roulette, (from French: “small wheel”), gambling game in which players bet on which red
or black numbered compartment of a 5️⃣ revolving wheel a small ball (spun in the opposite
direction) will come to rest within. Bets are placed on a 5️⃣ table marked to correspond
with the compartments of the wheel. It is played in casinos worldwide. Roulette is a
banking 5️⃣ game, and all bets are placed against the bank—that is, the house, or the
proprietor of the game. As a 5️⃣ big-time betting game, it has had its popularity
superseded in the United States and the Caribbean islands by others, notably 5️⃣ craps,
blackjack, and poker. Fanciful stories about the origin of roulette include its
invention by the 17th-century French mathematician Blaise 5️⃣ Pascal, by a French monk, and
by the Chinese, from whom it was supposedly transmitted to France by Dominican monks.
5️⃣ In reality, roulette was derived in France in the early 18th century from the older
games hoca and portique, and 5️⃣ it is first mentioned under its current name in 1716 in
Bordeaux. Following several modifications, roulette achieved its present layout 5️⃣ and
wheel structure about 1790, after which it rapidly gained status as the leading game in
the casinos and gambling 5️⃣ houses of Europe. During the years 1836 to 1933, roulette was
banned in France.
Equipment The roulette table is composed of 5️⃣ two sections, the wheel
itself and the betting layout, better known as the roulette layout. There are two
styles of 5️⃣ roulette tables. One has a single betting layout with the roulette wheel at
one end, and the other has two 5️⃣ layouts with the wheel in the centre. The wheel spins
horizontally. Heading the layout design, which is printed on green 5️⃣ baize, is a space
containing the figure 0 (European style) or the figures 0 and 00 (American style,
although such 5️⃣ wheels were used also in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries). The
main portion of the design is composed 5️⃣ of 36 consecutively numbered rectangular spaces,
alternately coloured red and black and arranged in three columns of 12 spaces each,
5️⃣ beginning with 1 at the top and concluding with 36 at the bottom. Directly below the
numbers are three blank 5️⃣ spaces (on some layouts these are marked “2 to 1” and are
located on the players’ side of the table). 5️⃣ On either side of these or along one side
of the columns are rectangular spaces marked “1st 12,” “2nd 12,” 5️⃣ and “3rd 12” on
American-style layouts. On European-style layouts these terms are “12p” (première),
“12m” (milieu), and “12d” (dernière douzaine). 5️⃣ Six more spaces are marked “red”
(rouge), “black” (noir), “even” (pair), “odd” (impair), “1–18” (low, or manque), and
“19–36” (high, 5️⃣ or passe). The roulette wheel consists of a solid wooden disk slightly
convex in shape. Around its rim are metal 5️⃣ partitions known as separators or frets, and
the compartments or pockets between these are called canoes by roulette croupiers.
Thirty-six 5️⃣ of these compartments, painted alternately red and black, are numbered
nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. On European-style wheels a 37th 5️⃣ compartment, painted
green, carries the sign 0, and on American wheels two green compartments on opposite
sides of the wheel 5️⃣ carry the signs 0 and 00. The wheel, its spindle perfectly balanced,
spins smoothly in an almost frictionless manner. The 5️⃣ standard roulette table employs up
to 10 sets of wheel checks (usually called chips). Each set is differently coloured;
each 5️⃣ traditionally consists of 300 chips; and there is one set for each player. The
chips usually have a single basic 5️⃣ value, although some casinos also sell chips of
lesser value. The colour of the chips indicates the player, not the 5️⃣ value of the chips.
If a player wishes to buy chips of slightly higher value, the croupier places a marker
5️⃣ indicating that value on top of the table’s stack of chips of the colour corresponding
to the chips purchased. Most 5️⃣ casinos also have high-value chips that can be wagered at
any gaming table. Unlike roulette chips, these have their numbered 5️⃣ values printed on
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Bets It is possible 5️⃣ to place the following bets in roulette: (1)
straight, or single-number (en plein), in which the chips are placed squarely 5️⃣ on one
number of the layout, including 0 (and also 00 on American layouts), so that the chips
do not 5️⃣ touch any of the lines enclosing the number; a winning single-number bet pays 35
to 1 (for each unit bet, 5️⃣ a winning player receives his original bet and 35 matching
units); (2) split, or 2-number (à cheval), in which the 5️⃣ chips are placed on any line
separating any two numbers; if either wins, payoff odds are 17 to 1; (3) 5️⃣ street, or
3-number (transversale pleine), in which the chips are placed on the outside line of
the layout, betting the 5️⃣ three numbers opposite the chips; payoff odds on any of the
three numbers are 11 to 1; (4) square, quarter, 5️⃣ corner, or 4-number (en carré), in
which the chips are placed on the intersection of the lines between any four 5️⃣ numbers;
payoff odds are 8 to 1; (5) line, or 6-number (sixaine or transversale six), in which
the chips are 5️⃣ placed on the intersection of the sideline and a line between two
“streets”; payoff odds are 5 to 1; (6) 5️⃣ column (colonne), or 12-number, in which the
chips are placed on one of the three blank spaces (some layouts have 5️⃣ three squares,
marked “1st,” “2nd,” and “3rd”) at the bottom of the layout, thus betting the 12
numbers above the 5️⃣ space; payoff odds are 2 to 1; (7) dozens (douzaine), or 12-number,
in which the chips are placed on one 5️⃣ of the spaces of the layout marked “12,” betting
the numbers 1–12, 13–24, or 25–36; payoff odds are 2 to 5️⃣ 1; (8) low-number or
high-number, in which the chips are placed on the layout space marked “1–18” (manque)
or on 5️⃣ the space marked “19–36” (passe); payoff is even money; (9) black or red, in
which the chips are placed on 5️⃣ a space of the layout marked “black” (noir) or on a space
marked “red” (rouge; some layouts have a large 5️⃣ black or red diamond-shaped design
instead of the words); payoff is even money; (10) odd-number or even-number, in which
the 5️⃣ chips are placed on the space of the layout marked “odd” (impair) or on the space
marked “even” (pair); payoff 5️⃣ is even money. On layouts with a single zero (European
style), the 0 may be included in a 2-number bet 5️⃣ with any adjoining number, in a
3-number bet with 1 and 2 or with 2 and 3, and in a 5️⃣ 4-number bet with 1, 2, and 3 at
the regular odds for these bets. With the American-style 0 and 00, 5️⃣ a 5-number line bet
also is possible, the player placing his chips on the corner intersection of the line
separating 5️⃣ the 1, 2, 3 from the 0 and 00, with payoff odds of 6 to 1.
