Roulette is a game of chance that fascinated gamblers from the first time it appeared. The game is named after a french word, meaning ‘small wheel’. Blaise Pascal, a french scientist is the inventor of the roulette device who is said it was fascinated by perpetual motion devices. The first version of roulette was seen in the 17th century.

The game became very popular in Paris and in 1842, wishing to obtain a better house advantage, Francois and Louis Blanc invented the roulette wheel with a single ‘0’.

In that period of time France declared gambling illegal, so the game was introduced in Germany, where from the start attracted people. The game was brought back to France for Charles III, the Prince of Monaco and so appeared the resort Monte Carlo, a sumptuous and famous place, known all over the world.

During the California Gold Rush, roulette became famous in the US where it was played in the double ’00’ version.

Roulette can be played in a few versions and the most popular are European and American Roulette. The game is actually an easy casino game, and its odds reside only on luck. A croupier throws a ball in the wheel in the opposite direction to which the wheel is spinning. Players bet that the ball will land on the wheels pockets colored and numbered from 1 to 37 in European Roulette and from 1 to 38 in American Roulette.

Roulette holds a variety of bets available for players. These bets are split in two types, ‘inside bets’ and ‘outside bets’. Inside bets refer to the pocket number in which the player bets that the ball will land on. These are the Straight Bet, Split Bet, Street Bet, Square Bet and the Line Bet.

Outside bets refer to various positional groupings of pockets, pocket colors, or whether it is odd or even in which the ball will land on. Based on each of the bets probability, these bets have different payout odds that are usually posted for each roulette game. The outside bets are the Column Bet, The Dozen Bet and the Even Money Bet.

Inside bets have higher odds and outside bets have lower odds. The bet with the higher odds (35 to 1) Straight Bet – a player bets that the ball will land on a particular bet. Even Money is the bet with the lowest odds (1 to 1) – a player makes a bet that the ball will land in any of the 18 numbers.

European Roulette

The wheel in European Roulette is numbered from 1 to 36 plus one ‘0’, so you have 37 numbered pockets. This is the roulette version that offers to its players better odds, having a house advantage of only 2.7%.

American Roulette

This version of the game has the same 1 trough 36 numbers plus the single ‘0’ and double ’00’ pockets. The house advantage for this version is 5.26%. As roulette is just a simple game of chance, you won’t be able to find a real strategy or system that can help you win. The most rampant and also relevant advice you will find about best roulette playing style is to always avoid the American Roulette. You will be advised to always look for European Roulette games, because they offer the best rules and odds for the player against the house.

French Roulette

The french wheel consists of numbered slots ranging from 0 to 36 and has three types of bets. Inside bets, outside bets and call bets. Inside bets include Single Number Bets, Split or Double Bets, Three on a Row or Street Bets, Box of Four or Square Bets and Box of Six or Line Bets. Outside bets are formed of Column Bets, Dozen Bets and Even Money Bets. Call bets include Les Voisins du Zero Bets, Tiers du Cylindre Bets, Les Orphelins Bets and the series of Finales Bets. A special aspect of this roulette variation is the La Partage rule, which is a rule that offers you the option of losing only half your Even Money Bet amount if the ball lands on the ‘0’ in an Even Money Bet.