbers on the betting layout are arranged in an organized, numerical fashion. The numbers 1 through 36 are divided into three columns in numerical order. At the far left (dealer right), closest to the roulette wheel, are the numbers 0 and 00, followed by the three rows of 36 numbers, 12 to a row. Each number is colored red or black, corresponding to its color on the wheel.

Directly below the three columns is the first dozen (1 through 12), second dozen (13 through 24) and third dozen (25 through 36). Below that and closest to the players, is the betting area for the low (1 to 18) and high numbers (19 to 36), even and odd, and red and black. The numbers 0 and 00, often referred to as the "house numbers," are green.

The inside bets in roulette consist of making bets on the 0, 00; 1—36; or any combinations of these numbers within the inside of the layout. The outside bets include the three columns; high/low; even/odd; and red/black wagers.

Spinning the Wheel

A roulette dealer spins the wheel in a counterclockwise rotation and launches the steel ball in a clockwise direction around the outer rim of the bowl. The ball will circle in the track several times and then lose momentum and drop into the bowl. Brass deflectors imbedded in the side of the rim frequently deflect the dropping ball in a random way until it bounces into a pocket. The ball will usually bounce in and out of several pockets before finally coming to rest.

Players can continue to make bets on the layout while the roulette ball is still spinning, but once the ball’s momentum begins to slow and the ball is ready to drop into the bowl, the dealer will wave his/her hands across the layout and announce "no more bets." The dealer will then immediately place a marker (known as a "dolly") on the layout on top of the winning number.

Casino practices require the dealer to pay off winning bets and collect the losing bets in a specific sequence. First, the dealer will remove the losing bets from the layout. Then he’ll pay off the winning bets on the outside of the layout by placing the winning chips next to the original bets in like stacks. Finally, he’ll pay the winning inside bets by placing the winning chips in front of the player and off the betting layout, while leaving the original bet on the winning number intact. If you want to remove the original bet, wait until the dealer removes the marker before doing so.

Roulette Chips

Special chips called "wheel chips" are used in roulette. They cannot be used anywhere else in the casino–only at the roulette table where they were issued. This also means that the roulette chips are not redeemable at the cashier’s cage, so don’t pocket them while you’re playing.

Usually a roulette table will have six or seven different color groups of 300 wheel chips each. Each seated player will have his/her own colored chips to bet with so there is no confusion whose bet on the layout belongs to whom. You purchase the wheel chips by placing currency (or regular casino chips) on the layout (but wait till after the dealer removes the marker from the layout to do so). Just tell the dealer you want wheel chips and she’ll count your money (or casino chips), get the OK from the floor supervisor, and then slide the colored chips to you. You are now ready to bet.

In some gaming jurisdictions, it is permissible to make a roulette bet with regular casino chips. Usually this occurs if a player is standing, making only one or a few bets, and no other players are doing the same. Casinos would prefer however, that players use wheel chips.

Wheel chips are normally sold in stacks of 20 and the denomination of each chip is established at the time you purchase them. Suppose the table minimum is $1 and you give the dealer a $20 bill. On a shelf on the outside of the layout, the dealer will place a special marker button or "lammer" on your color to signify each of your chips are worth $1. No other person can bet with your chips.

Before leaving the table, you must "color up" your wheel chips. Stack your chips into piles of 10 or 20 chips, tell the dealer that "color is coming in," and push your stack of chips toward the dealer. The dealer will recount them, check their value, and pay you in regular casino chips.

Minimum/Maximum Bets

Roulette chips have different minimum and maximum bet restrictions that are posted on the table. You must bet the table minimum on each spin. On an individual or group of inside bets, the sum of all the bets must equal the table minimum. On the outside bets, each individual bet made on the even money or 2 to 1 payoff bets must equal the table minimum.

For example, if the table minimum was $5 and you wanted to wager on the first column and red, you must bet at least $5 on the first column and another $5 on red. On the inside bets, you could make five individual $1 bets in order to meet the minimum requirement for inside betting.

Types of Roulette Bets

There are 11 different types of roulette bets; six are inside bets and five are outside bets.

Inside Bets

Straight up bet

A bet made on one of 38 numbers. Make the bet by placing your chip(s) directly on the number. The wining payoff is 35 to 1 (you win 35 chips for the one wagered).

Split bet

A bet made on two adjacent numbers on the layout, such as 7, 8 or 13, 16. Make the bet by placing your chip(s) on the center of the line between two adjacent numbers on the layout. The winning payoff is 17 to 1. Note that with a split bet you have twice the chance of winning compared to a straight up bet, but the payoff is half as much.

Street bet

A bet made on any three numbers that run north/south on the layout, such as 1, 2, 3 or 19, 20, 21. Make the bet by placing your chip(s) on the line separating the row of three numbers from the dozens betting area (essentially at the bottom of the row of three numbers). The winning payoff is 11 to 1.

Corner bet

A bet made on any four intersecting numbers on the layout, forming a square, such as 5, 6, 8, and 9. Make the bet by placing chip(s) directly on the center point of the square (where they all converge). The winning payoff is 8 to 1.

Five Number bet

There is only one five number bet: the numbers 0, 00, 1, 2, and 3. Make the bet by placing your chip(s) on the line between 0 and 00 and the numbers 1, 2 and 3. The winning payoff is 6 to 1.

The Line bet

A bet made on two adjacent rows of numbers, such as 7, 8, 9 and 10, 11, 12. Make the bet by placing your chip(s) on the outside line that separates the two rows of numbers. The winning payoff is 6 to 1

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