Roulette comes from the French word meaning “small wheel”.  There have been several variations on games with wheels over thousands of years. Legend has it that Roman soldiers used to take off the wheels from their chariots to provide entertainment during campaigns, and others claim that monks invented a game with the wheel during the Middle Ages in China. In any event, the game of roulette spread through Europe between the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in France and Monte Carlo. Nowadays, roulette is one of the most internationally recognised games, symbolising glamour, excitement and prestige in high-class casinos.

The French roulette tables are the largest in the games room. Some players can sit at the table; others stand around it. It has a blue covering on which all sorts of lines, figures, words and symbols are drawn, known as the board. The roulette wheel is at the head of the games table, where the croupier throws the ball.

Zero roulette is made up of a bowl in which an ivory ball moves about, and a betting board.  In the middle of the bowl, there is a wheel that is turned at the same time as the ball is thrown, but in the opposite direction; it has thirty-seven squares, numbered from 1 to 36 + 0. These squares are alternately red and black; the zero square is green. The numbers are spread around the outside of the wheel, not in numerical order, but so that no two numbers following each other are ever next to each other. Another special feature of the wheel is that numbers where the sum of the figures is even are black, along with the number 10. The winning number and bets are determined by the square in which the ball stops.

The game begins when the croupier says “place your bets”. There are several kinds of betting in roulette. The croupier turns the wheel in one direction and throws the ball in the opposite direction. At a certain time, the croupier says “no more bets”, which means that it is forbidden to place any more bets. Once the ball has stopped on a number and the winning number has been announced, the losing bets are removed by the croupier on the right if it is an odd number, and the second croupier pays the winning bets; the opposite occurs if it is an even number.

The French Roulette table is divided into six parts called “Even, Odd, Red, Black, Low and High”. At the end of the table, there are three empty spaces for betting on a particular column of numbers and six spaces (three on the left and three on the right) for betting on a particular dozen of numbers.

Roulette bets are divided into two categories: those that equal the bet placed, known as outside bets, and the others, known as inside bets.

The outside bets are as follows :
Red: you bet that the winning number will be red
Black: you bet that the winning number will be black
Even: you bet that the winning number will be even
Odd: you bet that the winning number will be odd
Low: you bet that the winning number will be between 1 and 18
High: you bet that the winning number will be between 19 and 36
Winning bets are paid 1:1
When the zero comes up, all outside bets are reduced by half.  The player may take back his/her bet.

Inside bets are as follows :
Straight-up: you bet on one number only by placing your bet on the corresponding square on the board; you can bet on the zero.  The payoff is 35:1 (35 times the bet which still belongs to the player).
Split: you bet on two adjacent numbers on the board, placing your bet on the line separating the two numbers; you can combine the zero with the numbers 1, 2 or 3. The payoff is 17:1 (plus the bet).
Corner: you bet on four numbers making up a corner on the board; you can bet on the zero and 1, 2, 3 by placing your bet on the outside corner shared by the zero and the row. The payoff is 8:1 (plus the bet).
Line: you bet on a group of six numbers making up two adjacent rows (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), placing your bet on the outside corner shared by the two rows (you cannot bet on the zero in this case). The payoff is 5:1 (plus the bet).
Row: you bet on three numbers, making up a row on the board (e.g. 19, 20, 21). The bet is placed on the line at the end of the row. You can bet on the zero and two numbers out of 1, 2, 3, by placing the bet on the corner shared by the three numbers. The payoff is 11:1 (plus the bet).
Column: you bet that a number from one of the three columns will win, with the exception of the zero. The bet is placed in the unmarked square at the foot of the column.  The payoff is 2:1 (plus the bet).
Dozen: you bet on twelve numbers, the lowest (1-12), middle (13-24) or highest (25-36). The bet is placed in the P12, M12, D12 square (P for the first 12, M for the middle 13-24 and D for the last 25-36). The payoff is 2:1 (plus the bet). If the zero comes up, columns and dozens lose.
The player may also play the neighbouring numbers on the wheel; for this, he/she will need five chips (e.g. the 8 + 10, 23, 30, 11)
Zero game: four chips (e.g.: 0/3, 12/15, 26 32/35)
Orphans or “Orphelins”: five chips: 1, 6/9, 14/17, 17/20, 31/34
The Third or “Tiers”: six chips: 5/8, 10/11, 13/16, 23/24, 27/30, 33/36
Neighbours of Zero or “Voisins du Zero”: nine chips: 0/2/3, 4/7, 12/15, 18/21, 19/22, 25/26, 28/29, 32/35
Finals: you bet on series ending with the same figure (e.g.: final 4 = 4, 14, 24, 34)

This document is provided for information purposes only, in order to enable you to understand the game of French Roulette. Under no circumstances may this document replace the full rules and regulations of the game in question.