Roulette: Rules and Explanation

Is playing roulette difficult? Not at all. You can learn the rules of this casino game in 5 minutes. Read here a step-by-step explanation of the rules, with clear examples.

Roulette is the most famous game in the casino and a favorite for many casino visitors. And not without reason, because roulette is exciting, and with a bit of luck, you can win a lot of money at the roulette table in one spin.

If you’ve never played roulette before, it might make your head spin at first. All those boxes, numbers, and betting possibilities.

Fortunately, roulette is an easy game with rules you can quickly learn. You need very little explanation, so before you know it, you’ll be playing roulette like a pro, in one of the legal online casinos in Canada.

Let’s get started!

Explanation of Roulette: The Basics

Roulette is played with a spinning wheel with 37 slots. The slots are numbered from 1 to 36, plus a 0, which in roulette is called the ‘zero’.

Half of the numbers 1-36 are colored red, and the other half are black. The zero is not red or black but green. Below you can see where all the numbers are on the wheel:

Live Roulette

The goal of the game is to predict which slot the ball will land in. You do this by placing a bet on the betting area (the layout).

If the ball lands on a number you’ve bet on, you win. You then get your winnings paid out by the croupier, and you also get your winning chip(s) back – one of the better rules of roulette.

Roulette: The Different Bets

You can bet on a single number, but also on multiple numbers at the same time, in all sorts of combinations. First, here’s the betting area, followed by an explanation of the different bets.

  1. A) The simplest bet in roulette is to place a chip on a single number. This is also called a ‘straight up’ or ‘plein’ bet. You can bet on any number, including 0 (zero).

If your prediction comes true, you win 35 times your bet. As mentioned, you also get to keep your original bet, so in total, you’ll have 36 times your bet as a result.

B, C, D, E) With a single chip, you can also ‘cover’ multiple numbers: two, three, four, or six numbers at once. The more numbers you cover, the greater your chance of winning. However, your payout will be smaller if you win.

  1. F) At the bottom of the layout, next to 34, 35, and 36, you’ll see three boxes that allow you to bet on an entire ‘column’. For example, if you place a chip in the rightmost box, you win if any of the following numbers come up: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36.
  2. G) Next, there are the ‘dozens’. With these, you cover the numbers 1-12, 13-24, or 25-36 all at once.
  3. H) Finally, you can bet on:
  • All red numbers (‘red’ or ‘rouge’)
  • All black numbers (‘black’ or ‘noir’)
  • All even numbers (‘even’ or ‘pair’)
  • All odd numbers (‘odd’ or ‘impair’)
  • All numbers from 1 to 18 (‘manque’)
  • All numbers from 19 to 36 (‘passe’)

These last six betting options are also called ‘even-money bets’ or ‘outside bets’.

You don’t need to remember the names of the bets to be able to play. You simply place your chips on the boxes of your choice.

Roulette: Rules and Gameplay

Roulette Different Bets

The gameplay of roulette is super simple. There are actually very few rules. And the rules that do exist are straightforward.

The croupier announces the start of a new round by saying something like ‘Place your bets, please’, depending on which casino and which country you’re playing in.

If you go to France or to a very traditional casino elsewhere in Europe, you’ll hear the French ‘faites vos jeux’, which means exactly the same thing.

You can now place your bets as you wish. As a beginner, you might first want to try a simple bet with a single chip. For example, €10 on red. Or €5 on your lucky number.

‘Faites vos jeux!’

While players are placing their bets, the croupier gives a spin to the spinning wheel and launches the ball in the opposite direction. You still have a bit of time to place your bets until the croupier says: ‘no more bets, please’. Or in French, the famous expression ‘rien ne va plus’.

The croupier often also sweeps an arm over the layout, so everyone clearly sees that betting is over.

Now comes the most exciting part of roulette: watching where the ball lands. When the ball has landed in a slot, the croupier calls out the winning number, usually along with the color. For example, ‘7, red’ or ’35, black’.

The croupier then places a marker or dolly on the winning number.

The croupier places a ‘dolly’ on the winning number.

After that, all losing bets are removed first. The croupier then pays out one by one all the players who have won something.

Note: if you’ve won, your winning chips remain on the table. You’re only allowed to take them off the table once the croupier has finished paying out everyone. They will then remove the dolly, and a new round of roulette begins.

You now know the most important rules of roulette. The nice thing is: that they’re almost the same all over the world. With this explanation, you can play roulette anywhere – in Holland Casino, Monaco, or an online casino.

Only in the United States and the Caribbean region will you probably see a slightly different roulette wheel. In addition to the regular zero (0), there is also a double zero (00). The extra zero means your chances of winning are slightly lower than in regular roulette, but the principle of the game and the rules remain the same.

One More Thing About the Zero in Roulette

Frequently asked question: what exactly happens if the ball lands in the zero?

Zero doesn’t count as red or black, it’s neither even nor odd, and it’s also not included in 1-18 or 19-36.

The zero is not red or black and also not even or odd.

If you bet directly on the zero, you simply get paid out like any other number, which is 35 times your bet. Congratulations!

If you bet on a dozen or a column, you lose your bet.

If you bet on an even-money bet (red, black, even, odd, 1-18 or 19-36) and the zero comes up, it depends on the casino what happens.

  • In some casinos, you unfortunately lose your bet if the zero comes up.
  • Other casinos, including Holland Casino, have a more favorable rule. Here, you only lose half of your bet when the zero comes up. A kind of consolation prize. For example, if you bet €10 on even, you get €5 back. This rule is called La Partage.
  • In online casinos, the first rule usually applies, but there are online roulette tables where you do get half of your bet back. These usually have the label ‘French Roulette’ or ‘La Partage’. So keep an eye out for this if you like to play even-money bets.

You’ll find tables with the La Partage rule in virtually all live casinos in Canada, including online casinos like JackpotCity and Zodiac Casino.

More Explanation About Roulette

Of course, there’s much more to say about roulette:

Adepositcasinos has compiled 10 good roulette tips for you, which will help you play just a bit smarter.

If you’re going to play at Holland Casino, read the handy tips for roulette at Holland Casino. This article also covers etiquette.

Advanced roulette players often place bets that ‘cover’ a specific part of the wheel: zero game, big series, small series, and orphelins.

What is that elongated oval area on the roulette table with all those numbers in it? That’s called the racetrack or neighbors bet.

Also, read the detailed explanation of roulette strategy and discover what the best system is to play with.

There’s an article with a more detailed explanation about American roulette with a 00.

Extremely exciting is the online variant Lightning Roulette, where you can win up to 500 times your bet in one go thanks to a ‘lightning strike’.

Believe it or not, but there’s a roulette with not one but two balls: double ball roulette.

And you’ve probably wondered if you can predict the outcome of roulette.

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