How Many Red and Black Numbers Are on a Roulette Wheel?

A roulette wheel is divided into 37 or 38 sections, each with a different number. The numbers on a roulette wheel are not in sequential order, and alternate between red and black.

There are 18 red numbers and 18 black numbers, with one or two green zeroes depending on the type of roulette wheel.

Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even.

To determine the winning number and color, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted track running around the outer edge of the wheel. The ball eventually loses momentum and falls onto the wheel and into one of 37 (in French/European roulette) or 38 (in American roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel.

The first form of roulette was devised in 18th century France. A century earlier, Blaise Pascal introduced a primitive form of roulette in the 17th century in his search for a perpetual motion machine. The game has been played in its present form since as early as 1796 in Paris.

An early description of the roulette game in its current form is found in a French novel La Roulette, ou le Jour by Jaques Lablee, which describes a roulette wheel in the Palais Royal in Paris in 1796. As with all casino games, roulette has been expanded and improved over time.