Roulette is a glamourous European game, it's the game that the countess of somewhere would probably play on her trips to Monte Carlo. Everyone has a vague idea of how Roulette works, and it really is quite simple (even the French version isn't much more complicated, but more on that later).

Roulette wheels have either 37 (European) or 38 (US) coloured and numbered slots around the outside. Players place their bets, the dealer spins the wheel, drops the ball in, and eventually the ball comes to rest in one hole. Some people win and some lose. Bets are paid out and it happens all over again.

Most wheels in the United States have the numbers from 1-36 (red or black, with 18 of each), a zero and a double zero (green). European style wheels are just the same, but have only one zero hole. The numbers might look randomly scattered around the wheel, but in reality they are very carefully arranged. Black and Red numbers alternate, as do odd and even numbers. Beyond that, the layout is desgined so that pair of adjacent numbers add up to 37 or 39 (this is to try and prevent players profiting from patterns in the dealer's spinning).

The bets in roulette are as follows:

Red / Black - pays even money, wins if a number of your colour comes up, loses if it's the other colour or a zero
Odd / Even - pays even money, wins if your chosen type of number comes up, loses if it doesn't (zero is neither odd nor even)
High / Low - High pays even money on 1-18, Low pays even money on 19-36
1-12 - Pays two to one if a number in this range comes up
13-24 - Pays two to one if a number in this range comes up
25-3 - Pays two to one if a number in this range comes up

Any one number pays 35 to 1
A two number combination pays 17 to 1
A three number combination pays 11 to 1
A four number combination pays 8 to 1
A five number combination pays 6 to 1 (but the only one you can bet on is (0,00,1,2,3)
A six number combination pays 5 to 1

The house edge on all bets on a two zero wheel is 5.26% except for the five number combination (7.89%)

A single zero wheel has the same betting options and payouts. The house edge is 2.70%

Atlantic City rules for a double zero wheel means that you only lose half your bet on a zero or double zero. This lowers the house edge to 2.63% on even money bets.

European games have various "imprisonment" rules that effectively mean you only lose half of your even money bet on a spin of zero. This lowers the house edge to 1.35%

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, you can often find European rule games, without having to go to Europe.