But even in this age of online gaming, not everyone is an expert at baccarat or five-card draw. Sure, you could always feed money into the slots all night, but the real fun is to be had at the tables.

If your knowledge of how to play casino games is a little fuzzy, the roulette wheel is the obvious place to start. We all know how it works - a wheel, a ball, and where she stops, nobody knows. The great thing about roulette is that you can be a complete beginner and stand as good a chance of winning as someone who's been playing every week for years. In that respect, it’s not so different to a slot game, as the wheel spins just like the reels, and all you do is place your money, wait for it to stop and hope luck is on your side.

How to play

Playing roulette is exactly as easy as it looks on TV. Place your betting chips where you want, for example on black 22 if you are placing a straight-up bet or on red for a 50/50 bet. Then wait for the ball to come to rest, whereupon the dealer will pay out if you won or sweep your stake into the bank if you didn’t.

Gameplay can be fast and furious, so keep your head and manage your bankroll with care. We’ll go into more detail on these points next.

Roulette strategy

Earlier we implied that there is no skill aspect to roulette and it’s all down to luck. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t play strategically. You have three decisions to make – the type of roulette to play, the type of bet to place, and the size of that bet.

If a casino offers both European roulette, with just a single zero, and American roulette, with the extra double zero, always play the European version. This is because whatever you bet, the house edge is 2.7 percent with one zero and 5.3 percent on the American table.

Given that the odds are the same regardless, does it really matter what bet you place? Mathematically, it doesn’t, but you get less volatility playing even money bets like black/red or high/low. It also feels like more of a fair fight between you and the house.

The other strategic decision is how much to bet. Again, it doesn’t matter from a mathematical perspective, but to keep things fun and to stay on top of your bankroll, work from a low base amount, say £1. Roulette is well suited to progressions, and while you will get hit one day, a betting strategy like the martingale is as good as anything and will usually net you some small wins along the way.