ROULETTE, a gambling game, of French origin. It is one of the two games played in the gambling-rooms at Monte Carlo, and the description here given, and the maximum and minimum stakes mentioned, are to be understood as applying to the game as it is there conducted. It is solely a game of chance, though so called "systems" are innumerable, and some of them for a short period often appear to give the player an advantage. There is no possible system, however, which will assure success in the long run, and it is herein that the ingenuity of the game consists. Every systematic method of play must depend upon increased stakes to retrieve past losses ; and though a player with an unlimited capital might be practically certain to achieve his end in the course of time, the circumstance that there is always a maximum renders the bank invincible. The roulette table, covered with a green cloth, is made up of precisely corresponding halves with a circular space let into the middle holding the wheel, on either side of which the cloth is divided into spaces marked passe, pair, manque, impair, and the black and red diamonds. The wheel at Monte Carlo is divided into 37 compartments, coloured alternately black and red, numbered from one to thirty-six, the 37th being zero. At many other places there are 38 compartments with a single and double o. This is largely the rule in America. Pair indicates even numbers, impair odd numbers, manque includes the numbers from 1 to 18; passe, from 19 to 36. The methods of staking are innumerable. The minimum stake is ten francs. Rouge, noir, pair, impair, manque and passe are even chances; i.e., a stake put upon any of them is paid in corresponding coin should the player win, the exception being when the little ball which is spun around the wheel falls into zero, in which case the even money chances are put "in prison"—that is to say, laid aside until another spin, when if the bank wins they are lost, if the player wins he is allowed to retrieve his money. The maximum in the case of these chances is 6,000 francs. Any one who desires to play en plein puts his stake on one of the 37 numbers. If the ball falls into the corresponding number on the wheel, the stake is paid 35 times; and as there are 37 numbers on the board, with the advantage already de scribed of imprisoning the even money chances when zero comes up, it will be seen that there is a steady percentage in favour of the tables and consequently against the player. This per centage is of course greatly in creased when, as is often the case, a second zero, called double zero, is used. In some gambling-houses there is even a third one, called Eagle Bird. The maximum stake allowed en plein
is i8o francs. The next most daring selection is a cheval, when the stake is placed on the line separating any two numbers, and if either of them wins the player is paid 17 times, the highest stake permissible being 36o francs. Transversale pleine covers any three numbers in a line, the coin or note being placed on the line divid ing any one of the numbers from the neighbouring even-money chance, as, for instance, between 4 and passe, or 6 and manque. A transversale simple covers six numbers, as, for example, where the line between 4 and 7 joins passe, or between 6 and 9 joins manque; and if any one of these numbers wins, five times the value of the stake is paid, the maximum here being 1,200 francs. En carre includes four numbers, the coin being placed, for in stance, on the cross between 1, 2, 4, 5 or 28, 29, 31, 32; eight times the value of the stake is paid, and the maximum is 76o francs. The dozens and the columns are also indicated on the board, the first dozen, of course, including I to 12. In each of the columns are twelve numbers in different order. A stake placed on either a dozen or a column is paid twice its value, the maximum here being 3,00o francs. A stake constantly played is called the quatre premiers, which includes zero, 1, 2 and 3, the stake being placed on the line where zero and I join passe or where zero and 3 join manque. If any one of these four numbers, including zero, wins, the stake is paid eight times; and four times eight being 32, there is a greater advantage to the table than when it loses en plein or on certain other chances. Zero can also be played in combination with any one or two of its neighbours; if with one of them the stake is paid 17 times, if with two of them II times. A croupier sits on either side of the wheel; there is also one at each end of the table, their business being to assist the players in staking and recovering their winnings. Behind each of the former pair an official on a high chair supervises the table. The croupier whose duty it is to spin the wheel waits for a time till stakes have been made, and then, exclaiming, "Messieurs, faites vos jeux!" sets the cylinder in motion, throwing the ball in the direction contrary to that in which the wheel revolves. When it is seen that the ball will soon fall at rest in one of the compart ments of the cylinder the croupier gives the notice, "Rien ne va plus," after which no stakes can be placed. When the ball finally rests in the compartment, the croupier announces the number and the even-money chances that win, as rouge, impair and marque.
See "Scrutator," The Odds at Monte Carlo (1925).