How to Play Roulette

Roulette originated in France in the 17th Century, and today is one of the most popular casino gambling games in Europe, and an exciting game to play online or in a bricks and mortar casino. Our guide teaches you how to play roulette, and where to find zero house edge roulette.

Roulette Basics

Players play against the House (represented in the game by the croupier) who keeps spinning the roulette wheel, taking bets on the outcome and paying out the appropriate amount to winners.A standard European roulette wheel has thirty six slots representing the numbers 1-36 numbers and one slot fo the zero. Amerian roulette tables will usually have two zeroes, thus 1 extra slot.

Each player buys-in, getting their chips in a differently coloured chip colour from other players, in order to ensure that their bets don’t get mixed up on the table.

To play roulette, you place your bet or bets on numbers (any number including the zero) in the table layout, on red or black, 1st, 2nd or 3rd segments of the table or on the outside, depending on where you think the ball will land (or what colour you hope it lands on). Once players have had a minute or two to place their bets, the croupier will start the wheel spin and throws the ball into the rotating wheel. The croupier will announce “no more bets” moments before the ball is due to stop, and from that point on, no one is allowed to place – or change their bets until the ball has dropped into a slot and the croupier deals with payouts.

The winners are those bets that are on or around the number that the ball finally settles into on the roulette wheel. Also the bets on the outside of the layout win if the winning number is represented (by being red, if the player bet on red, or being in a particular zone on the table, if such a bet was placed).

Roulette House advantage

On a single zero roulette table the dealer or house has an advantage of 2.7%. On a double zero roulette (American-style) table, the house edge is 5.26%. The House advantage is attained by paying the winners a chip or two (or a proportion of it) less than what it should have been if there was no advantage. There is one online casino currently offering players the opportunity to play with zero house edge (please see below).

The Zero rule

Some casinos will reimburse even money bets or will allow the player to take back half their bet or to leave the bet for another spin. e.g if you bet on black, and zero comes in, you may only lose half your bet, whereas players who have bet on a number to come in will lose their entire bet on that number.

Roulette payouts

  1. A straight-up bet (on 1 number only) pays 35 to 1. (You collect 36 – your winnings, and 1 for your stake back). With zero house edge you should collect 37 (or 38 on a double zero roulette wheel).
  2. A two-number bet, (or split bet) pays 17 to 1.
  3. A three-number bet pays 11 to 1.
  4. A four-number bet (corner bet), pays 8 to 1.
  5. A six-number bet, pays 5 to 1.
  6. A bet on the outside dozen or column, pays 2 to 1.
  7. A bet on the outside even money bets (e.g red only, even number, odd number), pays 1 to 1.

Object of Roulette

To win at roulette the player needs to predict where the ball will land after each spin. This is an unlikely task, but can prove rewarding for lucky players. Some players prefer to bet on their “lucky number”, whereas other players will bet on groups of numbers which are consecutively oriented on the roulette wheel.
Other methodical players use a variety of roulette systems or methods and bankroll management strategies.

Zero House Edge Roulette

Betfair Casino is the only casino in the world to have have removed all house edge from their casino games (online Roulette, online Blackjack, Online Baccarat and online Video-Poker). The Betfair “Zero Lounge” casino is probably the best value online-casino on the web.

*The return to player on all zero games is 100.0 per cent. This is correct to at least 1 decimal place based on optimal player strategy.

Resources

Roulette and BlackJack at PartyCasino