Monitoring and indicating apparatus for use in the game of roulette

#This invention relates to the game of roulette and, more particularly, to improved equipment intended for use in connection with the playing of the game. The improved equipment aids in the recognition of winning bets resulting from the selection of a given number on the roulette wheel. In one embodiment of the invention, the wheel is replaced by an electronic device which randomly selects the winning number.

#As described in the Encyclopedia Britannica, roulette is a gambling game of French origin that is played in nearly all the gambling casinos of Europe and America.

#Equipment for roulette consists of a table in which is mounted a compartmented wheel and one or two layouts, usually enameled on green cloth. Any number of persons may play, betting only against the bank (proprietor of the game). The tourneur, one of the croupiers in attendance, calls, "Make your bets, gentlemen," whereupon players indicate their bets on the number o classification of numbers they hope will win. The tourneur then spins the wheel in one direction and in contrarotation spins a small ivory ball which, when the ball slows down sufficiently, falls into one of the numbered compartments and thus designates the winning numbers. When it appears to the tourneur that the ball will soon come to rest, he calls, "The betting is closed." No bet may be placed thereafter.

#The present invention may be more readily described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

#FIG. 1 is a top view of a conventional roulette wheel;

#FIG. 2 is a plan view of a conventional roulette cloth or layout that is used for placing bets on numbers selected by means of the wheel of FIG. 1;

#Referring more particularly to the drawings by characters of reference, FIGS. 1 and 2 show the numerical patterns employed in the conventional roulette wheel and layout as described in the Encyclopedia Britannica. As shown in FIG. 1, the periphery of roulette wheel 10 is divided into thirty-seven equal segments numbered from zero through thirty-six in random order. Adjacent each numbered segment and extending radially inwardly is a red or black area 11 (alternately shaded in FIG. 1 to illustrate red or black, respectively) that identifies the associated number as one of the red or black classification of numbers.

#Layout 12 of FIG. 2 illustrates that the same numbers are assigned to thirty-seven areas arranged in rows and columns. The thirty-six areas numbered "1-36" are arranged in three columns and twelve rows numbered in sequence beginning at the top of the left-hand column with the number "1" moving from left to right in each row and progressing downward from the top row to the bottom so that the last area at the bottom of the third column is assigned the number "36". An area 13 located above the top row is marked "0". The numbered areas of the layout 12 are shaded in contrast to illustrate the color red or black in correspondence with the red and black identification of each number as established on the wheel 10. Thus, for example, the number 34 which has an adjacent red area on wheel 10 has a red background on layout 12, while number 6 with its adjacent black area on wheel 10 has a black background on layout 12.

#On the layout 12, the numbered areas "1"-"12" form the first or "premi/e/ re" dozen, the areas "13"-"24" form middle or "milieu" dozen and the areas "25"-"36" form the last or "derni/e/ re" dozen, the three "dozens" being represented as "12.sup.P ", "12.sup.M " and "12.sup.D ", respectively. To bet that the selected number will fall in a particular one of the three dozens, a player places his coin on one of the three areas 14 at the lower left corner of the layout 12 or on one of the identically marked three areas 15 at the lower right corner of the layout.