Roulette

Roulette is a casino game. A croupier turns a round roulette wheel which has 37 or 38 separately numbered pockets in which a ball must land. The main pockets are numbered from 1 to 36 and change between red and black, with number 1 being red. In addition there is a pocket numbered 0 of green color. In most roulette wheels in the United States but not in Europe, there is a second zero compartment marked 00, also colored green.

If a player bets on a single number and wins, he is paid 35 to 1. This means that he is paid 35 times his bet, while also his bet is returned, in total he gets 36 times his bet. (In a lottery one would say 'the prize is 36 times the cost of the ticket', because in a lottery the cost of the ticket is not returned additionally.)

A player can bet on numbers, combinations and even colors.

Board depiction

		0	↔	00
1- 18	1st 12	1	2	3	←
		4	5	6	←
odd		7	8	9	←
		10	11	12	←
red	2nd 12	13	14	15	←
		16	17	18	←
blk		19	20	21	←
		22	23	24	←
even	3rd 12	25	26	27	←
		28	29	30	←
19- 36		31	32	33	←
		34	35	36	←
		↑	↑	↑

Bet odds table

(in addition to the mentioned payout the bet is returned)

Bet name	Winning spaces	Payout
0	0	35 to 1
00	00	35 to 1
1	1	35 to 1
2	2	35 to 1
...
36	36	35 to 1
Row 00	0, 00	17 to 1
Row 3	1, 2, 3	11 to 1
Row 6	4, 5, 6	11 to 1
Row 9	7, 8, 9	11 to 1
...
Row 36	34, 35, 36	11 to 1
Column 1	1, 4, 7, ..., 34	2 to 1
Column 2	2, 5, 8, ..., 35	2 to 1
Column 3	3, 6, 9, ..., 36	2 to 1
First 12	1, 2, 3, ..., 12	2 to 1
Middle 12	13, 14, 15, ..., 24	2 to 1
Last 12	25, 26, 27, ..., 36	2 to 1
Odd	1, 3, 5, ..., 35	1 to 1
Even	2, 4, 6, ..., 36	1 to 1
Red	1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36	1 to 1
Black	2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 35	1 to 1
1 to 18	1, 2, 3, ..., 18	1 to 1
19 to 36	19, 20, 21, ..., 36	1 to 1
five number bet	0, 00, 1, 2, 3	6 to 1

The house average or house edge is what is lost on average relative to the bet. If a player bets on a single number in the American game there is a probability of 1/38 that he gets 36 times his bet (including the return of his bet), so he ends up having on average 36/38=0.9474 times his bet. Thus the house average for American roulette is 1/19 (5.26%); the same applies for the other kinds of bets, except for the five number bet where it a greater than 7%. The house average is appoximately halved in the European game.

Note also that 0 and 00 are neither odd nor even in this game.

---

Also see: Russian roulette.