roulette, (from French: βsmall wheelβ), gambling game in which players bet on which red or black numbered compartment of a π revolving wheel a small ball (spun in the opposite direction) will come to rest within. Bets are placed on a π table marked to correspond with the compartments of the wheel. It is played in casinos worldwide. Roulette is a banking π game, and all bets are placed against the bankβthat is, the house, or the proprietor of the game. As a π big-time betting game, it has had its popularity superseded in the United States and the Caribbean islands by others, notably π craps, blackjack, and poker. Fanciful stories about the origin of roulette include its invention by the 17th-century French mathematician Blaise π Pascal, by a French monk, and by the Chinese, from whom it was supposedly transmitted to France by Dominican monks. π In reality, roulette was derived in France in the early 18th century from the older games hoca and portique, and π it is first mentioned under its current name in 1716 in Bordeaux. Following several modifications, roulette achieved its present layout π and wheel structure about 1790, after which it rapidly gained status as the leading game in the casinos and gambling π houses of Europe. During the years 1836 to 1933, roulette was banned in France. Equipment The roulette table is composed of π two sections, the wheel itself and the betting layout, better known as the roulette layout. There are two styles of π roulette tables. One has a single betting layout with the roulette wheel at one end, and the other has two π layouts with the wheel in the centre. The wheel spins horizontally. Heading the layout design, which is printed on green π baize, is a space containing the figure 0 (European style) or the figures 0 and 00 (American style, although such π wheels were used also in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries). The main portion of the design is composed π of 36 consecutively numbered rectangular spaces, alternately coloured red and black and arranged in three columns of 12 spaces each, π beginning with 1 at the top and concluding with 36 at the bottom. Directly below the numbers are three blank π spaces (on some layouts these are marked β2 to 1β and are located on the playersβ side of the table). π On either side of these or along one side of the columns are rectangular spaces marked β1st 12,β β2nd 12,β π and β3rd 12β on American-style layouts. On European-style layouts these terms are β12pβ (premiΓ¨re), β12mβ (milieu), and β12dβ (derniΓ¨re douzaine). π Six more spaces are marked βredβ (rouge), βblackβ (noir), βevenβ (pair), βoddβ (impair), β1β18β (low, or manque), and β19β36β (high, π or passe). The roulette wheel consists of a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape. Around its rim are metal π partitions known as separators or frets, and the compartments or pockets between these are called canoes by roulette croupiers. Thirty-six π of these compartments, painted alternately red and black, are numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. On European-style wheels a 37th π compartment, painted green, carries the sign 0, and on American wheels two green compartments on opposite sides of the wheel π carry the signs 0 and 00. The wheel, its spindle perfectly balanced, spins smoothly in an almost frictionless manner. The π standard roulette table employs up to 10 sets of wheel checks (usually called chips). Each set is differently coloured; each π traditionally consists of 300 chips; and there is one set for each player. The chips usually have a single basic π value, although some casinos also sell chips of lesser value. The colour of the chips indicates the player, not the π value of the chips. If a player wishes to buy chips of slightly higher value, the croupier places a marker π indicating that value on top of the tableβs stack of chips of the colour corresponding to the chips purchased. Most π casinos also have high-value chips that can be wagered at any gaming table. Unlike roulette chips, these have their numbered π values printed on them. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now Bets It is possible π to place the following bets in roulette: (1) straight, or single-number (en plein), in which the chips are placed squarely π on one number of the layout, including 0 (and also 00 on American layouts), so that the chips do not π touch any of the lines enclosing the number; a winning single-number bet pays 35 to 1 (for each unit bet, π a winning player receives his original bet and 35 matching units); (2) split, or 2-number (Γ cheval), in which the π chips are placed on any line separating any two numbers; if either wins, payoff odds are 17 to 1; (3) π street, or 3-number (transversale pleine), in which the chips are placed on the outside line of the layout, betting the π three numbers opposite the chips; payoff odds on any of the three numbers are 11 to 1; (4) square, quarter, π corner, or 4-number (en carrΓ©), in which the chips are placed on the intersection of the lines between any four π numbers; payoff odds are 8 to 1; (5) line, or 6-number (sixaine or transversale six), in which the chips are π placed on the intersection of the sideline and a line between two βstreetsβ; payoff odds are 5 to 1; (6) π column (colonne), or 12-number, in which the chips are placed on one of the three blank spaces (some layouts have π three squares, marked β1st,β β2nd,β and β3rdβ) at the bottom of the layout, thus betting the 12 numbers above the π space; payoff odds are 2 to 1; (7) dozens (douzaine), or 12-number, in which the chips are placed on one π of the spaces of the layout marked β12,β betting the numbers 1β12, 13β24, or 25β36; payoff odds are 2 to π 1; (8) low-number or high-number, in which the chips are placed on the layout space marked β1β18β (manque) or on π the space marked β19β36β (passe); payoff is even money; (9) black or red, in which the chips are placed on π a space of the layout marked βblackβ (noir) or on a space marked βredβ (rouge; some layouts have a large π black or red diamond-shaped design instead of the words); payoff is even money; (10) odd-number or even-number, in which the π chips are placed on the space of the layout marked βoddβ (impair) or on the space marked βevenβ (pair); payoff π is even money. On layouts with a single zero (European style), the 0 may be included in a 2-number bet π with any adjoining number, in a 3-number bet with 1 and 2 or with 2 and 3, and in a π 4-number bet with 1, 2, and 3 at the regular odds for these bets. With the American-style 0 and 00, π a 5-number line bet also is possible, the player placing his chips on the corner intersection of the line separating π the 1, 2, 3 from the 0 and 00, with payoff odds of 6 to 1. |