Bonus:  |  Max  | Play Now

Defining Roulette

Roulette is the most glamorous of casino games, and its tables attract a higher proportion of women courting Lady Luck than any others.

It is not difficult to see why. The rich green baize cloth marked in red, black, and gold on which the stakes are placed, the smoothly spinning wooden wheel, with its red and black compartments, the numbers in gold, the glittering silver handle by which the croupier spins the wheel.

The ivory ball which clicks its way round the wheel until it comes to the rest in the pocket of the winning number, together create an air of luxury, richness, sophistication, and, if one is so inclined, quietly expensive vice.

The wheel and layout as they are nowadays found in Europe differ from those usually found in America.

The majority of American wheels have 38 numbers, the numbers 1 to 36, a zero, and a double-zero, while the zero is not used on European wheels.

As the odds offered are similar, the European gambler has a much better chance of winning, or at least the prospect of not losing so quickly.

Let us look first at the traditional French game.

The zero has a green background; the other numbers are alternately red and black.

It is easy to arrange for alternated reds and blacks, but it is, of course, impossible to have the odd and even numbers alternate as well, as this would result in all the even numbers being either all black or all red, with the odd numbers all the same color, too.

So the disposition of the numbers is arranged to space out as far as possible the odd, the even, the high, the medium, and the low numbers.

There are never more than two odd or two even consecutively. There are eight black odd numbers, ten black even, ten red odd, eight red even.

En plein is a bet on a single number. It is possible to bet on the zero, which in this case is regarded as just another number.

A cheval is a bet on any two numbers adjacent on the layout (not on the wheel). The stake is placed on the line between two numbers. It is possible to combine the zero with 1, 2, or 3.

Transversale pleine is a bet on three numbers. Any three in a horizontal line on the layout can be backed, such as 1, 2,3 or 16, 17, 18, by placing the stake outside line opposite the three numbers. It is also possible to back zero with any pair from 1, 2, or 3.

Transversale simple, sometimes called sixaine, is a bet on six numbers, and this is limited to two horizontal lines on the layout, so this is not possible to back zero in a group of six numbers.

Colonne is a bet on one of the three vertical columns of twelve numbers, and the stake is placed on the black space at the foot of the selected column. The zero is not included in the center column. All bets are lost if zero wins.

Douzaine is also a bet on twelve numbers. The three alternative choices are the low numbers, 1-12, the stake being placed on P (for Premiere), the middle numbers 13-24, the stake being placed on M (for Moyenne), or the high numbers 25-36, the stake going on D (for derniere).