Beginners guide to playing Roulette

plus a little bit of Roulette history .

. The iniquitous roulette wheel has caused some heated words and battles over the years. Before government controls came in, the less than honest operators used to place a small weight in a selected spot on the underside of the wheel to upset its balance. The idea was that this imbalance would cause the wheel to stop on a small group of numbers each side of the point of imbalance. This is not possible when playing on line as roulette along with all other online games are computer generated and it is no longer a possibility except in physical casinos located in countries controlled by corrupt governments.

The game is played on a table with an inbuilt wheel which is located on the left side. On the opposite side is a grid with numbers and bets. Wheels are separated into slots. These are alternatively painted black and red. There are two slightly different versions of the wheel. One has 37 slots numbered from 0 to 36 and the other has 38 slots numbered from 00 to 36. It has two slots of zero (00 and 0). The double 0 wheel gives the house an extra chance to win. When the ball falls on either the 0 or 00 slot all bets are taken by the house.

One has to buy chips to play and bet. You place these on the number(s) you select or on other 'bets' on the table grid. Players usually stand around the table whilst playing. Players have a substantial range of betting options which includes betting on a series of numbers or other bets permitted by the casino by placing chips on the boundries between each of the desired numbers. you can bet that the number drawn will be red, black, odd even or within a certain range of numbers. The odds that the casino pays depends on the type of bet you selected.

When all bets are placed, the wheel is spun, and the ball is spun in the opposite direction. The ball will eventually come to rest in one of the slots. If you selected that spot, the amount you win will depend on the type of bet you placed and the casino at which you placed your bet. The odds can be as low as 1 to 1 or as high as about 2700 to 1. Again, read and make sure you understand the rules for the casino where you are playing.

Once the wheel stops, the croupier will settle the bets by first collecting all loosing bets and then paying the winners.

The table is then open for new bets and the next round begins.

When you look at the odds for some single bets, a lucky small single bet can earn you more than quite a few substantial winning bets on lower odds options