Roulette ball

"Gwendolen at the roulette table" – 1910 💳 illustration to George Eliot's Daniel Deronda

Roulette (named after the French word meaning "little wheel") is a casino game which was 💳 likely developed from the Italian game Biribi. In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a 💳 single number, various groupings of numbers, the color red or black, whether the number is odd or even, or if 💳 the numbers are high (19–36) or low (1–18).

To determine the winning number, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, 💳 then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track running around the outer edge of the 💳 wheel. The ball eventually loses momentum, passes through an area of deflectors, and falls onto the wheel and into one 💳 of thirty-seven (single-zero, French or European style roulette) or thirty-eight (double-zero, American style roulette) or thirty-nine (triple-zero, "Sands Roulette")[1] colored 💳 and numbered pockets on the wheel. The winnings are then paid to anyone who has placed a successful bet.