A roullete is a circular disc with 37 or 38 pockets. The compartments are painted red and black and numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. On European-style wheels a green pocket bears the sign 0 and on American wheels two green ones indicate a single zero and double zero.

Bets are placed on different parts of the roulette table (aka layout) until the croupier says no more bets. Each type of bet has a different pay to stake ratio.

Origin

There are a number of theories about the origin of roulette. One popular theory is that it was invented by 17th century French mathematician Blaise Pascal in his quest for a perpetual motion machine. Another theory is that it was based on a game that Chinese monks brought to France. Some scholars also claim that it was inspired by an ancient Roman gambling game where soldiers placed bets on shields that had symbols on them. However, there is not enough evidence to support any of these claims.

Regardless of its exact origin, roulette is a simple game that consists of a spinning wheel with 38 (or 37 on modern European/Latin American tables) divisions and a ball. Players place bets by placing chips on a betting table, with the precise location of each chip signifying a particular bet.