How to Play American Roulette

American Roulette is considered a simple game of chance, which doesn't require much understanding in order to get started.  Where you'll probably need help, however, is finding your way through the many different betting options which have the potential to pay out significant sums – if Lady Luck is hovering nearby.

How to Play American Roulette in a Nutshell

• Decide how much you want to bet and what types of bets you want to make.
• Place your bets on the relevant spaces on the roulette table.
• The croupier will announce that the wheel is about to be spun and no more bets can be placed.
• The American Roulette wheel is spun and the croupier throws the ball into the wheel.  When the wheel stops spinning, the ball will come to rest into one of the numbered slots (from numbers 0 through to 36 or the extra 00).
• Find out if your bets won or not.  If so, you are paid out by the croupier. If not, you can try again.
• To play online roulette, you need to log into your casino account, access the game, and place your virtual bets before the wheel is spun on the screen. Payouts are automatically credited to your account if you win.

Placing Bets in American Roulette

Before you get down to playing American Roulette, you may want to familiarize yourself with the different bets and wagers available.  First you need to understand that there are essentially two types of bets – inside bets and outside bets.

Inside Bets

These are the bets placed on numbers on the interior of the roulette table.

Variants of inside bets include:

• Straight up bet: Choose a number between 1 and 36 and wager on that number. Should the ball land on the chosen number, the bet pays out.
• Split bet: Bets are placed on the line between two numbers. If either of the numbers come up, you win.
• Street bet: Bets are placed on a row of three numbers, increasing your chances of winning up to three times.
• Square bet: Bets are placed in the middle of a four-number square.
• Five number line bet: Bets are placed on the row which consists of five numbers on the American roulette table, and which includes the numbers 1, 2, 3, 0 and 00.
• Six number line bet: Bets are placed on any of the other rows on the American Roulette table which consist of six numbers each.

Outside Bets

These are the bets placed on the outside of American Roulette table.

Variants of outside bets include:

• Column bets: A wager on one-third of the numbers on the roulette board.
• Dozen bets.
• High, Middle or Low bets
• Even Money bets: A wager on half the numbers on the table (ie. 18 numbers).  Place your wagers on Evens, Odds, Reds, Blacks, Numbers 1 – 18 or 19 – 36.