This most famous gambling habit has its origins in France a couple of centuries back. Though just about everyone knows how to play . . . “just follow the bouncing ball” . . . it’s really not all that popular in this country. ln fact, less than two percent of the people who come to Las Vegas even stop at the wheel. That’s why there is seldom more than one roulette table in a casino. The people who run casinos would rather fill up the place with hordes of hungry slot machines.
Each player uses different colored chips, so there’s no confusion as to whose bets are whose. If you are unsure, try an online version first – there’s a cool one here which is a Dublin live online casino. The chips are worth a quarter a piece or however much the player wishes up to the casino’s limit. The wheel has 38 slots, numbered l through 36, plus a green-colored 0 and 00. Bets are made until the ball just about drops from its track, and the dealer calls “no more bets.” How do you bet and what do you get? Half the 36 numbers are red and half are black, so if you bet the winning color you get even money.
It’s also an even money payoff when you:
- Bet the winning number is odd or even
- Bet the winning number is from l to 18 or 19 to 36
Then the odds start to climb a little bit. Bet in groups of l2 numbers for a 2-1 payoff, or straight up on any one number-—including 0 and 00~to get 35-1. Bet two numbers with one chip, which is called a split, and the payoff drops down to evens. Another popular bet is the “corner, ” which covers four numbers in a group, and that payoff is 8-l. It sounds complicated, but it’s not. Remember there are lots of places you can play american roulette for fun. Just have a search and you’ll find the best roulette simulator that suits you and have a practice first.
No gambling game is really that complex, otherwise no one would play it. Some games are just a little intimidating, and that’s what scares the bejesus out of would-be craps shooters. It is the main reason slot machines are so popular.
(I) Put coin in slot, (2) Pull handle, (3) Wire home for more money.
But getting back to roulette, the main drawback to this game is that ominous 0, and 00. These two “partners in crime ” give the house a decided advantage, more so than in Europe where there is only one 0 on the wheel. Using a one-number bet as an example, the true odds are 37 to l, since there are 38 numbers on the wheel. But you are only paid 35 to l.
So even when you win you lose. lf your bet was a dollar, you wound up losing two dollars when you won! It is what is known as the house edge, and it comes to 5.26 percent. ln plain English, that means the casino expects to keep $5.26 of every $100 that goes on the table. Worst bet on the roulette table? All of them. Best bet? Well, there are apparently ways of winning that you can find all over the internet – try them in a proper roulette simulator and you’ll see that none of them work.