Strange as it may seem, while the true origins of roulette may be disputed, it may have been French mathematician Blaise Pascal who sowed the seeds for the modern game, when trying to invent a perpetual-motion device, he created something akin to a roulette wheel.

While as a science experiment Pascal’s device did not work, it was noted that it could have other uses. At the time games of chance were becoming popular and table games especially so. Although the game underwent several formats and alterations due to fashions and geographic differences, by the turn of the 1940s there were typically two types of roulette being played.

This was American roulette with a zero and double zero slot, and French roulette with a single zero slot. The American version was developed for the quickly developing Las Vegas scene as it offered casinos a bigger house edge than the French version.

Roulette was always a popular attraction in casinos throughout the 20th century, but it was in the 1990s with the Internet boom that online roulette first became popular. As this new platform to play became increasingly common, casinos realised roulette could now be played by millions of people at home.

Software developers began to develop games to exploit the new digital age and the first online roulette games were developed. Since then many more games have followed, each boasting additional features and better quality sound and graphics or higher betting limits than those before it.

A typical online roulette game sees basically two screens that the player will use. The first is the layout, which is where you place your bets and the second screen is the roulette wheel itself, where you will get to witness the outcome of the spinning of the ball.

The layout

This is the coloured baize cloth that lists all the numbers and different bets you can make in the game of roulette. Technically, it is called the layout and central to it is a grid of the 37 numbers (zero to 36) that can be bet upon. On an American wheel layout, a double zero is also included within the framework.

Outside the numbers on the baize are a number of other bets you can make.

A player places a bet by placing his chip on the layout. Betting on the numbers or groups of numbers on the main grid is an inside bet and these tend to have higher odds. Placing your chips on the bets on the outer portion of the layout is known as an outside bet and these tend to be even money or 2/1 bets.

The most important thing to note about the layout is that where you place your bet is important, especially on inside bets. If your chip is placed over a line adjoining two numbers, you are betting on both numbers. The lines demarcating the numbers are used to place many different types of bets Street, Basket, Corners etc.

The wheel

Once you have placed your bets, the second part of the game online is the wheel. Here you will see an animation of the ball bouncing around a spinning roulette wheel until it lands in one of the slots.

With the number now decided, losing bets are collected, winning bets are paid out and the game then proceeds with the player placing another bet on the layout.

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