Roulette is a game of chance played on a table with chips placed on a betting mat. Each bet is made by placing a chip in the location of your choice on the betting mat.
A straight bet picks a single number while the split and corner bets select two or four numbers respectively. Each bet pays differently and has different odds.
Origin
The origins of roulette are not very clear. There are a lot of fanciful stories about how the game was invented. Some people claim that it was invented by a French mathematician named Blaise Pascal in the 17th century, while others think that it evolved from an Italian board game called Biribi. Biribi is similar to roulette, in that it involves a wheel and bets on even and odd numbers. But these theories are largely based on hearsay and do not have much evidence behind them. The fact is that roulette as it is known today was first played in France in the early 18th century. It was derived from older games like hoca and portique. It was also influenced by the gambling game that Roman soldiers used to play, which involved spinning shields with symbols on them.