Easy-to-play roulette is a popular casino table game in Nevada
Roulette, one of the most popular of the casino table games with the excitement it generates with the spinning wheel, the rolling ball and the clatter that results when the marble falls into a numbered pocket, has the second-most table units in Nevada and is the third-most wagered table game in the state.
It’s also one of the most lucrative games for the casino with an average win percentage ranging from 17 percent to 23 percent over the years.
Players have a better chance of winning playing blackjack, craps and baccarat, but many are drawn to roulette with its simplicity and the wide variety of wagers that can be made.
And, like blackjack, the game is scrutinized by players wary of game modifications that give the house a greater edge. While savvy blackjack players will seek out games with a 3:2 payoff compared with the more common 6:5 payment, roulette players watch out for wheels that have double-zero and even triple-zero wheel pockets that give the house a greater edge than single-zero wheels that first emerged in European casinos.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board said in 2023, there were 432 roulette wheels operating in the state. That year, roulette players wagered $2.35 billion on the game with casinos capturing $460.3 million in winnings for a 19.6 percent hold.
That year had the largest amount wagered on roulette in the state’s history, even though the number of tables peaked at 469 in 2010. The state had its highest hold percentage in the past two decades in 2002 at 23.7 percent.
Playing the game is relatively easy.
Each table has a wheel at the top end that rotates in one direction with a croupier who rolls a ball in the opposite direction. The ball lands in one of 37 to 39 pockets, depending on the number of zeroes on the wheel.
The bottom of the table has a layout of numbers corresponding to the numbers on the wheel in black and red. Each player is assigned a specific color of chips to monitor each bet.
Pockets are numbered from 0 to 36 (some tables also have 00 and 000). On the standard roulette wheel, zeroes are green, numbers 1-10 and 19-28, odd numbers are red and even numbers are black, and on 11-18 and 29-36, odd numbers are black and even numbers are red.
There are a number of ways to bet and it’s critical that players place their chips precisely. For a bet on a single number, a player places a chip in the numbered box. A successful bet pays 35:1, even though there may be up to 39 pockets. That’s what produces the house edge.
Bettors also can wager on a pair of adjacent numbers by placing a chip on the line between those numbers (paying 17:1). Bettors also can wager on rows and columns of numbers.
Off to the side of the numbers on the table, players can bet on just even or just odd numbers or just red or just black numbers (paying 1:1). They also can bet just the low numbers (1-18) or just the high numbers (19-36), or one-third of the numbers (1-12, 13-24, 25-36), each with corresponding odds.
After the ball is thrown, the croupier will signal when no more bets can be placed. When the ball lands in a pocket, dealers will place a marker on the winning number on the table and pay off the winning wagers while collecting the unsuccessful bets.
While most Las Vegas roulette games feature two or three zeroes, the Monte Carlo hotel-casino (now Park MGM) made a splash when it opened in 1996 by offering single-zero roulette as they do at Europe’s Monte Carlo.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.