Roulette is a quick game both in terms of getting to grips with the rules and the speed of the gameplay itself.

Here are few of the key steps:

Stake: Before any action begins, the player must decide where to place their chips on the assortment of grid numbers on the table. Once the croupier says ‘no more bets’ – no further bets can occur.

Ball in play: The croupier begins the game by placing the ball on the roulette wheel.

The ball stops: After the wheel has finished spinning, the ball stops on the winning number for that round.

Payment: The banker removes all bets on the non-winning table and pays the bets that won. Next, another Roulette round takes place.

While roulette is a simple game at heart, there are a few mathematical and probability aspects that are important to understand before playing. A player should understand how likely a single number or a group of numbers are to appear, in proportion to the overall stake of the bet.

As there are 37 numbers in play (including zero – which is green in colour on the wheel) the probability of one of the numbers appearing is 1/37. Players could also simply decide to choose a colour – black or red instead. Such bets are paid as equal given that the probability is just slightly lower 50% due to the inclusion of green zero.

There are different probabilities at work when looking at the key differences between American and European roulette – it is important to understand this in advance of playing either variant.

In American roulette there is another double zero square on the wheel. This lowers a player’s chances of winning further in relation to payment. While a full number (not zero) is paid at 36 times the player’s stake, the probability of it being released is 1/38 in American roulette.

In Roulette, the bank has a slight advantage in terms of the probability of winning over the player. In the case of a single zero European Roulette, the home advantage is calculated at 2.7%, compared to 5.26% in the American double zero Roulette.

• American Wheel – A roulette wheel with 38 pockets instead of 37 thanks to the inclusion of an extra 00
• Choppy Game – A game where there have been no streaks appearing for quite some time
• Backtrack / Ball-Track – The outer part of the wheel that doesn’t move
• Bankroll – The total amount of money a player has set aside for gambling
• Column Bet – A wager placed on any column of 12 numbers
• Combination Bet – Where a chip(s) is placed on two or more numbers
• Corner Bet – A bet on four numbers in a segment
• Croupier – Another name for the dealer who operates the roulette game
• Dealer – The person who works for the casino that controls the game
• En Prison – A French term found in some games where landing on zero results in a player’s bet being “imprisoned” for a second spin
• European Wheel  – A roulette wheel with the standard 37 pockets and only a single zero pocket
• Even / Odd Bet  A wager placed on either even or odd numbers
• High Bet/Low Bet – A bet placed on whether the winning number will fall in the low range (1-18) or high range (19-36)
• Even Money – A bet that pays out at 1:1
• House Edge – The small mathematical edge that the casino has in roulette. In European Roulette, the house edge is about 2.7%, while in American Roulette, it’s around 5.26% due to the extra 00 pocket
• Inside Bets – Bets placed on specific numbers or small groups of numbers within the main section of the table layout
• La Partage – A rule in French Roulette where if an even-money bet lands on zero, the player loses only half of their bet instead of the full amount
• Line Bet – A wager on six numbers from two rows of three
• Martingale System – A popular betting strategy where a player doubles their bet after every loss, aiming to recover losses when they eventually win
• Outside Bets – Bets placed on larger groups of numbers, such as red/black, odd/even, or column bets
• Payout – The amount of money a player receives if they win a bet, based on the odds of the wager
• Pocket – The numbered slots on the roulette wheel where the ball lands
• Progressive Betting – A betting strategy where the player increases or decreases their wager based on previous wins or losses
• Red / Black Bet – A bet on whether the winning number will be red or black
• Split Bet – A wager placed on two adjacent numbers, covering both
• Straight-Up Bet – A bet placed on a single number. This offers the highest payout in roulette at 35:1
• Street Bet – A bet on a row of three consecutive numbers on the table layout
• Red / Black Bet – A bet on a colour
• Wheel – The spinning wheel used in roulette