Roulette is one of the most popular and well known of all the casino games and chances are that even if you've never played in real life you will have seen Roulette being played in movies and have some idea of the basics of the game. Our beginner's guide will give you a useful overview of the fundamentals of the game that will help you to play both online and in real world casinos.

Roulette is a game of chance in which the object of the game is to guess in which of the numbered slots (also known as pockets) the roulette ball will land when the wheel has stopped spinning. Pockets alternate between red and black and the numbers in the pockets have been set to provide a balance between odd and even and high and low numbers. Players can choose to bet on numbers, colours, columns and other possibilities that we will look at in more depth later.

There are three main variations of Roulette with only slight differences known as the European Roulette French Roulette and American Roulette games and we offer free versions of all these games for you to try out.

In European and French Roulette the Roulette wheel has 37 slots numbered from zero to 36. In American Roulette the wheel has 38 slots - a double zero is added (players should be aware that this extra double zero increases the house edge).

There are a number of different bets you can make when playing Roulette and we list the typical casino bets below.

Inside Bets:

Inside bets are bets placed inside the numbered grid on the roulette table. The grid is made up of 12 rows and 3 columns of numbers with 0 at the top. You can bet on individual numbers or a combination of numbers - a straight up bet is a bet on an individual number and pays 35 to 1.
A split bet is a bet on more than one number (place your chip so that it straddles the line between two numbers) and pays 17 to 1
Street bets: a line of 3 numbers such as 22,23 and 24 is known as a street - this bet pays 11 to 1.
Corner Bets: corner (or quad) bets pay 8 to 1 and you make this bet by placing a chip so it is touching the four corners of the numbers on which you wish to bet.
Six-lines: this is a bet on any six numbers that cover two rows (e.g. 16, 17 18 and 19 20, 21) pays 5 to 1

Outside Bets:

Outside bets are bets placed on the options in the table area outside the main grid of numbers.
Red/black - simply pick which colour pocket you think the ball will finish in. Pays even money.
Odd/Even - pick what type of numbered pocket you think the ball will finish in. Pays even money.
Dozen bets - place your chips in either the 1st 12 (1-12), 2nd 12 (13-24) or 3rd 12(25 to 36) boxes. Winning bets pay 2 to 1.
Columns - place your chip in the box at the bottom of the column you think the winning number will be in. Pays 2 to 1

Additional Roulette Rules:

Some additional rules for Roulette that are not used in all casinos include:

La Partage rule

If the roulette ball lands on the Zero and you have placed Even-Money bets you only lose half of your bet amount.

En Prison rule

If the roulette ball lands on the Zero and you have placed Even-Money bets you have the option of only lose half of your bet amount or leave the bet for another spin of the Roulette wheel.