Roullete, or roulette, is a casino game in which players place bets on a single number or various groupings of numbers on a revolving wheel. The game has a high house edge but can be won by following certain strategies.

The game’s history is complex. Its origin is uncertain, but most theories revolve around the French physicist Blaise Pascal and his attempts to create a perpetual motion machine. It’s also possible that the game evolved from older games like hoca and portique.

In the 18th century, the game made its way to America along the Mississippi River and then westward to gambling dens, where it developed a reputation for cheating. To prevent this, the table and wheel were redesigned to remove all possibilities of hidden devices and to make the betting layout more simple. This influenced the American version of the game, which is still played today.

A croupier spins a small ball in one direction around a circular track on a tilted table while the dealer places chips in a predetermined pattern across the table. The croupier then releases the ball, which rolls in the opposite direction on the rim of the wheel, into a set of compartments (called frets by roulette croupiers) that are painted red and black. Thirty-six of these compartments, called canoes by the croupiers, are numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36; on European wheels a green compartment carries the sign 0.

There is no house edge in the basic game, but there are several ways to increase the chances of winning. These include staking even money bets and placing bets on groups of numbers that have a high probability of hitting. Another strategy is to bet on the zero; however, this has a higher house edge than bets on other numbers.

Before the spin, players must give their chips to the croupier and ask for “colour.” The dealer then gives the player coloured chips that have the same value as the original bet. These chips are left up to be won on the next spin unless the player specifically requests otherwise.