The security officer at the door glances at your licence, checks the birth date and hands it back. Inside, the roulette tables are easy to find: listen for the rattle of the ball and look for the crowd around the end of a table, where people lean over the layout. Getting a seat is the easy part. What follows has a rhythm, and the dealer runs it. Players who follow the rhythm get a smooth game; players who fight it slow everyone down.
This is roulette etiquette as it works at Canadian casinos, in the order you will meet it. For the rules of the game itself, see how to play roulette.
At the door: ID and age
Bring government-issued photo ID, even if you are obviously old enough. The minimum age differs by province: in Ontario it is 19 and over. Staff check at the entrance, on the floor, or both. Without ID you may be turned away even if you are well past the age.
Our guide to roulette at Canada’s land-based casinos lists which venues offer table roulette, which have electronic terminals, and what each one publishes about its tables.
Choosing a table
Before you sit down, read the placard. It gives the minimum and maximum bets, and often whether the wheel has a single zero or a double zero. Inside and outside minimums can differ: a table might allow C$1 chips on numbers as long as your total inside bet meets the minimum, while each outside bet must meet it on its own.
Wheel type is worth checking. A single-zero wheel has a house edge of 2.70 %; a double-zero wheel has 5.26 %. In Ontario, Fallsview Casino Resort lists European single-zero roulette in its Privé high-limit area, and Casino Rama lists an automated Double 00 table. If both wheels are on the floor, the single zero is the better table, full stop.
Many Canadian casinos also run electronic roulette: Casino Niagara has Interblock automated games. The etiquette there is simpler (it is mostly a screen), but the same rule about leaving a seat to a player applies when the room is busy.
Buying in
Wait for a quiet moment between rounds, after the dealer has paid the last winners. Then place your cash on the felt in front of you and say you would like roulette chips. Do not hand cash to the dealer. In most casinos dealers do not take money from a player’s hand, because every transaction happens on the table, in view of the cameras.
The dealer will count your cash and ask what value you want per chip. You get a stack in a colour no one else at the table is using. The dealer marks the value of your colour at the chip rack, often with a small marker button placed on a stack of that colour. From now on, every chip of that colour on the layout is yours.
Coloured roulette chips have no value printed on them and work only at that table. If you bring regular casino chips, you can play with them directly, but most players switch to colour chips so their bets are never confused with a neighbour’s.
Placing bets
Place your own chips where you can reach them. Straight-ups go in the middle of a number; splits, corners and streets on the lines. Neatness helps: a chip sitting halfway between two positions is a question the dealer has to stop and ask.
If a position is out of reach, put the chips down in front of the dealer and say the bet clearly: “split 17, 20”, “corner 25”, “voisins”. The dealer places it. On European tables you can announce call bets the same way. Put the chips down when you call; a verbal bet with no chips behind it is not a bet.
Several players often bet on the same number. That is normal. Colour chips are exactly what keeps those stacks separate, and nobody owns a number.
“No more bets”
At some point the ball slows and the dealer says “no more bets”, usually with a flat hand passed over the layout. That closes the round. Do not place, move or remove chips after the call. A late chip is pushed back to you at best; at worst it holds up the table while a supervisor checks the camera.
On European tables you may hear the French version, “rien ne va plus”, and its earlier partner “faites vos jeux” (place your bets). Canadian dealers mostly use English, though in Quebec you will hear French as a matter of course. The words differ; the hand over the layout means the same thing everywhere.
The marker
When the ball settles, the dealer calls the number and colour and places a marker, often called the dolly, on the winning number. This is the moment to keep your hands still. The dealer sweeps losing chips first, then pays the winners, usually starting with the outside bets and working in.
Leave everything alone until the marker comes off. Reaching for a winning stack while the dolly is down is the single most common etiquette mistake at a roulette table. Dealers handle it politely, but it slows the payout for everyone, and at a crowded table it causes disputes.
Your winning chip stays on the layout with the winnings placed next to it. If you do not pick the stack up, it plays again on the next spin.
Talking at the table
Roulette tables are sociable, and a bit of chat is fine. Two habits are worth avoiding. The first is advising other players, in particular telling them a number is “due”. It is not; every spin is independent, and the scoreboard of recent results is decoration. The second is blaming the dealer for a run of losses. The dealer spins the ball and has no say in where it lands.
A quick aside for first-timers: you will hear players say “colour” a lot, and it means two things at a roulette table, the red or black of a number, and the colour of their chips. Context makes it clear, but now you know.
Phones, drinks and photos
Keep your phone off the layout. Many casinos restrict photography and video on the gaming floor, and some ask that phones are not used at the table at all. Step away to take a call.
Drinks belong in the holders or on the rail, never on the felt. If you spill, tell the dealer straight away; the game stops while the layout is cleaned and nobody minds.
Tipping
Tipping a roulette dealer is never required. Whether dealers may accept tips, and whether tips are pooled, depends on each casino’s policy. If you want to tip, the simplest move is to ask the dealer how it works at that venue. Some players place a small bet “for the dealer” instead; whether that is accepted also depends on house rules.
Electronic terminals and automated wheels
Electronic roulette has its own small courtesies. On stadium-style setups, where dozens of terminals bet on one live or automated wheel, seats are first come first served, and leaving a coat on an empty seat to hold it for a long time is frowned on at busy hours. Terminals usually print a ticket when you cash out; take it to a kiosk or the cage. Volume on the screen stays low, and if a terminal faults, call an attendant and leave the restart to them.
Wherever a dealer is part of the game, the courtesies from the sections above apply in full: wait for the call, keep clear of the marker, let the dealer pay.
Leaving the table
When you are done, wait for a break between rounds and push your coloured chips toward the dealer, saying you are colouring up. The dealer exchanges them for regular casino chips of the same total value, usually in the largest denominations possible. Take those to the cage to cash out.
Set your limit before you buy in, and leave when you reach it, whether you are ahead or behind. If a session ever starts to feel like it needs one more buy-in to fix, our responsible gambling page lists support lines and limit tools by province. Our list of roulette casinos covers online play for your province as well as the land-based floors.
The detail that surprises most new players: at a busy table the dealer may ask you to colour up and sit out if you stop betting for several rounds, because the colour you are holding is needed for someone waiting to play. Nothing personal about it; there are only so many colours in the rack.