Roulette rules and strategies
Learn how to play roulette just in a few minutes with our video. We discuss bet types, roulette variations, and strategies.
Learn how to play roulette just in a few minutes with our video. We discuss bet types, roulette variations, and strategies.
Roulette is a popular casino game that has been enjoyed by gamblers worldwide since its invention in 18th-century France. The game's name is derived from the French word 'roulette', which means 'little wheel'. The objective of roulette is simple: players place bets on the outcome of a ball being spun around a wheel.
To play roulette, follow these steps:
The game of roulette consists of two key elements: the roulette wheel and the betting table. The wheel is divided into numbered pockets, ranging from 0 to 36. The table displays the same numbers and additional betting options. To win at roulette, players must predict on which pocket the ball will land.
There are two main types of bets in roulette: inside bets and outside bets. Inside bets are placed directly on the numbers, while outside bets are placed on wider categories of numbers, such as even or odd, red or black, and high or low.
| Variant | RTP |
|---|---|
| French Roulette | 98.65% |
| European Roulette | 97.30% |
| American Roulette | 94.74% |
As the table shows, French Roulette has the highest RTP. In other words, the casino has the lowest edge with this variant.
The table below summarises the odds of winning and payouts for the most common European roulette bet types:
| Bet Option | Odds | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| Black or red | 48.6% | 1 to 1 |
| Even or odd | 48.6% | 1 to 1 |
| Low or High | 48.6% | 1 to 1 |
| Column | 32.4% | 2 to 1 |
| Dozen | 32.4% | 2 to 1 |
| Single number | 2.7% | 35 to 1 |
Roulette, a casino game known for its unpredictability, has been a subject of various betting strategies aiming to overcome the house edge. Some players have reportedly succeeded by exploiting mechanical flaws in the wheels, while others have relied on mathematical tactics.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Richard Jarecki won a considerable fortune by observing over 10,000 spins on each roulette wheel to identify potential flaws. This strategy led casinos to upgrade their roulette wheels over time. However, the majority of betting strategies, such as the Martingale or Fibonacci system, are predicated on patterns and the Gambler's fallacy - the belief that past results influence future outcomes. These methods often result in players losing money over time due to the inherent house edge in roulette.
Engineering approaches have also been tried to outsmart the game. One notable example is the wearable computer created by Edward O. Thorp and Claude Shannon in 1961, which predicted the ball's landing spot by timing the ball and wheel. However, such a technique could be easily countered by the casino.
In the 1980s and 1990s, strategies evolved to predict wheel performance in real-time or exploit the belief that roulette wheels were not perfectly random. Teams of gamblers from the USA and individual gamblers like Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo won large sums through these methods, leading to significant changes in wheel design by manufacturers and increased vigilance by casinos.
Despite these attempts, no betting strategy has proven to consistently overcome the house advantage. Betting systems fall into two main categories: negative progression systems like the Martingale, which increase the bet size after a loss, and positive progression systems like the Paroli, which increase the bet size after a win. Both have their risks and neither can guarantee long-term profits.
In conclusion, while numerous strategies and systems have been developed to beat the house in roulette, none have been proven to be consistently effective. The game, like all casino games, is designed to favor the house in the long run.