Thanks to the famous scientist and inventor, Blaise Pascal, UK players nowadays can enjoy an excellent and thrilling game of roulette. There is almost no living woman or man on Earth who hasn’t at least heard of roulette. Since the first spin of this game in the late 1790s, the “little wheel”, which is a literal translation of the French word “roulette”, never stopped spinning.
Roulette spread across the modern world at the speed of light, and in the present time, people can play it in almost every casino across the USA, the UK, France and many more countries. It is also available online, where one can play it for free or real money. But before you decide to enter the world of roulette, the basics about rules, bets, and possibilities of winning would be a useful tool because roulette is not so simple game in which one can just relax and enjoy, especially if there is some money at stake.
Fundamentals of Roulette
Let’s start with the roulette basics! When a roulette wheel gets rotated, the croupier throws the ball into the wheel, and when it loses its momentum, it stops at a certain field with a particular number written on it. Then, according to the area in which the ball has stopped, the croupier determines the amount of one’s payout, of course, if there is any. That is how the game works in general. According to this, everyone would think that the possibility of earning some money is mere luck and coincidence. But it is not that simple. There are various betting types and strategies, which possibly could influence and increase the chances of winning.
There are two major types of roulette: the European and the American one. The main difference is found in the number of zeros. The European roulette has only one zero field, while the American version contains two fields with zeros – one with a single zero mark and another with a double zero mark. It is precisely the existence of this double zero mark that, as one can assume, influences the odds of scoring a prize.
You can try both of these versions on our site for free or choose the casino to play them with real money.
Betting Types in a Roulette Game
In a roulette game, there are two major types of bets, or to be precise two “domains” of betting – the inside and the outside bets. Both of these terms are determined by the place on the table where the player can place chips. Inside bets are placed directly on the fields with the number, in the internal part of the table layout. Outside bets are the ones put in the area which lies on the outer edge of the total betting area, and they are made on the groupings of numbers.
Inside Bets
There are several types of inside bets:
- Single number(s) – you stake on one or more numbers at the same time.
- Split numbers – one can place his chips on two adjoining fields (numbers) at the same time.
- Street – one can bet on three numbers located on the same horizontal line. To do that, one must place his chip (or a stack of chips) on the edge of one of those numbers at any end of the line (that depends on the type of the table layout).
- Corner (square) – a possibility for one to bet on four numbers simultaneously. The chip must be located at the intersection of those numbers.
- Six line (double street) – one can bet on six numbers at the same time or on two adjacent lines concurrently. The chip must be put in the place where those two lines intercept each other.
- Trio/Basket – these two types of bets can be played on tables that contain only one zero (European version). In a trio bet, one places his chip on the intersecting point between zero, one and two or on the intersecting point between zero, two and three. In a basket bet, one places his wager on zero, one and three at the same time.
- Basket (for tables with a double zero mark) – one can place his wager on zero, one and two or on zero, double-zero and two or double-zero, two and three.
- Top line (for double-zero tables) – one can bet on zero, double-zero, one, two and three.
Outside Bets
As for the outside bets, one can place his wager on the following options:
- 1 – 18 (Manque) – one places his bet on the lower half of the numbers (not counting zero).
- 19 – 36 (Passe) – one puts his bet on the higher half of the numbers.
- Red or black – a straightforward bet, and probably the most played. One places his wager whether the ball will stop on the red or the black field.
- Even or odd – also a simple bet: you wager on whether an even or an odd number will come up.
- Dozen – a player needs to predict whether the ball lands on the first 12, the second 12 or the third 12 numbers.
- Column/Snake – a column bet covers all 12 numbers on any of the three vertical lines. In a Snake bet one can place his wager on the defined set of 12 numbers: 1, 5, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 23, 27, 30, 32 and 34.
Roulette Odds
Many people have the wrong opinion about roulette odds and payouts. For example, if we talk about the roulette with two zeros (38 fields in total), those zeros don’t count when it comes to payouts. That gives the ratio 35:1 in favour of the casino.
- For single number bet one has the chance of winning of approximately 0.0263%.
- The split bet with two numbers has 18:1 ratio of striking and 17:1 ratio of paying out.
- The street and basket bets have 11.66667% chance against hitting and an 11:1 ratio of scoring a prize.
- The corner bet has an 8.5:1 chance of hitting and the payout ratio is 8:1.
- If one chooses to bet the top line, he can expect a 6.6:1 ratio of winning and a 6:1 ratio of payoff.
- The six line bet has a little better chance of scoring; the odds ratio is 5.33:1 and the payout ratio is 5:1.
- The odds ratio for dozen bets is 2.167:1 and the payoff ratio is 2:1.
Manque, passe, red or black and even or odd have the same proportion of hitting, which is 1.111:1, and the payout ratio in this kind of bets are 1:1.
Now, that you are familiar with betting types and odds, the best place to try out your luck and strategy. On our website, you can find various games like Live Roulette and Multi Wheel Roulette. Also, many bonus packages offered by the top UK online casinos are waiting for you there!