Roulette (French for “little wheel”) is a casino game in which a small ball rolls around a numbered wheel and people make bets on which number it will land on. Bettors may wager on any number ranging from individual numbers, groupings of numbers, color of numbers (red/black/odd/even), and whether an odd/even number occurs before spinning it. Before placing their chips down on a betting mat to place their bet, placing Inside and Outside bets. Inside bets contain six numbers; these bets being made before any spin while 12 numbers or more are known as Outside bets (Inside + Outside bets +12+).

Roulette is a game of chance, with odds always in favor of the house. Yet various strategies have been devised to lower this advantage or at least improve one’s odds of success in roulette – these based on mathematical analysis, probability theory and other disciplines such as statistics. Some systems claim to be foolproof while others are complex or more straightforward.

Before heading to the table, it is crucial that you select one with minimum bets that suit you and allow you to stay within your budget. Each roulette table features a placard detailing their minimum and maximum bet restrictions.

Roulette wheels consist of a solid wooden disc that is slightly convex in shape with a rim surrounding it, with metal divisions called canoes painted red and black alternatingly painted on them – 36 compartments on European wheels (or one green one on American ones) have numbers from 1 through 36 for easy reference.

Blaise Pascal popularized a primitive form of roulette cylinder in the 17th century while searching for perpetual motion machines, however the modern game began many centuries later in France with the addition of zeroes on wheels dramatically increasing house edge.