Curious About Roulette?

For casino first-timers, even those unwillingly dragged into it by gambling friends. Even those merely curious about an oblong table with a sunken spinning wheel in the middle with lots of noisy people around. Well, it's a wheel that spins gamblers to wild riches - or wild headaches.

Monte Carlo roulette has 37 compartments where the ivory ball tossed by the operator into the rapidly spinning wheel lands for a win. The compartments are numbered from 1 to 37, zero being on the top of the circle.

Number arrangement is as follows: 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34, 6, 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, 33, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, and 26. Zero is placed between 26 and 32. The compartments are colored black and red, alternately. Like, 32 is black and 15 is red. And so on.

So choose a number or numbers, place bets, and the operator tosses the ball into the spinning wheel. But make sure the ball is tossed in the opposite direction the wheel is turning. This assures us that no magic tossing or sleight-of-hand trick is used for cheating.

On the table are also rows of numbers and some lateral spaces for Passe, Manque, Pair, Impair, Black, and Red. Bottom spaces are marked P 12, M 12, and D 12. Stakes are placed here on the bottom spaces and chances of winning are, with the odds paid, as follows:

En Plein - any single number (0dds 35 to 1). A Cheval - two numbers (odds 17 to 1). Transversale - three numbers horizontally (odds 11 to 1). Un Carre - four numbers (odds 8 to 1). Transvarsale Six - six numbers, two sets of numbers horizontally (odds 5 to 1). Bas - 12 numbers in one of the 3 vertical columns (odds 2 to 1). Bas a cheval - the numbers in two of the 3 columns (odds 1 to 2).

The even chances, on the other hand, are:

Rouge - the number will be red. Noir - the number will be black. Impair - the number will be odd. Pair - the number will be even. Manque - the number will be from 1 to 18. Passe - it will be from 19 to 36.

If it hits zero (or refait or trente-et-quarante), the stakes are frozen or quarantined until the next winning or coup. Then the stakes are released and the lucky player walks out a rich guy - if he resists the temptation to place more bets for more wins.

It's really simple. Pick a pet number or color, bet, cheer with the crowd, and that's it. Either win or lose. It's not a game of wits. Roulette is simply there so people can give their best guess a chance to be proven right - and even win lots.