Roulette

For other uses, see Roulette (disambiguation).

Roulette is a casino and gambling game named after the French word meaning "small wheel". In the game, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular surface running around the circumference of the wheel. The ball eventually falls on to the wheel and into one of 37 (in European roulette) or 38 (in American roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel. Players place bets on the winning number and the color of the pocket, whether the number is odd or even, etc.

Wheel layout

The pockets are numbered from 1 to 36, alternating between red and black. There is a green pocket numbered 0. In American roulette, there is a second green pocket marked 00. Pockets are not in numerical order around the wheel. Some consecutive numbers are the same color. Number sequence clockwise:
Single zero wheel: 0-32-15-19-4-21-2-25-17-34-6-27-13-36-11-30-8-23-10-5-24-16-33-1-20-14-31-9-22-18-29-7-28-12-35-3-26
Double zero wheel: 0-28-9-26-30-11-7-20-32-17-5-22-34-15-3-24-36-13-1-00-27-10-25-29-12-8-19-31-18-6-21-33-16-4-23-35-14-2

File:Rwheel.jpg

Photo: A Classic Cammegh single zero roulette wheel.

Betting

Players can place a variety of 'inside' bets (selecting the number of the pocket the ball will land in, or range of pockets based on their position), and 'outside' bets (including bets on various positional groupings of pockets, pocket colors, or whether it is odd or even). The payout odds for each type of bet is based on its probability. The table usually imposes minimum and maximum bets, and these rules usually apply separately for all of a player's 'inside' and 'outside' bets for each spin. Players can continue to place bets until the dealer announces "No more bets."

History

Early roulette table, ca. 1800

The first form of roulette was devised in 18th century France. The roulette wheel is believed to be a fusion of the English wheel games Roly-Poly, Ace of Hearts, and E.O., and the Italian board games of Hoca and Biribi, and then the name roulette from an already existing French board game of that title.

17th Century E.O. wheel with gamblers

The game has been played in its current form since as early as 1796 in Paris. The earliest description of the roulette game in its current form is found in a French novel "La Roulette, ou le Jour" by Jaques Lablee, which describes a roulette wheel in the Palais Royal in Paris in 1796. The description included the house pockets, "There are exactly two slots reserved for the bank, whence it derives its sole mathematical advantage." It then goes on to describe the layout with, "...two betting spaces containing the bank's two numbers, zero and double zero." The book was published in 1801. An even earlier reference to a game of this name was published in regulations for New France(Canada) in 1758, which banned the games of "dice, hoca, faro, and roulette."

In 1843, in the German spa casino town of Homburg, fellow Frenchmen François and Louis Blanc introduced the single "0" style roulette wheel in order to compete against other casinos offering the traditional wheel with single and double zero house pockets.

In some forms of early American roulette wheels - as shown in the 1886 Hoyle gambling books, there were numbers 1 through 28, plus a single zero, a double zero, and an American Eagle. According to Hoyle "the single 0, the double 0, and eagle are never bars; but when the ball falls into either of them, the banker sweeps every thing upon the table, except what may happen to be bet on either one of them, when he pays twenty-seven for one, which is the amount paid for all sums bet upon any single figure."

In the 1800s, roulette spread all over Europe and the U.S.A., becoming one of the most famous and most popular casino games. When the German government abolished gambling in the 1860's, the Blanc family moved to the last legal remaining casino operation in Eurpoe at Monte Carlo, where they established a gambling mecca for the elite of Europe. It was here that the single zero roulette wheel became the premier game, and over the years was exported around the world, except in the United States where the double zero wheel had remained dominant. Some call roulette the "King of Casino Games", probably because it was associated with the glamour of the casinos in Monte Carlo.

1800's engraving French Roulette

In the United States, the French double zero wheel made its way up the Mississippi from New Orleans, and then westward. It was here, because of rampant cheating by both operators and gamblers, the wheel eventually was placed on top of the table to prevent devices being hidden in the table or wheel, and the betting layout was simplified. This eventually evolved into the American style roulette game as different from the traditional French game. The American game developed in the gambling dens across the new territories where makeshift games had been set up, whereas the French game evolved with style and leisure in Monte Carlo. However, it is the American style layout with its simplified betting and fast cash action, using either a single or double zero wheel, that now dominates in most casinos around the world.

A legend tells François Blanc supposedly bargained with the devil to obtain the secrets of roulette. The legend is based on the fact that the sum of all the numbers on the roulette wheel (from 1 to 36) is 666, which is the "Number of the Beast."

Board depiction (American roulette)

		0	↔	00
1- 18	1st 12	1	2	3	←
		4	5	6	←
odd		7	8	9	←
		10	11	12	←
red	2nd 12	13	14	15	←
		16	17	18	←
blk		19	20	21	←
		22	23	24	←
even	3rd 12	25	26	27	←
		28	29	30	←
19- 36		31	32	33	←
		34	35	36	←
		↑	↑	↑

Types of bets

Inside bets

• Straight: a single number. The chip is placed entirely on the middle of a number square.
• Split: a bet on two adjoining numbers, either on the vertical or horizontal (as in 14-17 or 8-9). The chip is placed on the line between these numbers.
• Street: a bet on three numbers on a single horizontal line. The chip is placed on the edge of line of a number at the end of the line (either the left or the right, depending on the layout).
• Corner (or square): a bet on four numbers in a square layout (as in 11-12-14-15). The chip is placed at the horizontal and vertical intersection of the lines between the numbers.
• Sixline (or 'sixaine'): a bet on two adjoining streets, with the chip placed at the corresponding intersection, as if in between where two street bets would be placed.

Outside bets

• Even Money Bets: a bet on 18 numbers. This is placed in the box representing the attribute (black/red/low/high/even/odd) that you wish to bet on.
• Group Bets: a bet on the first, second, or third group of twelve numbers.
• Column: a bet on all 12 numbers on any of the three vertical lines (such as 1-4-7-10 on down to 34). The chip is placed on the space below the final number in this string.

Bet odds table (American roulette)

(in addition to the mentioned payout the bet is returned)

Bet name	Winning spaces	Payout	Odds of winning (against)	Expected value (on a $1 bet)
0	0	35 to 1	37 to 1	-$0.053
00	00	35 to 1	37 to 1	-$0.053
1	1	35 to 1	37 to 1	-$0.053
2	2	35 to 1	37 to 1	-$0.053
...	...	...	...	...
36	36	35 to 1	37 to 1	-$0.053
Row 00	0, 00	17 to 1	18 to 1	-$0.053
Row 3	1, 2, 3	11 to 1	11.667 to 1	-$0.053
Row 6	4, 5, 6	11 to 1	11.667 to 1	-$0.053
Row 9	7, 8, 9	11 to 1	11.667 to 1	-$0.053
...	...	...	...	...
Row 36	34, 35, 36	11 to 1	11.667 to 1	-$0.053
Corner	any number from the corner of any 4 numbers	8 to 1	8.5 to 1	-$0.053
2 Rows	any number from two rows	5 to 1	5.33 to 1	-$0.053
five number bet	0, 00, 1, 2, 3	6 to 1	6.6 to 1	-$0.079
Column 1	1, 4, 7, ..., 34	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	-$0.053
Column 2	2, 5, 8, ..., 35	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	-$0.053
Column 3	3, 6, 9, ..., 36	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	-$0.053
First 12	1, 2, 3, ..., 12	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	-$0.053
Middle 12	13, 14, 15, ..., 24	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	-$0.053
Last 12	25, 26, 27, ..., 36	2 to 1	2.167 to 1	-$0.053
Odd	1, 3, 5, ..., 35	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	-$0.053
Even	2, 4, 6, ..., 36	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	-$0.053
Red	1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	-$0.053
Black	2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 35	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	-$0.053
1 to 18	1, 2, 3, ..., 18	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	-$0.053
19 to 36	19, 20, 21, ..., 36	1 to 1	1.111 to 1	-$0.053

Note also that 0 and 00 are neither odd nor even in this game.

House edge

The house average or house edge (also called the expected value) is the amount the player loses relative to any bet made, on average. If a player bets on a single number in the American game there is a probability of 1/38 that the player wins 35 times the bet, and a 37/38 chance that the player loses their bet. The expected value is:

-1*37/38 + 35*1/38 = -0.0526 (5.26% house edge)

For European roulette, a single number wins 1/37 and loses 36/37:

-1*36/37 + 35*1/37 = -0.0270 (2.70% house edge)

In roulette the house has the same edge on all other kinds of bets also, because the pay outs are always set as if the zero square(s) did not exist. The only exception are the five numbers bet where the house edge is considerably higher (7.89% on an American wheel) and the 'even money' bets in the some European games, where the house edge is halved because only half the stake is lost when a zero comes up.

The house edge should not be confused with the hold. The hold is the total amount of cash the table changes for chips, minus the chips taken away from the table. In other words, the actual "win" amount for the casino. The Casino Control Commission in Atlantic City releases a monthly report showing the win/hold amounts for each casino. The average win/hold for double zero wheels is between 21-30%, significantly more than 5.26%/2.70% of all players money because players are making repeated bets after winning and losing portions of their total money. This is known in the casino gaming industry as "churning" and is especially true of slot machine players who usually end up losing all their money.

A player with a certain total amount of money may not win or lose all their money instantly, such that the total of all bets they make will often be greater than the total of the money they actually started with. The house edge applies to each bet made; not the total money, which means the player can end up losing significantly more than 5.26% of his starting money. For example it is likely that a player with $100 making $10 bets on red will be able to bet more than 10 times, because sometimes he wins. He may end up betting a total of 20 times on red. This means the expected value is 20*$10*5.26% = $10.52, over 10% of his money is now in the 'hold' despite the game having a 5.26% house advantage. A player who continually bets until they run out of money will give the house 100% hold.

Called (or call) bets

Traditional roulette wheel sectors

There are a number of series in roulette that have special names attached to them. These are placed by betting a set amount per series (or multiples of that amount). They are based on the way in which certain numbers lie next to each other on the roulette wheel. Not all casinos offer these bets, and some may offer additional bets or variations on these.

Voisins du Zero ("Neighbors of Zero")

This is a name for the numbers which lie between 22 and 25 on the wheel including 22 and 25 themselves. The series is 22,18,29,7,28,12,35,3,26,0,32,15,19,4,21,2,25 (on a single zero wheel).

9 chips or multiples thereof are bet. 2 chips are placed on the 0,2,3 street; 1 on the 4/7 split; 1 on 12/15; 1 on 18/21; 1 on 19/22; 2 on 25/26/28/29 corner; and 1 on 32/35.

Tiers ("The third")

This is the name for the numbers which lie on the opposite side of the wheel between 27 and 33 including 27 and 33 themselves. The series is 27,13,36,11,30,8,23,10,5,24,16,33 (on a single zero wheel).

6 chips or multiples thereof are bet. 1 chip is placed on each of the following splits: 5/8; 10/11; 13/16; 23/24; 27/30; 33/36.

A variant known as "Tier 5,8,10,11" has an additional chip placed straight up on 5, 8, 10 and 11; and so is a 10-piece bet.

This is also called the "Small Series" It includes the following wagers which are all Splits

5/8, 10/11, 13/16, 23/24, 27/30, 33/36

Orphelins ("Orphans")

These numbers make up the two slices of the wheel outside the Tiers and Voisins. They contain a total of eight numbers, the Orphans comprising 17,34,6 and the Orphelins being 1,20,14,31,9.

5 chips or multiples thereof are bet. 1 chip is placed straight-up on 1 and 1 chip on each of the splits: 6/9; 14/17; 17/20 and 31/34.

"xx and the Neighbors"

A number may be backed along with the 2 numbers on either side of it in a 5 piece bet. For example, "0 and the Neighbors" is a 5 piece bet with 1 piece straight-up on 3, 26, 0, 32 and 15. Neighbors bets are often put on in combinations, for example "1, 9, 14 and the neighbors" is a 15 piece bet covering 18, 22, 33, 16 with 1 piece; 9, 31, 20, 1 with 2 pieces and 14 with 3 pieces.

Any of the above bets may be combined, eg "Orphelins by 1 and Zero and the Neighbors by 1." The "...and the Neighbors." is often assumed by the Croupier.

Betting strategies and tactics

Albert Einstein is reputed to have stated, "You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it."

Nevertheless, the numerous even-money bets in roulette have inspired many players over the years to attempt to beat the game by using one or more variations of a Martingale betting strategy, wherein the gamer doubles the bet after every loss, so that the first win would recover all previous losses, plus win a profit equal to the original bet. As the referenced article on Martingales points out, this betting strategy is fundamentally flawed in practice and the inevitable long-term consequence is a large financial loss. Another strategy is the Fibonacci system, where bets are calculated according to the Fibonacci sequence. Regardless of the specific progression, no such strategy can statistically overcome the casino's advantage.

While not a strategy to win money, Los Angeles Times editor Andrés Martinez described an enjoyable roulette betting method in his book on Las Vegas entitled "24/7". He called it the "dopey experiment". The idea is to divide one's roulette session bankroll into 35 units. This unit is bet on a particular number for 35 consecutive spins. Thus, if the number hits in that time, the gambler wins back the original bankroll and can play subsequent spins with house money. However, there is only a $(1-(37/38)^{35})$ * 100% = 60.68% probability of winning within 35 spins (assuming a double zero wheel with 38 pockets).

There is a common misconception that the green numbers are "house numbers" and that by betting on them one "gains the house edge." In fact, it is true that the house's advantage comes from the existence of the green numbers (a game without them would be statistically fair); however, they are no more or less likely to come up than any other number.

Various attempts have been made by engineers to overcome the house edge through predicting the mechanical performance of the wheel, most notably by Joseph Jagger at Monte Carlo in 1873. These schemes work by determining that the ball is more likely to fall at certain numbers. Claude Shannon, a mathematician and computer scientist best known for his contributions to information theory, built arguably the first wearable computer to do so in 1961.

To try to prevent exploits like this, the casinos monitor the performance of their wheels, and rebalance and realign them regularly to try to keep the result of the spins as random as possible.

More recently Thomas Bass, in his book The Eudaemonic Pie 1991 (published as The Newtonian Casino in Britain), has claimed to be able to predict wheel performance in real time. The book describes the exploits of a group of computer hackers, who called themselves the Eudaemons, who in the late 1970s used computers in their shoes to win at roulette by predicting where the ball would fall.

At least in the 1930s, some professional gamblers were able to consistently gain an edge in roulette by seeking out rigged wheels (not difficult to find at that time) and betting opposite the largest bets.

In the early 1990s, Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo used a computer to model the tendencies of the roulette wheels at the Casino de Madrid in Madrid, Spain. Betting the most likely numbers, along with members of his family, he was able to win over one million dollars over a period of several years. A court ruled in his favor when the legality of his strategy was challenged by the casino.

In 2004 it was reported that a group of two Serbs and one Hungarian in London had used a laser scanner hidden inside a mobile phone linked to a computer to predict the sector of the wheel where the ball was most likely to drop. They were arrested, but released without charge as there was no proof they had technically interfered with casino equipment.

Betting only on red

One conceivable strategy would be to bet on the ball landing in a red space for a certain number of spins, for example, 38.

There are 18 red spaces on a roulette table with 38 total spaces. Dividing 18 by 38 yields a probability of landing on red of 47.37%. This probability can be used in a binomial distribution and made into an approximate standard normal distribution.

Doing so indicates that, if one were to spin the wheel 38 times, there is a 99% probability that the ball would land on red at least 10 times. There is an 83% probability that in 38 spins, the ball will land on red at least 15 times. Out of 38 spins, there's a 50% chance that 18 will be red.

However, the break-even point is 19 spins, since the bet on red is 1:1, and the probability of 19 red spins in 38 is only 37%. This indicates the difficulty of winning by only betting on red.

The results occur because, as indicated by the 18 divided by 38 equals 47.37% figure, the ball will land on red less than half the time. This percentage applied in the binomial and standard normal distributions creates the vast divide in probability from 18 red spins to 19 red spins out of 38 spins. It is very unlikely for anyone to spin much more than 18 red spins out of 38 spins.

Betting multiple times

This type of bet is a combination of the red bet and the martingale system. The difference is that this bet also includes the odd. This strategy starts off with a bet of 1 on each the red and the odd (or you can do the black and even). Each bet is treated separately. When one bet loses, it is doubled. When one bet wins, it gets set back to 1. The reason that this technique keeps the player in the game so long is that there is almost a 25% chance of winning both the red and the odd and there is almost a 50% chance of breaking even (win one bet and lose the other). Of course, in order for this method to last, the player would need an unlimited source of money, and a casino with another one to boot. In reality, this method backfires when the player can't bet any longer and loses. The loss that this causes is possibly hundreds of times bigger than a loss made when starting. Also, in the long run, because the house still has an edge, the player will lose money just like with all other "unbeatable" casino games.

Labouchere System

The Labouchere System is progression betting strategy like the Martingale but does not require the gambler to risk his stake as quickly with dramatic double ups. The Labouchere System involves using a series of numbers in a line to determine the bet amount, following a win or a loss. Typically, the player adds the numbers at the front and end of the line to determine the size of the next bet. When he wins, he crosses out the outside numbers and continues working on the smaller line. If he loses, then he adds his previous bet to the end of the line and continues to work on the longer line. This is a much more flexible progression betting system and there is much room for the player to design his initial line to his own playing preference.

Using the dozen bet

There are two versions to this system, single dozen bets and double dozen bets. In the single dozen bet version, the player uses a progressively incrementing stake list starting from the casino table minimum, to the table maximum. The aim here is to use a single dozen bet to win before the stake list ends. Many techniques are employed such as: betting on the same dozen to appear after two consecutive appearances, betting on the dozen that has appeared most in the last 15, 9, or 5 spins, betting on the dozen that, after a long absence of 7 or more spins, appears for the first time. The double dozen bet version uses two dozen bets and half the stake list size of the single dozen bet version.

1st and 3rd column strategy

One bet of 2 pieces on the 1st column and one bet of 2 pieces on the 3rd column covers most of the red numbers on the table. One bet of 2 pieces on the black will provide insurance for occurrence of black. This betting system covers nearly all numbers except for the 4 red numbers in the middle column and the zero (and double zero in American Roulette). If the result is a red number in either the 1st or 3rd column, the player only breaks even. If the result is red in the middle column the player loses 6 pieces. If the result is black and in the middle column, the player loses 2 pieces. If the result is a black in the 1st or 3rd column, the player only wins 4 pieces.

Mechanical Strategies

There are a number of roulette strategies which take a more mechanical approach to breaking the casino. The most famous is the biased wheel attack. In the biased wheel attack, the player clocks the wheel to find statistical deviations indicating some flaw to the wheel. Given that the wheel is man made it is quite impossible for the roulette wheel to be perfect. The biased wheel attack, seeks to find imperfect wheels and exploit the fact that some wheels will return numbers more often than 1 in 35, which means there is potential to have an edge over the casino. Clocking the wheel involves taking spin results in great numbers to identify any opportunities.

BIASED WHEELS: SECTION BETTING

In 1982, several casinos in England began to lose large sums of money at their roulette tables to teams of gamblers from the USA. Upon investigation by the police, it was discovered they were using a legal system of biased wheel-section betting. As a result of this, the English roulette wheel manufacturer John Huxley designed a roulette wheel to counter-act the problem.

The new wheel was called "low profile" because the pockets had been drastically reduced in depth, and various other design modifications caused the ball to descend in a gradual approach to the pocket area. In 1986, when a professional gambling team headed by Billy Walters won $3.8 million using the system on an old wheel at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, every casino in the world took notice, and within one year had switched to the new "low profile" wheel. Recent additional modifications to the roulette wheel by Cammegh of England has made it almost impossible to use a mechanical winning system. (ref: Ron Shelley: Roulette Wheel Study, 1988.)

Famous bets

• In 1873, the Englishman Joseph Jaggers made the first famous roulette biased wheel attack. Mr Jaggers with a team of six clerks, clocked all the wheels at the Monte Carlo casino and found one wheel to show significant bias. In their attack exploiting this flaw they won over $325,000, an astronomical sum in 1873.

• In 2004, Ashley Revell of London sold all of his possessions, clothing included, and brought US$135,300 to the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas and put it all on "Red" at the roulette table in a double-or-nothing bet. The ball landed on "Red 7" and Revell walked away with his net-worth doubled to $270,600.

• In the 1942 film Casablanca, Rick's Café Americain has a trick roulette wheel. The croupier can cause it to land on 22 at will. Rick (Humphrey Bogart) urges a Bulgarian refugee with whose case he becomes sympathetic to put his last three chips on 22 and motions to the croupier to let him win. After the man's number dramatically comes up, Rick tells him to let it all ride on 22 and lets him win again. Although the details are not mentioned in the film (the croupier only notes that they are "a couple of thousand" down), it appears that Rick has given the man 3885 ((3*36*36)-3) francs.

• In the music video for "Palace & Main" by Kent, guitarist Harri Mänty goes to Las Vegas and bets the entire video budget on black. He wins, and the profits were donated to charity.

• In the third part of the 1998 film Run, Lola, Run, Lola uses all her money to buy a 100-mark chip. (She is actually just short of 100 marks, but gains the sympathy of a casino employee who gives her the chip for what money she has.) She bets her single chip on 20 and wins. She lets her winnings ride on 20 and wins again, making her total winnings 129,600 marks (29,600 more than her smuggler boyfriend owed his boss, Ronnie).

• In the South Park episode "Red Man's Greed", the town, facing destruction at the hands of Native Americans, bets $10,000 to raise money to save the town. They win, but let it ride, and lose all of it.

• Near the beginning of the 1973 film The Sting, Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) takes his share of the money conned from a numbers runner and loses nearly all of it on a single bet against a rigged roulette wheel.

See also

• Russian roulette
• Straperlo
• The Red Snake Roulette Bet
• Live Roulette TV
• Eudaemons
• Bauernroulette

References

Roulette Wheel Study. Ron Shelley 1988 revised edition 2001. (Gamblers Bookstore, Las Vegas, NV)

External links

• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Roulette - full-access article
• Roulette odds and probabilities