Roullete (French for “little wheel”) is a casino game in which players place bets on the outcome of a spin of the roulette wheel. The game originated in France in the early 18th century and gained its current form around 1790. It is one of the most popular games in Europe and is played in casinos and gambling houses across the world. There are many fanciful stories about the origin of the game, but it is most likely a descendant of older games such as hoca and portique.
The wheel consists of a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape with thirty-six colored compartments painted alternately red and black and numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. On European wheels, a 37th compartment painted green carries the number 0. A ball is dropped into the wheel from the outer edge, and if the winning number is determined by a single ball, the player’s chips are paid out according to the type of bet placed. In the United States, roulette has a relatively small following, drawing fewer players than slot machines or video poker and far less than blackjack, craps, and baccarat. In Europe, however, it is a fixture in Monte Carlo and other elite gaming establishments.