Take a look at these too packages:

https://cartalyst.com/manual/sentry

https://github.com/Zizaco/entrust

Both packages support user management including roles and you can assign them very easily, it's all in the documentation!

I am using Zizaco/entrust

After assigned a multiple roles for a single user. Table assigned_role

id user role_id 1 1 1 2 1 2 3 1 3 etc.,

Now I have the following code in login controller

 // Assign a Role to user 
            foreach (Auth::User()->roles as $key => $role) {
                $role_id = $role['role_id'];
            }
            Session::put('user_role', $role_id);

in layout menu show /hide purpose I am using

@if(Auth::user()->ability(Session::get('user_role'),'UsersController@index'))
// some links
@endif

when I logged in as Role 2 it doesn't have user access but still it displays the user menu for user role 2

I am not sure what I did wrong ?