How to play roulette

The wheel and the layout are two different things

The wheel is where the result comes from. A European wheel has 37 pockets: the numbers 1 through 36 plus a single green zero. An American wheel has 38 pockets: the same numbers plus a green 0 and a green 00. Some newer machines and tables use a triple-zero wheel with 39 pockets. The numbers are arranged around the rim in a scattered order, not in sequence, so that reds and blacks and high and low numbers alternate around the rim.

The layout is where you bet. It is the felt grid printed with the numbers 1 to 36 in three columns of twelve, with the zero (and double zero, where present) at the top, and the outside bets, red, black, odd, even, high, low, dozens and columns, ringed around the edge. The layout is a betting menu. It does not affect the result.

Chips are not normal chips

Roulette uses coloured chips unique to each player at the table. You hand the dealer cash or casino chips, and receive a stack in your own colour. The colour exists so the dealer can tell whose chips are stacked on a crowded number. You set the value of your colour when you buy in, within the table limits, and the dealer marks it on the rim of the wheel. When you leave the table you must exchange your coloured chips back with the dealer, because they carry no value away from that table.

The order of a round

1. Betting opens. The dealer clears the previous winning number and the table is live. You can place, move, and remove chips freely.
2. The spin. The dealer sets the wheel turning in one direction and releases the ball around the rim in the other. Betting is still open at this point, which surprises new players.
3. No more bets. As the ball loses speed, the dealer waves a hand over the table and calls it. Anything you touch after this is no longer a bet.
4. The drop. The ball falls out of the rim track, bounces across the deflectors, and settles in a pocket.
5. Settlement. The dealer places a marker, called a dolly, on the winning number on the layout, sweeps every losing chip, then pays the winners from the outside in. You do not touch your chips, or the layout, until the dolly comes off.

Inside bets and outside bets

Every bet falls into one of two groups. Inside bets sit on the numbers themselves: a single number, or a line or corner shared between two, three, four, or six numbers. They win rarely and pay a lot. Outside bets sit in the boxes around the number grid: red or black, odd or even, 1 to 18 or 19 to 36, a dozen, or a column. They win often and pay a little.

Tables normally set separate minimums for the two groups. An inside minimum is usually the total you must have spread across your inside bets, not the amount per number, while an outside minimum applies to each outside bet individually. Read the placard before you sit.

The full menu, with what each bet covers and what it pays, is on the bets and payouts page.

Zero is not red, black, odd, or even

This is the rule that makes the casino money, and it is worth stating plainly. The green zero (and double zero) belongs to none of the outside groups. When the ball lands in a zero pocket, red loses, black loses, odd loses, even loses, high loses, and low loses. That single pocket, or those two pockets, are the entire house edge. Nothing else about the game is unfair. See house edge.

Some single-zero tables soften this with la partage (you lose only half your even-money bet when zero hits) or en prison (the bet is held for the next spin). Either rule cuts the cost of an even-money bet from 2.70% to 1.35%.

Etiquette that keeps you out of trouble

• Do not hand chips or cash to the dealer directly. Place them on the layout and let the dealer pick them up.
• Do not touch a bet once "no more bets" is called, and do not reach into the layout while the dolly is standing.
• If your chip is out of reach, say the bet out loud and the dealer will place it for you.
• Cash out your coloured chips before you leave. No other table will take them.