Roullete is a casino game of chance that was popularized in the late 1700s and soon became the main attraction at casinos in Europe. There are many variants of the game, but each has subtle nuances that make it different from other games of chance.
Roulette is played on a circular table, with a spinning wheel at its center and a betting grid on which bets are placed. The wheel consists of thirty-six compartments, painted alternately red and black, and numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. A 37th compartment, painted green on European-style wheels and carries the sign 0 on American wheels, is called a “canoe” by roulette croupiers.
Depending on the type of bet, winning numbers pay out different amounts of money. A straight bet on a single number costs 40 chips and pays out 392 chips, while a color bet on red or black pays 297 chips.
The payouts are determined by the probability that a given number will be hit. Despite fanciful claims by many people that there are strategies that can improve a player’s chances of winning, the house edge is built into the game and no betting system has ever proven to be profitable in the long run.