Roulette is one of the most popular casino games in the world and it is known for offering glamour, mystery, and excitement to players. Although roulette rules are simple, the game has a surprising level of depth for serious betters and can provide high rewards if the right strategy is used.

The game is played on a wheel that has thirty-six slots numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36, with a zero slot painted red and a double zero slot coloured black. The wheel also has a small rim around which metal partitions are placed called canoes.

There are many types of bets on roulette, ranging from straight bets to bets that cover a number or several numbers. The payouts for each of these bets vary based on the amount wagered and the position of the number.

Inside and Outside Bets

There are a few different inside bets that can be placed on roulette. These include:

Even and Odd Betting

This is a bet on whether the ball will land on an odd or even number. It offers a payout of 35:1 for a winning bet and is the most profitable type of bet in roulette.

Red or Black betting

This is another bet that can be placed on the color of the number being bet on. The payoff is 50 percent for a winning bet on black and a 35:1 payoff for a win on red.

The house edge on a single number bet in roulette is 2.7%, but the house edge on a multiple-number bet is much higher at 5.26 percent for American wheels and 1.35 percent for European ones.

When you are ready to play roulette, the croupier will place a piece of paper on the table with the name of the number you want to bet on and how much it is worth. The dealer will then distribute your chips and you can start playing.

In Europe, the wheel is slightly convex in shape and consists of a spindle that rotates counter clockwise around a track surrounded by a grid of numbered pockets. The numbers on the wheel are divided into six rows of five spaces each, and on American wheels two green pockets on opposite sides carry the signs 0 and 00.

The European wheel has a unique symmetry as the sequence 29-7-28-12-35-3-26-0-32 contains no numbers from 13 to 24. The low red numbers are on one side of the zero and the high red numbers on the other. This symmetry can be exploited to make the odds of winning high.

A variety of bets can be made on the European roulette wheel, including:

Voisins du Zero (Numbers Between 27 and 33)

The ‘Voisins du Zero’ is a bet on an entire section of the wheel. It covers the first 12 numbers, from 27 to 33 on the wheel, and pays a fixed payout of 392 chips for a straight-up maximum bet.