roulette, (from French: “small wheel”), gambling game in which players bet on which red or black numbered compartment of a 9️⃣ revolving wheel a small ball (spun in the opposite direction) will come to rest within. Bets are placed on a 9️⃣ table marked to correspond with the compartments of the wheel. It is played in casinos worldwide. Roulette is a banking 9️⃣ game, and all bets are placed against the bank—that is, the house, or the proprietor of the game. As a 9️⃣ big-time betting game, it has had its popularity superseded in the United States and the Caribbean islands by others, notably 9️⃣ craps, blackjack, and poker. Fanciful stories about the origin of roulette include its invention by the 17th-century French mathematician Blaise 9️⃣ Pascal, by a French monk, and by the Chinese, from whom it was supposedly transmitted to France by Dominican monks. 9️⃣ In reality, roulette was derived in France in the early 18th century from the older games hoca and portique, and 9️⃣ it is first mentioned under its current name in 1716 in Bordeaux. Following several modifications, roulette achieved its present layout 9️⃣ and wheel structure about 1790, after which it rapidly gained status as the leading game in the casinos and gambling 9️⃣ houses of Europe. During the years 1836 to 1933, roulette was banned in France.

Equipment The roulette table is composed of 9️⃣ two sections, the wheel itself and the betting layout, better known as the roulette layout. There are two styles of 9️⃣ roulette tables. One has a single betting layout with the roulette wheel at one end, and the other has two 9️⃣ layouts with the wheel in the centre. The wheel spins horizontally. Heading the layout design, which is printed on green 9️⃣ baize, is a space containing the figure 0 (European style) or the figures 0 and 00 (American style, although such 9️⃣ wheels were used also in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries). The main portion of the design is composed 9️⃣ of 36 consecutively numbered rectangular spaces, alternately coloured red and black and arranged in three columns of 12 spaces each, 9️⃣ beginning with 1 at the top and concluding with 36 at the bottom. Directly below the numbers are three blank 9️⃣ spaces (on some layouts these are marked “2 to 1” and are located on the players’ side of the table). 9️⃣ On either side of these or along one side of the columns are rectangular spaces marked “1st 12,” “2nd 12,” 9️⃣ and “3rd 12” on American-style layouts. On European-style layouts these terms are “12p” (première), “12m” (milieu), and “12d” (dernière douzaine). 9️⃣ Six more spaces are marked “red” (rouge), “black” (noir), “even” (pair), “odd” (impair), “1–18” (low, or manque), and “19–36” (high, 9️⃣ or passe). The roulette wheel consists of a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape. Around its rim are metal 9️⃣ partitions known as separators or frets, and the compartments or pockets between these are called canoes by roulette croupiers. Thirty-six 9️⃣ of these compartments, painted alternately red and black, are numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. On European-style wheels a 37th 9️⃣ compartment, painted green, carries the sign 0, and on American wheels two green compartments on opposite sides of the wheel 9️⃣ carry the signs 0 and 00. The wheel, its spindle perfectly balanced, spins smoothly in an almost frictionless manner. The 9️⃣ standard roulette table employs up to 10 sets of wheel checks (usually called chips). Each set is differently coloured; each 9️⃣ traditionally consists of 300 chips; and there is one set for each player. The chips usually have a single basic 9️⃣ value, although some casinos also sell chips of lesser value. The colour of the chips indicates the player, not the 9️⃣ value of the chips. If a player wishes to buy chips of slightly higher value, the croupier places a marker 9️⃣ indicating that value on top of the table’s stack of chips of the colour corresponding to the chips purchased. Most 9️⃣ casinos also have high-value chips that can be wagered at any gaming table. Unlike roulette chips, these have their numbered 9️⃣ values printed on them. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now

Bets It is possible 9️⃣ to place the following bets in roulette: (1) straight, or single-number (en plein), in which the chips are placed squarely 9️⃣ on one number of the layout, including 0 (and also 00 on American layouts), so that the chips do not 9️⃣ touch any of the lines enclosing the number; a winning single-number bet pays 35 to 1 (for each unit bet, 9️⃣ a winning player receives his original bet and 35 matching units); (2) split, or 2-number (à cheval), in which the 9️⃣ chips are placed on any line separating any two numbers; if either wins, payoff odds are 17 to 1; (3) 9️⃣ street, or 3-number (transversale pleine), in which the chips are placed on the outside line of the layout, betting the 9️⃣ three numbers opposite the chips; payoff odds on any of the three numbers are 11 to 1; (4) square, quarter, 9️⃣ corner, or 4-number (en carré), in which the chips are placed on the intersection of the lines between any four 9️⃣ numbers; payoff odds are 8 to 1; (5) line, or 6-number (sixaine or transversale six), in which the chips are 9️⃣ placed on the intersection of the sideline and a line between two “streets”; payoff odds are 5 to 1; (6) 9️⃣ column (colonne), or 12-number, in which the chips are placed on one of the three blank spaces (some layouts have 9️⃣ three squares, marked “1st,” “2nd,” and “3rd”) at the bottom of the layout, thus betting the 12 numbers above the 9️⃣ space; payoff odds are 2 to 1; (7) dozens (douzaine), or 12-number, in which the chips are placed on one 9️⃣ of the spaces of the layout marked “12,” betting the numbers 1–12, 13–24, or 25–36; payoff odds are 2 to 9️⃣ 1; (8) low-number or high-number, in which the chips are placed on the layout space marked “1–18” (manque) or on 9️⃣ the space marked “19–36” (passe); payoff is even money; (9) black or red, in which the chips are placed on 9️⃣ a space of the layout marked “black” (noir) or on a space marked “red” (rouge; some layouts have a large 9️⃣ black or red diamond-shaped design instead of the words); payoff is even money; (10) odd-number or even-number, in which the 9️⃣ chips are placed on the space of the layout marked “odd” (impair) or on the space marked “even” (pair); payoff 9️⃣ is even money. On layouts with a single zero (European style), the 0 may be included in a 2-number bet 9️⃣ with any adjoining number, in a 3-number bet with 1 and 2 or with 2 and 3, and in a 9️⃣ 4-number bet with 1, 2, and 3 at the regular odds for these bets. With the American-style 0 and 00, 9️⃣ a 5-number line bet also is possible, the player placing his chips on the corner intersection of the line separating 9️⃣ the 1, 2, 3 from the 0 and 00, with payoff odds of 6 to 1.

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