Roulette is the favourite game for gamblers the world over. It is perhaps the most easily recognizable game of chance with its big Roulette wheel with colourful red and black sections and a little ball spinning around it.

One version of the history of this intriguing game is that the name Roulette comes from the French word for "small wheel". The original Roulette game was invented by the French mathematician Blaise Pascal in the 17th century although some believe that Roulette actually originated in China long before that and came to Europe through the trade routes.

Another version is that Roulette was a combination of many existing wheel type games that were popular in England at the time and that it got the name from "Roulette" a French board game. There are even some fables surrounding the early Roulette game including deals with the devil on account of the fact that the numbers of the typical Roulette wheel added up to "666" the number of the beast.

The biggest difference between European Roulette wheel and the American version is that in America they chose to add a double "00". Thus there are two types of Roulette wheels, a single and a double "0" wheel. Numbers on a Roulette wheel go from 1 to 36 and alternate red and black with a green pocket for the "0". In the US there is a second pocket with a green "00".

With the advent of the Internet online Roulette soon caught on and remains one of the most popular games to play. There are many online Roulette games to be found. It is extremely popular with both neophytes and veteran gamblers alike due to how easy it is to play this exciting game of chance.

Experts agree that most of the Roulette "strategies" touted about on either physical or online Roulette are pretty much without basis. Unlike games such as Blackjack the spinning wheel cannot be predicted. The ball will land where it chooses as often as it chooses without much of a nod to probability and statistics.

In both physical and online Roulette there are two types of bets: Inside and outside. Types of inside Roulette bets include:

"Straight up" where a single bet is placed entirely on a single number square.

"Split" is a bet placed on the line between two numbers splitting the bet between them.

"Street" is a bet placed on three numbers in a horizontal double line on the Roulette table.

A "corner" bet is divided by four numbers in a square on the Roulette table.

A "six line bet" is where two corresponding streets are bet with a chip in the intersection of the two streets.

Finally there is a "trio" where a bet is placed on the intersection between 0, 1 and the 2 space, or 0, 2 and the 3 space.

Outside Roulette bets have smaller payouts but a greater chance of winning. An outside bet means you place a bet on a spread of numbers such as "1 through 18", or "19 through 36". An outside Roulette bet can also be placed on "red" or "black" and if the ball lands on any number of the colour you choose you are a winner. There are also "even" or "odd" bets where you place a bet on any of the even numbers, or any of the odd numbers. You can also bet "dozen" on a spread of dozen such as "1 through 12", "13 through 24", or "25 through 36". Finally in an outside bet you can choose to bet an entire column on the Roulette table.

One of the most likely real Roulette strategies is the mechanical strategy where a player studies the Roulette wheel looking for some deviation that would signal a certain kind of tendency. This however can take a great deal of time and cannot always be relied on to be accurate.
Whether you play using a "system" or you play just to have fun and watch the colourful wheel spin either offline or with online Roulette games you are sure to have fun and make a lot of great new acquaintances. The Roulette games are quick and offer fairly decent payoffs to the winners that do hit the right number combinations. Always remember to only play with money you can afford to lose and you will have a great time no matter what way the Roulette wheel spins.