Roulette is one of the most popular casino games in the world. It involves a wheel with compartments that are marked off in alternating red and black numbers, along with two green ones and a zero. The ball is spun around the wheel and will come to rest in one of these compartments. The number that the ball stops at determines your winning bet. The game is based entirely on luck and is played in many land based casinos as well as online.

Roulette was invented in a primitive form in the 17th century by the French mathematician Blaise Pascal as part of his quest to create a perpetual motion machine. The modern version of the game was developed in the 18th century, and is still a favorite at gaming establishments worldwide. The game is more popular in Europe than it is in the United States, mainly because of the lower house edge that European games offer.

The game is played with a small white or ivory colored ball that is spun on a wheel. The ball may be stopped at any of the 36 numbers on the table, and players place their bets by placing chips on a betting mat. The precise placement of the chips indicates the type of bet that is being made. Bets placed on six or less numbers are known as Inside bets and those on more than 12 numbers are called Outside bets. The numbers 1, 7 and 18 are popular with bettors as they are considered lucky by many.

The wheel used in the game is a solid disk slightly convex in shape with thirty-six rectangular metal compartments (called frets by roulette croupiers) on which are painted alternately red and black. The wheel also has a green compartment with the sign 0 on European-style wheels and, on American tables, a second, extra green compartment numbered 00. The wheel is mounted on a rotatable base that carries the gambling table.