Roulette is a fast-paced casino game of chance that has become one of the most popular games at online and land casinos around the world. The game is very simple and requires only a small amount of luck. Players make bets on a special Roulette table to predict which slot the ball will land in when the wheel stops spinning. There are a number of different betting options and the house edge varies depending on which bets a player makes.
A roulette game begins with the dealer clearing the table of winning bets from the last round, paying the winners and then declaring “No more bets!” This allows players to optimize their time in placing their wagers on the next round’s numbers. Outside bets are usually the best wagers for this reason, since they offer higher odds of hitting than other types of bets.
Once the game starts, a dealer spins a ball into a roulette wheel that has alternating red and black numbered slots with a green zero. The roulette wheel was invented in the 17th century by a French mathematician named Blaise Pascal. The first formal roulette wheels had the single zero and a double zero, but starting in the 1800s the zero was coloured green to avoid confusion with the number 0.
Once the ball lands on a specific slot, the winners will be paid according to their betting odds. These odds are based on the number or groupings of numbers they bet on, the colour of those numbers, whether they are odd or even and the dozens of which they bet on. The most common dozens bets include the first, second and third dozen, as well as a column bet. Each bettor is assigned chips to place in these groups on the betting board, and when they win, the payout is a multiple of their initial bet. If a bettor wins on a straight-up bet, they receive 36 chips for every chip wagered.