How to Play Roulette

Roulette is one of the most popular classic casino game. This is probably due to the fact that it offers many types of bets, and at the same time is entertaining and very easy to learn. In this “Roulette for beginners” article, you can read all about how to play Roulette. You can also practice playing Roulette for free. Once you have familiarized yourself with the basics, browse our Roulette section and reed more about how to maximize your Roulette payouts, Roulette betting strategies, Roulette variants and more.

Game description

The name “Roulette” means little wheel in French. The game is played with a wheel, a ball, and a large table covered with a cloth printed with numbers and words, known as the “layout”, where players place their bets.

All around the circumference of the Roulette wheel, there are small slots. Each slot is randomly assigned a number from 1-36. Slots with odd numbers are red and slots with even numbers are black (in total, there are 18 red slots and 18 black slots). In the European variant, also known as English Roulette, there is also one green slot with the number 0 (not to be confused with the American Roulette variant, which has a second green pocket with a double zero – 00). For more information about the main variants of Roulette, click here.

The same numbers are printed on the center of the layout and are similarly colored red, black or green. On the edges of the layout there are additional boxes with the words “Red”, “Black”, “Even” and “Odd”.

When the game begins, the croupier spins the wheel in one direction, and then spins the ball in the opposite direction in a circular track running around the circumference of the wheel. Eventually, the ball lands in one of the numbered and colored slots. The object of Roulette is to guess correctly in which pocket the ball will land after each spin of the wheel.

Bets and payouts

In common parlance, Roulette bets are referred to as “inside” and “outside” bets.

Inside bets

– players can choose either the exact slot in which the ball will land, or a small range of slots, by placing chips on the correlating spot on the layout. Here are some of the most common inside bets and payouts:

Bet name	Wining slots	payout
0	0	35 to 1
00	00	35 to 1
Straight up	Any single number	35 to 1
Split	any two adjoining numbers on the layout, vertical or horizontal	17 to 1
Basket	0, 1, 2 or 00, 2, 3 or 0, 00, 2	11 to 1
Street	any three numbers horizontal (1, 2, 3 or 4, 5, 6, etc.)	11 to 1
Corner	any four adjoining numbers in a block (1, 2, 4, 5 or 17, 18, 20, 21, etc.)	8 to 1

Outside bets

– Outside bets typically have smaller payouts with better odds at winning. Here players bet on whether the ball will land in a red or black slot, even or odd number, or choose a larger range of numbers. Here are some of the most common outside bets and payouts:

Bet name	Wining slots	payout
Odd	1, 3, 5, …, 35	1 to 1
Even	2, 4, 6, …, 36	1 to 1
Red	1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36	1 to 1
Black	2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 35	1 to 1
1 to 18 (or “Low”)	1, 2, 3, …, 18	1 to 1
19 to 36 (or “High”)	19, 20, 21, …, 36	1 to 1
1st column (same for 2nd-3rd columns)	1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34	2 to 1
1st dozen (same for 2nd-3rd dozens)	1 through 12	2 to 1

Buy ins

In Roulette, players use chips to place their bets. In many casinos each player receives chips in a unique color to avoid disputes. The House usually imposes minimum and maximum bets. The minimum buy in in European casinos is mostly between 2-10 EURs.

If the minimum is 5 EUR, for example, the player can choose to place one 5 EUR chip on one inside spot, or 5 place 1 EUR chips on 5 different inside spots (or on as many spots as he whishes to), as long as his total bets meets the minimum bet (but do not exceed the maximum bet). However, when making outside bets, it is forbidden to spread the minimum bet over more than one spot.

Rules

Roulette is essentially a very simple game to play. The rules of Roulette are mostly the same for European/English and American Roulette.

Players can continue to place bets as the ball spins around the wheel until the croupier announces no more bets or rien ne va plus. When the ball finally lands in one of the slots on the wheel, the croupier will place a marker, known as a dolly, on the correlating spot on the layout, which has the same number and color. While the dolly is on the table, players may not place bets, collect bets, or remove any bets from the table. The croupier will first sweep away all losing chips (leaving the wining chips on the layout), and then determine all of the payouts to the winning inside and outside. When the croupier is finished making payouts, the dolly is removed from the table. Players may then collect their wining chips and place new bets.

The rules regarding zero spins vary among the different Roulette variants. In the most common, European/English Roulette variant, when the ball lands on zero, even money wagers (red/black, odds/evens, high/low (or “manque/passé”)) are “locked in” and lose half of their value. The player has two options: leave the chips on the table for the next spin, or cash out for half the chips’ value.

Now that you are familiar with the game-play and rules of Roulette, you are welcome to enjoy playing Roulette online with Europa Casino.