by JeffBet | Date of Publishing: 17 December 2024
The roulette wheel is a vital piece of equipment that determines the winning number of each round. The roulette wheel sits at the heart of any roulette game. The wheel is laid flat or horizontally on the table and spins, allowing a metal ball to run a few laps before dropping into a numbered pocket.
There are different types of roulette wheels, such as European Roulette, American Roulette, and French Roulette. The design of a physical wheel can differ depending on whether you’re playing European or American roulette. While most virtual or 3D wheels look identical to their real-world counterparts, some are completely different. For example, Mini Roulette has a table with only 13 pockets.
Roulette wheels are commonly manufactured with three main materials, such as wood, metal, and plastic. For aesthetic purposes, exterior parts are crafted from wood, while interior parts are constructed from metal and plastic.
Table of Contents
A roulette wheel is a revolving piece of equipment with numbered compartments. The dealer spins the wheel in a live casino game, and players decide when to activate the wheel in player-controlled games. The goal of roulette is to place bets on the number you think the ball will land on either way.
For example, the dealer throws the ball, which runs at full speed along a groove at the top of the cylinder. As the wheel and ball slow down, the ball ricochets a few times against elongated features (the pocket dividers) called “canoes” before dropping into a pocket. Also called frets, they aid in random results.
The different types of roulette wheels are American, European, and French roulette wheels.
These types of roulette wheels are listed below.
The American roulette wheel, also known as the double-zero roulette wheel, has 38 pockets. Two pockets are green (0 and 00). The two green pockets give the highest house edge at 5.26%. The rest of the pockets alternate between black and red, numbering from 1 to 36. The exact sequence of numbers of an American roulette wheel is 0 – 28 – 9 – 26 – 30 – 11 – 7 – 20 – 32 -17 – 5 – 22 – 34 – 15 – 3 – 24 – 36 – 13 – 1 – 00 – 27 – 10 – 25 – 29 – 12 – 8 – 19 – 31 – 18 – 6 – 21 – 33 – 16 – 4 – 23 – 35 – 14 – 2.
The European and French roulette are slightly different, but both games use an identical wheel. For starters, there are 37 pockets and only one is green (0). The latter feature also gives European and French roulette wheels the alternative name of “single-zero” wheels and offers a great house edge of 2.64%.
The rest of the pockets are numbered from 1 to 36 and alternated between black and red. The sequence is 0 – 32 – 15 – 19 – 4 – 21 – 2 – 25 – 17 – 34 – 6 – 27 – 13 – 36 – 11 – 30 – 8 – 23 – 10 – 5 – 24 – 16 – 33 – 1 – 20 – 14 – 31 – 9 – 22 – 18 – 29 – 7 – 28 – 12 – 35 – 3 – 26.
The roulette wheel layout works by having a circular wheel with numbered pockets, where a ball is spun to land in one of the pockets, determining the winning number. While the American, European, and French roulette wheels are similar, they differ mainly in the number of green pockets. American roulette has an extra “00” pocket and the order of the numbers.
The numbers on the wheel are arranged randomly, which helps keep the game fair and unpredictable. The colours (red and black) are just for variety and don’t have any special meaning.
The wheel has a groove where the ball spins, with a ring of pockets narrowing down toward the centre. The dealer spins the wheel and drops the ball, which races around until it finally lands in one of the pockets, deciding the result.
A roulette wheel is manufactured with a wooden frame. Most roulette wheels consist of wood as it offers a classy vintage look often associated with the game. The wheel is sandblasted and polished to perfection once the frame is completed. Some frames are given a glossy finish, usually by adding a layer of piano lacquer.
The metal wheel is then positioned with the numbers in their proper positions. Next, divider pockets are placed on top of the numbers. Finally, a handle is installed at the centre of the wheel. The wheel itself rests on precision bearings, which allows it to spin smoothly. This rotating centrepiece also called the wheelhead, moves inside an external immobile “shell” called the bowl.
A reputable manufacturer will rigorously test each wheel and create equipment that lasts for years and, sometimes, even decades.
Nobody knows the exact origins of roulette. We know some facts about where roulette likely came from and the inventor most commonly associated with the game.
The story begins in France in 1655 when mathematician Blaise Pascal embarked on the quest to create a perpetual motion machine. It was a disappointing experience for him (the original project failed) but he created a weighted wheel that soon took over 18th-century Parisian gambling houses.
The design, as we know it today, is believed to have appeared around 1796. In the early 19th century, the horizon of roulette spread to Europe and, eventually, to America, where the design was altered to include an extra green pocket (00).
The roulette ball is designed with ivorine, synthetic Teflon, or Delrin plastic. Harder materials like glass and wood are no longer used as they damage the wheel faster.
The size of the ball ranges between 18 mm and 21 mm. Reputable casinos often switch between bigger and smaller balls to keep the game’s results varied. Smaller balls tend to spin faster and appear to be more bouncy. However, players shouldn’t worry too much about the material and size of the ball in play, as they all maintain a good degree of unpredictability.
Author: JeffBet
JeffBet is an online gambling company founded in 2022. Its product offerings are online casino, online slots, live dealer games, table games and sports betting. The organisation holds regulatory gambling licenses in the UK and Malta.
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