How to Play Roulette

Roulette is often the first table game people try, and with good reason. There are no cards to read and no decisions after the ball is in motion. You choose where to put your chips, the dealer spins, and the pocket the ball settles in decides every bet at once. The rules fit on a single page, yet a few details, above all the green zero pockets, shape what the game costs you. This walkthrough is meant for adult readers, 18 or older.

The wheel and its pockets

A roulette wheel holds numbered pockets from 1 to 36, alternating between red and black, plus one or two green pockets:

• European (single-zero) wheel: 37 pockets, numbered 0 to 36.
• American (double-zero) wheel: 38 pockets, with both 0 and 00.

The numbers are not arranged in order around the wheel. They are spread so that reds and blacks, odds and evens, highs and lows alternate as evenly as possible. That arrangement does not change the odds; it only keeps the wheel balanced to look at.

The betting layout

Next to the wheel sits the felt layout: a grid of the numbers 1 to 36 in three columns, the zero (or zeros) at the top, and a band of larger boxes around the edge. Bets placed on the numbers themselves are called inside bets. Bets placed in the outer boxes are outside bets.

Inside bets

Outside bets

• Red or black, odd or even, 1–18 or 19–36: each covers 18 numbers and pays even money.
• Dozens (1–12, 13–24, 25–36) and columns: each covers 12 numbers and pays 2 to 1.

The zero pockets belong to none of the outside groups. When the ball lands in green, every red, black, odd, even, high, low, dozen and column bet loses.

How a spin plays out

1. Buy in. At a land-based table you change cash for coloured roulette chips, a different colour for each player so the dealer knows whose bets are whose.
2. Place your bets. Put chips on the layout within the table's minimum and maximum. Each bet has its own limits, so check the sign.
3. The spin. The dealer spins the wheel one way and sends the ball the other. Bets can usually still be placed for a moment.
4. "No more bets." Once the dealer waves this off, the layout is closed until the result is in.
5. Settlement. A marker goes on the winning number, losing chips are cleared and winners are paid, starting from the outside.

Online versions follow the same order. A random number generator picks the pocket in standard digital games, while live-dealer tables stream a real wheel from a studio.

What the zero costs you

Look at the payouts and the pocket count together. A straight-up bet covers one number and pays 35 to 1. On a European wheel the true odds against that number are 36 to 1, because 36 other pockets can win instead. That one extra pocket, the zero, is the whole of the house edge: 1 in 37, or about 2.70% of every bet over the long run. The American wheel adds a second green pocket, so the edge roughly doubles to 2 in 38, about 5.26%.

Some French-style tables use a rule called la partage: when zero comes up, even-money bets lose only half their stake. On those bets the edge falls to about 1.35%. For a bet-by-bet breakdown of these numbers, see our companion piece, Roulette Odds, Bet by Bet.

Systems, streaks and the wheel's memory

The wheel has no memory. Ten reds in a row do not make black more likely on the eleventh spin; the chance is the same as it was on the first. Progression systems that push the stake up after each loss only reshape how your balance rises and falls. They cannot remove the zero, and table maximums cap how far any doubling plan can go. If you are weighing roulette against the reels, our comparison of slots and roulette for beginners covers how the two feel to play.

A calm way to start

• Choose a single-zero wheel whenever you have the option.
• Decide your spending limit and your finishing time before the first spin.
• Start with outside bets to learn the pace without large swings.
• Pay attention to the minimum and maximum per bet, not only per spin.

Roulette is entertainment with a built-in price, not a source of income. Play only with money you can comfortably spend, and if the game stops feeling like fun, step away from the table for the night.