Roullete (also known as roulette) is a casino game with a wheel, a table and a variety of bets. The game of chance has attracted many people to casinos and gambling houses since its 17th century invention. It offers a degree of depth to the serious gambler and can provide high rewards when played properly.
The roulette wheel consists of a solid, slightly convex wooden disk with a metal plate around the edge, containing compartments or pockets. Thirty-six of these pockets are painted alternately red and black and are numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. The other two compartments, called the 0 and the double zero on American wheels, are colored green and numbered 00. The compartments are separated by metal bands or frets, which are arranged in groups of six to fourteen, in the shape of a diamond.
A croupier, or dealer, oversees the operation of the wheel and pays winning bets. The game may be played by one, two or more players. The betting table is marked with the numbers and their colors. A player can place bets on individual numbers, various groupings of numbers, the color red or black and whether a number is odd or even. The game also has special bets based on the presence or absence of a green zero or a double zero.
The roulette ball, once made of ivory, is now usually made from resin or Teflon. The material of the ball affects its behavior. For example, a light ceramic ball makes more revolutions on the wheel track and jumps more unpredictably before landing than a big ivorine ball. Despite the popularity of the game, there are few systems that can consistently beat the odds. Mathematicians have studied the game, but none can explain exactly how it works more than the fact that it is a random process.