The American layout reflects the 38 possible numbers on the American wheel. There are generally only two types of layouts: The roulette table has a layout printed onto a felt cover. The number of the pocket the ball falls into determines how the bets placed on the layout table are treated.Īfter this the specifics of individual tables can vary greatly.The ball falls onto the spinning wheel and eventually lands into one of the pockets.As the ball hits a block its trajectory is randomly altered on all 3 planes (X, Y, and Z) causing the ball to bounce and skip. As the ball loses momentum the centrifugal force is no longer sufficient to hold the ball in the groove and it falls down the face of the frame. A plastic or ivory ball is spun in the track in the frame that holds the wheel.The wheel is held within a wooden frame which contains a track around the upper outer edge and blocks of a variety of designs placed approximately halfway down the face of the frame.There is a balanced mechanical wheel with colored pockets separated by identical vanes and the wheel which spins freely on a supporting post.So even if the table minimum is $1, one could place four $0.25 bets and still be a legal.Īll roulette tables operated by a casino have the same basic mechanics: This is particularly interesting because if one does not specify the chips are usually valued at either $1 or the table minimum, however if they player wished for the chips to be worth $0.25, s/he may do so as long as the ‘’’total’’’ wager meets the table minimums for their respective sectors. Usually each player gets a different color to help avoid confusion of bets, and the player can designate the value of the chip. The croupier has stacks of various colored chips. Some casinos allow the player to use generic casino chips at the roulette tables, but most require the player to buy in at the table. Modern casinos maintain the integrity of their roulette balls with regular magnetic and x-ray exams. These days the ball is most likely high impact plastic, but originally it was made of ivory. The player may surrender half of the bet.' Īll roulette tables deal with only four elements: This means the bet stays where it is and the next spin determines if the bet is lost or returned to the player. With the en prison option if the player has bet an even money bet (Even-Odd, Red-Black, 1-18 or 19-36) and zero or double zero is the next outcome the player has two options:

'In Europe (also Atlantic City in the U.S.) the Casino's offered another refinement to the game that increased the odds yet again for the player, the option of 'En Prison' was offered. The introduction of the single zero wheel (with better odds for the player) resulted in the demise of the double zero wheels in Europe and has become known as the French Wheel in roulette history. 'The use of the double zero roulette wheels survived in the United States and is sometimes called the American Wheel. This led to the gambling and resort industry in Monaco as many of Europe's rich were attracted to the luxurious Monte Carlo casino. The casino set the standards for roulette in Europe, and roulette remained exclusive to Monte Carlo until 1933. When gambling was outlawed in Germany the inventor of the single zero machine (Louis Blanc) accepted an invitation to go to Monaco to establish and operate a casino. 'In the mid 19th century the single zero game was invented in France, this reduced the casino's edge thereby increasing the odds of the player. This led to some confusion for players and the color green was introduced for the zero and double zero to alleviate the confusion. This game contained all of the features that we have today with the one exception, the single zero was colored red while the double zero was colored black. The first games that we would recognize as modern roulette were introduced in Paris casinos around the end of the 18th century.

'Several early versions of a wheel and spinning ball were invented in the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe. There are stories that the game was invented in China and brought to Europe by traders who were trading with the Chinese.

'Roulette history is hard to come by because the origin of roulette is lost, and there was likely some form of a wheel based game going back almost as far as the origin of the wheel itself.

Random number generator roulette wheel