How to Win Big at Roulette

Since its invention 300 years ago, roulette has provided casino gamblers with glamour, mystery and excitement. Although its rules may appear simple enough at first glance, they offer surprising depth for experienced bettors with strategic plans to win big!

Roulette derives its name from French for little wheel, yet the game transcends mere spinning of a wheel. Instead, roulette boasts an extensive and fascinating history dating back over 300 years when French mathematician Blaise Pascal created its predecessor known as La Roue de Paris.

He was researching the probabilities of a perpetual motion machine when his results shocked him. His wheel had a zero and multiple colored slots arranged in rows and columns which corresponded with numbers on a betting table; players could place wagers on individual numbers, group of numbers, red or black hue, odd or even number and whether high or low was selected by placing bets.

A croupier spins the wheel, and when it stops in one of 36 compartments from 1 to 36 or sometimes 0 or 00–a player wins money based on their bets; payouts depend on how many chips were bet on that bet.

Gamblers who made major gains were those who understood and exploited the mathematics underlying the game, specifically seeking out rigged wheels, making opposing bets opposite those with the highest stakes, and placing bets opposite to larger wagers to take advantage of probabilities stacked against them by taking a different strategy than what would normally be taken by house oddsmakers.

On a bright afternoon in TriBeCa, where Roulette first began in 1972, the room feels smaller than it looms in memory. Yet Jim Staley, aged 73, still remains present after 45 years of leading this venue; after this season ends he plans on leaving as artistic director and leaving at the end of next season.