It can be a confusing experience for players to see the roulette table for the first time. It has a lot of numbers, colors, and the betting table can be intimidating. The truth is though that it is very easy to play, much easier than card games, and is a great way to introduce you to casino life. Our idiot’s guide to Eurpoean Roulette will guide you through the basics of the game and how to play for the very first time.

The Game Mechanics

European Roulette has two main areas – the roulette wheel and the betting table. This principle applies in land-based casinos, online casinos, and live streaming casinos. The wheel is the circular object that rotates where the ball is dropped, and the betting table is where you place our chips or bets. In European Roulette there are 37 digits from 0 to 36. Each digit has a color that is either red or black, and the number 0 is always green. Below is the layout you will face at a European Roulette table.

Your duty as a player is to choose a number, a color, a number grouping, or a number outcome/type (see betting types below). Put simply, you are trying to guess where the ball will land inside the wheel when it stops. Once all bets are in, the croupier, or the dealer, will spin the wheel and drop only one ball. If that ball lands on a number that you have bet on, you win.

The Bet Types and the Payouts

Guessing the right number out of 37 choices is a hard task, and your odds of guessing it right is only 2.7%. As such, there are other kinds of bets that you can choose from, with payout ratios varying accordingly. For a 2:1 payout, it means that the casino will pay you $2 if you wagered $1. Your total take here is $3, including your investment of $1. Here are the bet types for beginners and what they mean.

There are other more complicated bets in European Roulette, but these are the basic betting styles that you need to understand to be able to play it and enjoy it.

Learn Strategies for Further Success

As well as basic ‘chance your luck’ play, there are also strategies you can adopt that will increase your chances of victory, such as the the Fibonacci system, and the d’Alembert system. Once you have got used to European Roulette, why not try another variation, such as American Roulette. There’s much more to this game than just spinning and hoping!