A roulette wheel is a disk-shaped device with 36 numbered slots. The ball is placed in the center of the wheel, and the player bets on either side of the wheel.
For each spin of the roulette wheel, one number is picked at random and displayed on a small monitor above the table.
The ball is then placed in one of the numbered slots on the roulette wheel. The number that corresponds to the ball is then allowed to drop down into one of 36 corresponding pockets on the table.
If you bet on black, for example, and the ball lands in slot number 13, your bet would payout if and when 13 appears again as a winning number in any future spins of the wheel.
But how are roulette wheels actually calculated? The modern roulette wheel was invented in 1836 by Charles Feydeau and Maurice Strafford, but its basic principles have remained largely unchanged to this day. Roulette wheels are divided into a series of concentric circles, with numbers 1-36 at the center.
As each bet is placed, a small metal pointer moves from one circle to another – this movement is what determines how much money is wagered on each spin of the wheel.
