As we mentioned earlier, roulette is quite easy to understand. A European roulette wheel has 37 slots, numbered from 0 to 36. Each number is coloured either red or black, except for the zero. Play American Roulette Online at Top Rated Casinos in 2020 - Learn more about the game, special rules, strategies & give it a try with our FREE play options!

A roulette wheel consists of a spinning disk with divisions around its edge that revolves around the base of a bowl. A ball is spun around the outside of the bowl until eventually ball and wheel come to rest with the ball in one of the divisions.
The divisions around the wheel are numbered from 1 to 36 in a seemingly random pattern and alternate red and black. Additionally, there is a green division numbered 0. On American tables only there is a second extra green division marked 00 and it is largely this that makes the American version of Roulette a worse proposition financially than the European game.
Prior to rolling the ball, people place bets on what number will come up by laying down chips on a betting mat, the precise location of the chips indicating the bet being made. Roulette is a game of French origin and on a traditional table, the French terms on the betting area are still used even in English speaking areas. However, on most US tables, English terms and a slightly different style of mat are used.

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Roulette Bets

Much of the interest in Roulette derives from the the number of different bets that can be made and their associated odds. The basic bets are the same for all forms of modern Roulette. Below are a list of all the available bets categorised by the bet's associated odds (both the English and French terms are listed):

Evens

• Red / Rouge: a red number
• Black / Noir: a black number
• Even / Pair: an even number
• Odd / Impair: an odd number
• Low bet / Manque: numbers 1 - 18 (Manque is French for 'failed' and is used because the ball has failed to pass 18)
• High bet / Passe: numbers 19 - 36 (Passe is so named because it has 'passed' the centrepoint)

2 to 1

• First dozen / Premiere douzaine: numbers 1 - 12 (On the French-style mat, the square marked 12P)
• Middle dozen / Moyenne douzaine: numbers 13 - 24 (On the French-style mat, the square marked 12M)
• Last dozen / Dernier douzaine: numbers 25 - 36 (On the French-style mat, the square marked 12D)
• Column bet / Colonne: a column of 12 numbers (The special square at the end of one of the three columns of twelve numbers)

Longer Odds

• 5 to 1 - Line bet / Sixain: 6 numbers (Place the stake on the intersection of the edge of two rows of three numbers to bet on those 2 rows)
• 8 to 1 - Corner bet / Carre: 4 numbers (Place the stake at the intersection of a square of four numbers)
• 11 to 1 - Street bet / Carre simple or Transversale: a row of 3 numbers (Half way over the line forming the end of the row of three numbers to be bet upon)
• 17 to 1: Split bet / En Chaval: a pair of numbers (Place the stake across the line dividing the two numbers to be bet upon
• 35 to 1: Straight up / En plein: a single number (Place the stake in the box showing the number concerned. It is allowable to bet on zero)

The bets on six numbers or less are termed 'Inside bets'. The bets on 12 numbers or more are called 'Outside bets'.

European Roulette Rules

Assuming that the possible bets are all understood, Roulette is essentially a trivially simple game to play. For each turn, once all bets have been placed using coloured chips to distinguish each player, the croupier halts betting, spins the wheel, and rolls the ball in the opposite direction. When the ball comes to a halt in one of the slots, the croupier announces the result, collects all losing bets and pays out the winner's profits.
There are additional optional rules that some casinos and houses play. Both the La Partage and the En Prison roulette rules effectively halve the casino edge on even-money bets. If playing at home, decide at the start which, if any of the following rules you would like to play.

'En Prison' Rule

This is a roulette rule that can be applied to even-money bets only. When a zero turns up, the player has two options:

• Reclaim half the bet and lose the other half.
• Leave the bet (en prison = in prison) for the next spin of the roulette wheel for an all or nothing gamble. If the subsequent spin is again zero, or does not match the imprisoned bet, then the whole bet is lost. Otherwise, if the subsequent spin's outcome matches the bet, the player's money is returned.

'La Partage' Rule

The la partage roulette rule is similar to the en prison rule, only in this case the player has no option when a zero turns up and simply loses half the bet.

Maximum and Minimum stakes

Casinos will normally post a maximum and a minimum stake for a roulette table and this is sometimes done for recreational play, too. Typically, for each spin of the wheel, if a player the total amount of a player's inside bets must exceed the minimum stake. The listed maximum stake usually shows only the maximum allowed for a single number 'straight up' bet. The maximum stakes for other types of bet increases proportionately e.g. The maximum bet allowed for a pair of numbers is double the maximum straight-up bet, the maximum allowed for a corner bet is 4 times the straight up maximum and so on. So that really the limitation is on the amount that the casino can lose!

North American Roulette Rules

In North America and the Caribbean, roulette wheels have a double zero, and all bets (except a direct bet on the selected zero) are lost when either zero turns up. The result is significantly poorer odds for the punter and an increase in the Casino's cut. This is probably why in this region, Roulette is less popular than it is in other parts of the world.
The rules are the same as for European Roulette above except that the double zero works in the same way as a single zero result.
Some American casinos do allow an additional bet called a 'basket bet' which is staked by placing chips in the same way as for a line bet on the outside of the the dividing line between the zero row and the row featuring 1, 2 and 3. This bet normally pays out 6 to 1 which gives it odds worse than any other roulette bet.

The old original Roulette Game

In the original French roulette, the numbers 1 - 36, had the zero and the 'double zero'. The zero was coloured red and also counted as 'Pair' and 'Manque'; the double zero was black and also counted as 'Impair' and 'Passe'.
If the ball fell into one of the two zero divisions, all lost stakes are taken by the bank but if the bet was matched by virtue of being Pair, Impair, Rouge, Noir, Passe or Manque, instead of being won, the stake was imprisoned until the next spin of the wheel. On that subsequent turn, the stake was either lost or if the ball matched the bet again, the stake was merely returned to the gambler without any profit.

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These rules are provided by Masters Traditional Games, an Internet shop selling quality traditional games, pub games and unusual games. For general information or for copying and copyright, see our Rules Information page.

Our rules are comprehensive instructions for friendly play. If in doubt, always abide by locally-played or house rules.

Copyright Masters Traditional Games © 2019. All rights reserved.

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The game of roulette is a simple game to play, there are very few rules you have to remember, and it is simply the player versus the house, so the other players at the roulette table have no bearing on the outcome of your bets.

To begin, you will be given chips to play with after handing over how much you want to bet in this session. If you’re playing online, it will be done automatically for you, so there’s no need to worry there.

Once you have your chips, you have to decide on what you want to be on. There are lots of different bets for you to bet on when playing roulette, and each one has their own rule attached to them.

One number: The ball has to land on the one number you have a chip on. You can bet on as many numbers as you like on the table, and if the ball lands on it, you get 35x your stake as winnings. If the ball lands on a number you don’t have a chip on, your bet loses.

American Roulette Strategy

Split: Place your chip on the line between two adjacent numbers (such as 1&4 or 34&35), and you have covered them both. Effectively, your stake is split on each number. If the ball lands on either number, your bet wins and you win 17 times your stake back. If the ball lands on a number that you haven’t covered in your split bets, your bet loses. You can bet on as many splits as you want on the table.

Street: A street bet is a bet that covers 3 numbers on a row. So, that could be 1, 2 & 3, or 10, 11 & 12 or any of those rows. You place your chip at the edge of each row you want to cover, splitting your stake between each number, essentially, and if the ball lands on any of those numbers, your bet wins. If the ball lands on any number you have not covered, you lose. You can bet on as many rows as you want.

Corner: A corner bet is a bet that covers 4 numbers that have boxes with corners that meet. An example of this would be 1, 2, 4 & 5. This means your stake is effectively split between 4 numbers. Place your chip where all four numbers meet in the middle. If the ball lands on any of the four numbers in the square of numbers, your bet wins. If the balls lands on a number whose corner you haven’t covered, your bet loses.

Six Line: A six line bet is very similar to a street bet, but it covers two adjacent rows. So, it would be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6, or it could be 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9. You can bet on as many six lines as you like, splitting your stake between all 6 numbers. To bet on a six line, you place your chip at the edge of both rows, where they meet at the corner. If the balls lands in any of the numbers on your six line bet, you win. If the ball lands elsewhere, your bet loses.

Column: A column bet is a bet that is on a column of number. The roulette table is split into three rows, and you can be on any of them, two of them, or if you’re determined to lose money in the long run, you can bet on them all. Place your chip in the box at the bottom of the column you want to bet on. Your bet covers 12 numbers, and you win if the ball lands on any of the numbers in the column you have bet on. If the number the ball lands on is in another column, your bet loses.

Dozens: You can bet on a specified dozen of numbers – 1-12, 13-24 or 25-36. Each dozen has a specified box on the roulette table, and to bet on one, you place your chip inside it. You can bet on one dozen, two dozen, or again, if you’re determined to lose money, you can bet on all three. If the number the ball lands in is in your dozen numbers, your bet wins. If it’s in a dozen that you have not covered, your bet loses.

Odd/Even: You can also bet on the number the ball lands on being odd or even. Both have set boxes on the table to bet on, and to bet on it you place your chip in the relevant box. You can bet on both if you want, but I would not advise it. If you bet on odd and the ball lands on an odd number, you win. The same applies to a bet on the even numbers. If you bet on odd and the number is even, you lose. Again, the same applies if you bet on an even number.

Red/Black: As well as being able to bet on the number being odd and even, you can also bet on whether the number will be red or black. Each number has a colour assigned to it – 18 numbers are red and 18 are black. Like the odd/even bet, red and black bets have their own boxes on the roulette table, usually with a block of the colour in it. If you want to bet on red, put your chip in the red box, and put them in the black box if you want to bet on black. If the number the ball lands in has the colour that corresponds to your bet, you win. And if it lands in the other colour, you lose.

1-18/19-36: The other 50/50 bet you can have on the roulette table is on the first half or second half. Again, like the other 50/50 bets, they have designated boxes on the roulette table, and to bet on them, you simply put your chip in the relevant box. You can bet on the numbers 1-18 inclusive or the numbers 19-36 inclusive. If the number the ball lands on falls in your set of numbers, you win. If they fall in the other set, your bet loses.

And really, those are the main rules to remember – if the ball lands on a number you have covered, you win. If it doesn’t, you don’t.

The only other thing to remember is that you have to put your bets on in a timely manner. You can place your bets once the table has been cleared of the previous spin’s bets, and you can place them until the dealer says “No more bets,” or something similar.

You should also note the table’s minimum and maximum bets, known as “table limits”. You can not bet less than the table’s minimum, and you can not bet any more than the table maximum.

Roulette is an easy game to understand and play, which is why it is so popular worldwide. There are different variations of roulette, but they all share the same basic rules. I’ll explain the different games after but first lets start with the basics.

Roulette: The Basics

The dealer, also known as “The Croupier”, takes care of all aspects of the game from the spinning of the wheel to the collection of losing bets, and the payouts of winning ones. Each table will have a minimum and maximum bet amount, these represent the lowest and highest amount you’re allowed to bet each spin.

Some tables have different minimum and maximum depending on if you’re betting inside or outside, inside being any numbers (0,00,1-36), outside being everything else. Roulette chips are different than normal casino chips due to the fact the player determines the value of their chips, usually the table minimum, and each player has the own color of chip.

The Croupier spins the wheel in one direction and rolls the ball in the other, eventually the ball will lose momentum and fall into one of the marked slots on the wheel. You can place bets up until the croupier announces, “No more bets” at which point you CANNOT place anymore bets and it is just a matter of waiting to see where the ball landed and seeing how you made out. The croupier will place a marker on the winning number and payout accordingly. That’s pretty much all there is to it, see, I told you it was easy. Now for the other variations:

American Roulette

The main difference between American Roulette and other versions is that it has both 0, and 00, changing the odds in favor of the casino, thus being one of the most unfavorable versions to play. For a detailed description of American Roulette, how it works and where to play American Roulette online, click here: American Roulette.

European Roulette:

European Roulette is different from American for numerous reasons, first and most important being that there is only one 0 on the table, instead of both 0 and 00. The second reason is the inclusion of the “La Partage” and the “En Prison” rules. These rules come into effect if the ball lands in zero, while betting an even money bet. Both rules significantly decrease the house edge and are why it’s the most favorable version to play by players around the world. For more information on European Roulette, including where to play European Roulette online, click here: European Roulette.

French Roulette:

Very similar to European Roulette, the major difference being the added “Finale” betting option, the croupier is known as a “Stickman” and the table layout is different than American and European but the main rules are the same. Considering the game was invented in France its only fitting that the French version would be the most complex. See my French Roulette article for more details.

Wild Viking Roulette:

Easy Roulette Rules

By combining Roulette and Poker, this game is an exciting and welcome variation of Roulette and is usually linked to a progressive jackpot, adding a whole other element to the game.

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