Roulette is a casino game that has a multitude of different bet types. However, these wagers can be boiled down to two main categories; outside and inside bets.

The wheel contains thirty-six compartments painted alternately red and black with a single green division numbered 0. A croupier spins the wheel and then throws a ball into one of the slots.

Origin

There are many theories about the origin of roulette. Some people claim that it was invented by 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal in his search for a perpetual motion machine; others believe that it originated in China and was brought to France by Dominican monks, where it was modified slightly. But most experts agree that roulette evolved in the 18th century in France from older games such as hoca and portique. Some historians also link it to Roman soldiers, who played a game that used shields with symbols written on them and an arrow pointed at them. But there is no proof of this connection.

Encyclopaedias of the time simply called a game with 38 numbers “Italian Roulette” or “Big Roulette”. And a version with only 18 numbers was known as “English Roulette”. The name “roulette” comes from French, meaning small wheel.