The inner surface of the wheel has the shape of a bowl mounted on the axle. The diameter is about 90 centimeters, the weight is up to forty kilograms.
The wheel is usually made of precious wood. The inner circle is divided into “pockets”, recesses into which the ball falls after rotation.
The wheel is a precisely balanced mechanism that should ensure randomness of results.
There are two types of wheels – for American roulette and for European roulette. The main differences between them are:
- The American wheel has 38 numbers (from 1 to 36, 0 and 00 are ZERO and DOUBLE ZERO), while the European roulette wheel has 37 numbers (0-ZERO, 1-36)
- European number applied at the external circumference of the wheel, in the American domestic. Although this is not always the case.
- French roulette uses the same wheel as the European Version of the game.
The American roulette wheel
The American roulette wheel is divided into 38 identical slots, numbered from 0, 00, 1 to 36 inclusive.
On a standard game wheel, the numbers are not plotted in order or randomly.
On the contrary, numbers are distributed in such a way as to achieve a certain balance between large (18-36) and small (1-18) numbers, red and black, even and odd:
- Black and red numbers alternate
- Usually, two even numbers follow two odd ones.
- All Red numbers are located opposite the black ones.
- Each odd number is placed opposite the next even number.
- Most numbers are paired with another number between them. The sum of any such pair is 37 or 39.
Zero and double zero are green. The remaining 36 numbers are either red or black.
The European roulette wheel
The wheel in European and French roulette has 37 numbered slots, from 0 to 36.
Just like in the American version, the numbers are not arranged in order or randomly:
- Red and black numbers alternate.
- In the sector located to the right of zero (numbers from 32 to 10), there are nine black small numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17) and nine big red numbers (19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36).
- In the sector to the left of zero (from 26 to 5) – nine large black dots (20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 35) and nine red small numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18).
- The numbers are plotted along the outer circumference of the wheel.
The arrangement of numbers on the wheel allows you to select three sectors that allow players to place Oral (Announcements) bets.
