Roulette is one of the most popular casino games around. It’s easy to play and you can win big. However, if you want to maximize your chances of winning, you need to have the right roulette strategy. There are a lot of online roulette strategies, some of them complex and others not so much. Here’s a guide to help you choose the best one for your needs.
Roulette involves spinning a numbered wheel while a small ball is thrown onto the table and into one of the 36 compartments on the wheel. The number and color of the compartment that the ball settles on determines whether you win or lose. Before the wheel spins, players place bets on which numbers will appear by laying down chips on a betting mat. There are two categories of bets: Inside and Outside. Inside bets are bets placed on individual numbers while Outside bets cover groups of numbers that share a common edge. The game was invented in the 17th century by a French mathematician named Blaise Pascal, and is believed to have been derived from earlier games such as hoca and portique.
A roulette wheel consists of a solid, slightly convex disk that is rimmed with metal partitions called separators or frets. Thirty-six of these compartments, painted alternately red and black, are numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. A 38th compartment, painted green and carrying the sign 0 on European wheels or double-zero on American ones, is also present. The symmetry of the wheel symmetrizes the odds of winning a straight bet on any particular number, at 35:1.
The balls in use are traditionally made from ivory but these days they are usually synthetic and more like resin or Teflon than real ivory. These balls are smaller and lighter than a real ivory ball, so they make more revolutions on the wheel track and jump more unpredictably before they land on a number.
When choosing an online casino, you should always look for the European version of roulette if it’s available, as this has a lower house edge than the American variation. If possible, try to find a site that offers European roulette with an additional rule called la partage. This reduces the house edge even further by allowing an even-odds bet that loses to a zero to pay out half of your original stake. This isn’t available on all tables but it can give you a better chance of making money in the long run.