If you have ever watched anyone play roulette, the roulette wheel probably caught your eye. However, unless you have looked at it closely, you may not have noticed how truly amazing the roulette wheel is.

Design of the Roulette Wheel
A roulette wheel is a large spinning wheel, shaped something like a bowl. Inside the bowl, it is divided into numbered sections, known as pockets. Each pocket has a unique number; the numbers 1 to 36 are represented on the wheel, as are the numbers 0 and 00. Each pocket has a color, either red, black or green. Half of the numbers from 1 to 36 are red and the others are black; the zero and double zero compartments are shaded green.

The numbers are laid out so that each odd number is across from the even number that is the next lowest in sequence. There are equal numbers of evens and odds. The red and black pockets alternate, so the number has an equal chance of coming up red as it does of coming up black.

When the wheel spins, the ball or marble spins around, moving in the opposite direction. As the wheel rotates and slows, the marble will eventually come to rest in one of the numbered pockets of the wheel, determining the game's winner.

Online Roulette Wheels
In online casinos, of course there is not actually a ball spinning around a real wheel. Instead, the software that runs online casinos uses a random number generator to pick a winning number for each roulette game. In this way, the game is as random as it would be if it were played with an actual roulette wheel.

American Roulette Wheel Vs. European Roulette Wheel
The designs of American roulette wheels and European roulette wheels are slightly different. The European roulette wheel does not have the double zero number, making the odds of winning with a single number slightly higher in the European version of the game.