Roulette Etiquette

The most important aspect of roulette etiquette is knowing when to place your bets and when to wait. Between spins, the dealer gives all the players about a minute or so to place their bets on the layout. Then, the dealer will pick up the white ball and start it spinning in the direction opposite the spin of the wheel. While the ball is spinning fast, players can continue to place bets. But when the ball slows down enough to start to drop into one of the thirty-eight slots, the dealer will wave his hand over the layout and say, “No more bets.” This means all players must stop making bets and can no longer touch any chips on the layout.

After a few seconds, when the ball has stopped in a slot, the dealer marks the number of that slot on the layout with a marker of some sort. He will then remove all losing bets before he begins to pay any winning bets. Players are not allowed to touch their winning bets until the dealer has finished paying each player and has removed the marker.

The other point of etiquette is simply a matter of common sense and courtesy. With all the players around a table and all the possible bets, things can get confusing. Be careful not to move chips placed by other players. Accidentally moving a chip slightly could make a big difference. For example, moving a chip off the 15 to the borderline means the difference between a straight bet on 15 and a three-number bet on 13, 14, and 15. If 13 or 14 comes up, you’re making that player a surprise winner, which would be nice. But if 15 comes up as that player hoped, the three-number payoff of eleven to one would be disappointing when the player was expecting a straight bet payoff of thirty-five to one. So, a word to the wise: Be careful around the roulette layout.