At this point the dealer will say 'place your bets' and everyone at the table will start throwing chips down like crazy. Most roulette sessions move at a fairly slow pace, to accommodate the number of people betting, and the variety on which they can bet. If you have a player you likes to put down twenty different bets each time they play, the sessions are going to move a little slower. After the ball has started spinning, the dealer will wave his hands across the table and say 'no more bets'. On inside bets, the total of all of your bets must add up to at least the table minimum. Straight-up bet - this is the classic roulette bet. Choose any one of the 38 numbers and put your chips down on that number for the chance to win back at 35 to 1. The outside bets on a roulette board are simply the bets that reside 'outside' of the main playing area of 38 numbers. When you place an outside bet your bet must meet the table minimum. Red or Black - you can choose to bet on the outcome either being a red number, or a black number. Dozens - a bet very similar to the columns bet, dozens lets you place a bet on either the first dozen numbers (1-12), the second dozen (13-24), or the third dozen (25-36)

Roulette would be a great game were it not for the high house edge - usually 5.26%, sometimes as low as 2.63%, which is still higher than blackjack, craps, or baccarat. You should always calculate your expected loss and how long you can play on a given bankroll before playing any game, but with roulette it's especially important. For most bets it's fairly obvious - you can't miss the Red diamond for Red bets, and things like Even, 1-18, and 1st 12 are written out in plain English. New players often have to be told this repeatedly the first time they play because they kept forgetting and because they're excited about collecting their winnings. Sometimes the dealer will ask you "Inside or Outside? For outside bets, any bet you make has to be the table minimum. Remember that you can bet inside or outside if you like; there's no requirement to bet both on a given spin. There's an old saying, "The wheel has no memory. The wheel has no memory. The chances of #27 coming up on a given spin are the same, whether it just come up on the last spin or not - 1 in 38. On an American wheel, there are 38 spots - numbers 1-36, plus 0 and 00. Your odds of winning a one-number bet are 37 to 1 (37 ways to lose, 1 way to win) if you win, the casino doesn't pay you 37 to 1, they pay you less - 35 to 1. The difference between the true odds and what they actually pay you is 2/38, or 5.26%. The last time we checked, Single 0 Roulette was available at the Stratosphere and the Monte Carlo on the Vegas Strip. You don't get paid for the win, though, but it's better than losing it outright. In effect, this variation has the ability to turn a loss into a tie.