Basic Roulette Rules

Roulette School

Roulette in its modern form has been with us since the 17th century when it became popular in France and other European countries. It was regularly played in gambling establishments for the upper classes and by today it carries an air of sophistication.

Roulette is played on a roulette table that lists all the possible outcomes and it is where players place their bets depending on the outcome they predict would occur. The dealer then spins the roulette wheel and drops the roulette ball onto the spinning wheel. The ball will eventually land on a number and the winners of this particular round of roulette will be announced.

Game objective

Roulette is played against the casino and not against other players. You need to predict where the roulette ball will land on the roulette wheel. The game offers many different betting options, some offer high risk and big payouts and others offer lower risks but accordingly low payouts.

How to play

When a round of roulette begins you must first place your bets on the roulette table. The roulette wheel will spin and the ball will drop onto it once everybody had a chance to place their bets, but in many land casinos the wheel will be spun and just prior to the ball being dropped the dealer or croupier will announce “no more bets” and drop the ball onto the wheel.

Once the ball has been dropped onto the wheel no player can add or change their bets. The wheel will slow its spin and you will be able to see that the ball has landed on some number slot. Once the winning number was announced the winners will be paid their winnings according to the type of bet they made and a new round of play will commence.

Types of roulette bets

Roulette bets are split into two main categories; inside bets and outside bets. The main difference between them is that inside bets have a lower probability of occurring but offer big payouts to winners, while outside bets have a greater probability of occurring and therefore offer lower payouts.

Professional roulette players understand that it is better to make outside bets and win lower amounts steadily than make inside bets that offer very tempting payouts but the chance of generating a win and earning the big payouts are very low. Making smart outside bets guarantees a longer playing session with wins that occur often.

The ‘En Prison’ Rule

In some European roulette games and in French roulette games there is a special rule that applies to even-money bets only. When making an even-money bet but the ball lands on zero, some casinos will allow the player to prison their original bet and leave it in its place for the next spin, thus getting to spins for the price of one, or take back half their original bet, thus losing only 50% of what they wagered on an unsuccessful bet.

The ‘La Partage’ Rule

Similar to the En Prison rule but does not allow to imprison a bet for the next spin, rather only gives the option of getting back half the money made on an outside even-money bet such as Red/Black, High/Low, Odd/Even and the outcome of the spin is zero.