Roulette Rules, Tips, How to Play Roulette

Roulette Rules: The Basics
The Roulette Table Layout Explained
All About The Numbers
Betting Systems
Roulette Payouts And Odds

If you want to become a savvier player at the roulette tables, you must familiarise yourself with the roulette rules. These affect every bet you place.

This classic casino table game is one of the oldest games available in land-based and online casinos. However, to beginner online roulette players, the table can feel somewhat daunting, with so many betting options on the wheel and the unique roulette layout to get to grips with.

Roulette Rules: The Basics

There are several aspects to the game of roulette that you need to master, especially when it comes to staking real money. It’s not just the roulette wheel you have to think about, it’s the different ways to stake, when you can and can’t stake, and what you could win when the ball lands in your favour.

The Object Of The Game

To win at a round of roulette, you must put a stake of money on a desired number or collection of numbers. You do this by placing roulette chips of your chosen value on your selected number(s). Put simply, the object is to predict where you think the ball will land on the roulette wheel and bet accordingly.

All winning chips are returned to winning players, plus extra chip payouts in accordance with the table odds. All losing chips are taken by the table dealer and retained by the house. Of course, when you play live roulette online, the transfer of winning and losing chips happens digitally and in an instant, to accelerate your gameplay in between spins.

Basic Rules To Master

First, you’ll need to master the dynamics of the roulette wheel. Depending on the variant of roulette you choose to play you’ll have 37 (including the single zero) or 38 (including the double zero) numbers on the wheel. There will also be some differences in terms of your roulette table layout, or the way you place your stakes.

The Roulette Table Layout Explained

When we talk about the table layout, we’re referring to two things – the layout of numbers on both the roulette wheel and of the numbers on the table where you place your chips.

So, let’s briefly talk about the numbers. A typical roulette wheel will have a minimum of 36 numbered pockets. Additional ‘special’ numbers have been added to the wheel over time, too. For instance, a green single zero pocket is included in the European version.

These additional pockets were added to help the house increasing its edge. If you’re interested in how to calculate this in a game of roulette, you need to work out the following calculation:

(Odds Against Winning – House Odds) x Probability Of Success

For a roulette wheel with 37 pockets the calculation would be:

(36/1 – 35/1) x 1/37 = 1/1 x 1/37 = 1/37 = 0.0270270 (2.70% when multiplied by 100)

For roulette wheels with both a single zero and double zero, creating 38 pockets, the house edge almost doubles to 5.26%, which is why single-zero roulette tends to be more popular with players.

All About Red And Black

One thing you’ll notice on any roulette wheel layout is that the pockets alternate between red and black numbers. That’s designed to give you, the player an almost 50/50 chance of landing red or black. Why do we say almost? Because the addition of the single zero and the double zero makes it impossible for the probability of the ball landing on red or black to be exactly 50%.

As the payout odds of on red or black are even-money (1:1), this is where the house edge tips in favour of the casinos.

All About The Numbers

Taking a quick look at a roulette wheel with 37 numbered pockets, you’ll probably notice that the numbers are by no means in a specific order. This is to avoid any potential bias of results over the long-term from a single roulette wheel.

In single zero roulette, the numbers are laid out clockwise in the following sequence: 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34, 6, 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, 33, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26.

The positioning of the numbered pockets on a double zero wheel, also known as American roulette, is laid out very differently. The sequence is designed to create a level playing field, with the single zero and double zero positioned on opposite sides of the wheel:

0, 28, 9, 26, 30, 11, 7, 20, 32, 17, 5, 22, 34, 15, 3, 24, 36, 13, 1, 00, 27, 10, 25, 29, 12, 8, 19, 31, 18, 6, 21, 33, 16, 4, 23, 35, 14, and 2.

As you can see, with single zero roulette wheels, the low and high-value numbers alternate as much as possible. You’ll very rarely spot two low or high numbers next to each other on the wheel. That’s in stark contrast to double zero roulette wheels, which are less balanced, with many instances of low and high numbers positioned next to one another on the wheel.

Roulette Betting Systems

The beauty of roulette is that you can stake on as many numbers as you wish if your bankroll allows. Though if you opt in to live casino offers and promotions, there may be limits placed on the amount of numbers you can cover in any game round, so always check the terms and conditions.

If you want to cover several single numbers or multiple groups of numbers, you can do so freely. There are three different types of bets you can make – inside bets, outside bets, and announced bets.

Inside Betting

Look at the standard roulette table layout and you’ll see that the main layout is comprised of the numbers zero through to 36. The other areas on the side of the table layout are specifically reserved for betting on groups of numbers – more on that shortly.

When you stake on an individual number or cover several numbers at once, these bets are known as inside bets. There are seven main inside bets you can make at any time:

Straight or straight-up
A bet placed on a single number, such as red 7. Chips are placed inside the square of the number you want to stake on.
Split
A bet placed on two numbers adjacent to one another on the roulette table, such as red 14 and black 17. Chips are placed on the connecting line between the two numbers.
Street
A bet placed on three numbers located on the same line of the table. Chips are placed on the outer corner of the row of three numbers you want to stake on. An example is a bet on the row including 4, 5 and 6.
Six Line
A bet placed on two adjacent lines of numbers. Chips are placed on the connecting outer corner between the two lines you want to stake on, such as the two rows containing numbers 28 – 33.
Corner
A bet placed on a cluster of four numbers in a square. Place your chip in the middle of the four numbers. An example is a square containing 15, 18, 17 and 14 (looking at them clockwise).
Trio
A bet placed on three numbers including single zero or double zero. Chips are positioned on the line connecting the single zero or double zero with the two additional numbers 1 and 2, or 2 and 3.
Basket
A bet placed on the numbers zero, 1, 2, and 3. Chips are placed on the outer corner of the table connecting zero and 1.

Outside Betting

All outside bets made on the roulette table are placed outside of the field of numbers. Outside bets cover the sectors that span larger groups of numbers than you can otherwise cover with multiple inside bets. With outside bets, you can cover virtually half the numbers during a single spin, compared to just six with a single inside bet.

For all these bets, choose your outcome and simply place your chip/s in the square marked with the bet you want.

Odd/Even
Red/Black
1 to 18/19 to 36
Dozens
A bet placed on whether the 1^st 12, 2^nd or 3^rd 12 on the table.
Columns
A bet placed on whether the next number the ball lands on will be within the first, second, or third column of the table. Chips are placed inside the first, second, or third “2 to 1” squares next beside numbers 34, 35, and 36 respectively.

Announced Betting

Most commonly found in French roulette and some European roulette games, there are additional announced bets that can be made. These are a combination of different numbers, and usually, you’ll find a secondary table aside from the one where you can place inside and outside bets. Here are the five announced bets:

Voisins du Zero
A bet placed on the single zero and seven numbers either side of the zero, comprising a trio bet on zero, 2, and 3, five split bets on 4 and 7, 12 and 15, 18 and 21, 19 and 22, 32 and 35, one corner bet on 25, 26, 28, and 29.
Le Tiers Du Cylindre
Translated to English as “one-third of the wheel”, this bet covers six different split bets on 5 and 8, 10 and 11, 13 and 16, 23 and 24, 27 and 30, 33 and 36.
Orphelins
A bet placed on all the numbers not covered by a Voisins du Zero bet or a Le Tier Du Cylindre bet, spanning eight numbers and known as the orphans. It consists of a straight-up bet on 1 and four split bets on 6 and 9, 14 and 17, 17 and 20, 31 and 34.
Jeu Zero
A bet covering all three neighbours of the single zero on either side of the wheel. It consists of a straight-up bet on 26 and three split bets on zero and 3, 12 and 15, 32 and 35.
Neighbours
A five-number bet covering 26 and its two neighbours on either side.

Roulette Payouts And Odds

Inside bets tend to have much larger payouts than outside bets. That’s because they cover no more than six numbers per spin. Meanwhile, outside bets can cover half of the numbers on the wheel during a single spin, so the odds of winning on any single number is increased.

The below table shows the payout odds of each main roulette bet:

Bet Type	Payout/Odds	Inside/Outside Bet?
Straight-up	35:1	Inside Bet
Split	17:1	Inside Bet
Trio or Street	11:1	Inside
Corner	8:1	Inside Bet
Line	5:1	Inside Bet
Column	2:1	Outside Bet
Dozen	2:1	Outside Bet
Red/Black	1:1	Outside Bet
Odd/Even	1:1	Outside Bet
1 – 18 / 19 – 36	1:1	Outside Bet

Does this all make sense? Try your hand at live roulette today!

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