How to Play Roulette

To play roulette, the player places a bet on a number, colour or group of numbers on the roulette table. The wheel and ball are spun, and the slot in which the ball falls into determines the winner. The amount of the pay-off depends on the position and the amount of chips that were placed on the winning number. That's pretty much all there is to it, which is one of roulette's main attractiveness to players, especially newer ones.

A roulette wheel comprises different little pockets, each with its own number (1 to 36), which are not sequential (i.e. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 etc are not all together) and alternate between red and black. Also on the wheel is a green pocket for 0 and/or 00. This will depend on which version of roulette you are playing. When playing with what is known as an American Roulette Wheel, there is a 0 and a 00. When playing with what is known as a European Roulette Wheel, there is just a 0. This makes the European form of the game more popular as the odds are more in the player's favour as there is one less possibility for the ball to land on.

Unlike the wheel a roulette table features numbers in consecutive order which makes it easier for players to locate the numbers they wish to bet on. These numbers are known as inside bets. These bets can be made up of a single number or group of adjacent numbers.

Also available on the table are outside bets. These are bets not on specific numbers themselves, but on certain characteristics such as odd or even, red or black, high or low. As well as these, players can bet on columns containing 12 numbers or any of the three dozens (1-12, 13-24 and 25-36).

Players are not restricted to making just one type of bet per spin of the wheel. They can utilise as many combinations as they wish, use different amounts for each and have more than one bet covering the same number, for example betting on Red, Even and the number 32 which would all win if the ball were to settle on 32. The only restriction on this is that players must comply with the table minimum and maximum bets. Different tables in the casino will have differing limits depending on whether you are playing roulette for high stakes or low stakes roulette, and there will usually be different limits for inside bets and outside bets.

Also, players are allowed to bet on the same thing as others. So just because somebody has already placed their chips on number 12, red or whatever does not mean that you cannot do so as well.

How you bet on a roulette spin will vary slightly between an online casino and a land-based one. When playing roulette online, a player will often see the table on their screen and move their different monetary denomination chips to the position where they wish to wager. Even if they are playing live dealer roulette where many players are wagering on the same spin, they will often not see where the other people are placing their chips. This is not because it matters to your odds or payout as you are playing against the house (casino), not other players, but simply because it would get too confusing, particularly if there are tens or perhaps hundreds of people wagering online, as you soon would have difficulty seeing the table at all under all those chips!

This clarity is in fact the primary reason why betting on roulette in a land-based casino is slightly different. Instead of using the normal monetary value chips as you would in games such as blackjack, when a player joins a game of roulette they are given chips which have a unique colour to them. This is so the croupier (the person responsible for spinning the wheel and issuing chips to those who have won them on the preceding spin) can identify which player has won when people are putting down bets all over the table. If they weren't able to identify them by the colour of their chips, it would be difficult for them to determine who had won and would often result in many attempts of cheating from unscrupulous players who tried to claim that bet as their own. There will only be a certain number of different colours available, which limits the number of people placing chips on a spin and so helps prevent the board/table becoming covered with chips and difficult to determine where bets are being placed.

Ready to play roulette online right now for real money? There are a variety of options available to you after you sign up. Roulette players can wager up to £2,000 per spin when playing one of the various different types of roulette games using the online casino software. For truly high rollers, or those who prefer the thrill of a live dealer casino, when playing live dealer roulette on the high stakes tables, players can bet up to £40,000 on each spin of the wheel.

To get started, please click on the "Enter Casino" button at the top of the page.