Roulette

Roulette, game of chance. The game is played by any number of players against a banker by means of a device known as a roulette wheel and a table known as a roulette table. The wheel is the central and movable portion of a bowl, and is divided into alternate red and black compartments that are numbered, not necessarily in numerical order, from 1 to 36. In addition, one compartment is numbered 0 and sometimes, chiefly in the United States, another numbered 00. On the roulette table are spaces colored and numbered to correspond to the colors and numbers of the compartments of the wheel. The game is conducted by the banker, or croupier, who, after wagers have been made, sets the wheel spinning and at the same time throws an ivory marble into the bowl in the direction opposite to that in which the wheel is moving; when the motion of the wheel ceases, the ball rolls to rest in one of the compartments, the number and color of which decide the winners on that turn of the wheel. A player may bet on a number; on whether the marble will stop on a red or black compartment; and in various other ways. The banker pays the winners according to the odds that exist against the type of bet.

In the United States, when the game is won by 0 or 00, the banker pays only the players who have bet on 0 or 00 and takes all the other money wagered. In Europe, when the ball drops into 0, the banker pays those who bet on 0, while the wagers of the players who have bet on the odds or evens or on the red or black are usually impounded by the banker and decided on the next spin of the wheel. The game of roulette originated in France during the 17th or early 18th century. The best-known center for the game has been the gambling casino in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

See Gambling.