History of Roulette
Roulette has intrigued casino patrons for almost 300 years, although the actual details of roulettes origin and development are not exactly known. It has been said that many ancient Romans would tip their chariots on to their sides and spin one of the wheels for games of amusement.
The word Roulette itself is French and means “Little Wheel.” During the 17 th and 18 th centuries, several different styles of roulette appeared in Europe. It is documented that a French scientist and mathematician Blaise Pascal invented the roulette mechanisms in 1657 while he was testing his experiments with perpetual motion devices. Incidentally, Pascal lead the way for the mathematical field of probability.
Roulette Wheel
In 1720, the game “roly-poly” is the first reference to using a spinning ball and a rotating horizontal wheel as a game device. At that time, many games of chance including roly-poly were banned by the Gaming Acts of 1739 and 1740 in England. Beau Nash, The master of Ceremonies at Bath, England, found a loop in these laws and evaded them by introducing a game called “EO” – Even-Odd. EO was a simplified version of roly-poly, but it was also soon outlawed in 1745.
Over the next 50 years, the game changed and evolved into the Roulette we play today. The modern style of wheels appeared in Paris Casino’s around 1796. These wheels included all the usual elements of roulette wheels today; the alternating red and black colors, the layout of numbered pockets 1 through 36, the 0 and the 00.
The only real difference between the Roulette wheels of old and of today were the single 0 was red in color, and the 00 was black (in these days, casino’s barred any red bets from winning if 0 appeared, and any black bets were barred if the 00 appeared). Eventually, to lessen any confusion, green was assigned to the zero spaces.
European Roulette
Throughout the years, this version of roulette traveled with Europeans to New Orleans in the early 1800’s. Being not content with a 5.26% edge, a group of early proprietor tested a roulette wheel containing 31 pockets. These wheels were numbered 1 – 28, with a 0, a 00 and an “Eagle” pocket.
These proprietors had greedy minds, and decided to give lesser payouts of 26 to 1, instead of the usual 30 to 1 payout that is generally considered fair. This converted into a 12.90% house edge, and soon people stopped playing these roulette wheels in favor of the original double zero wheels.
Around this same time, two inventive brothers from France, Francois and Louis Blanc, took roulette in another direction and introduced the very first single zero roulette wheel in 1842. The brothers left France, where at the time gambling was illegal, and built a house in germany. The single zero wheel they created became an instant hit, because of its 2.7% edge instead of the double zero’s wheel of 5.26% edge.
When gambling became illegal in Germany, Louis Blanc (who had outlived his brother) was offered an invite from the Prince of Monaco, Charles III, for whom Monte Carlo was named. For a fee of 2 million Francs, Blanc was offered the ability to open and establish the magnanimous casino that sets all the standards for casinos in Europe.
American Wheel Roulette
Although both the double zero and single zero roulette wheels originated in France, the double zero became known as the "American Wheel," because it survived in the states. The popularity of the single zero wheel had supplanted the double zero wheels in Europe and consequently was dubbed the "French Wheel." In Europe, the option of "En Prison" was offered, further lowering the house edge, on even money wagers, down to 1.35%!
No wonder the game accounts for over 50% of revenues in European casinos as compared to about 5% in U.S. casinos. Casinos today in Atlantic City, do offer En Prison for even money bets on their double zero wheels. This effectively reduces the casinos' edge from 5.26% to 2.63% for those bets. The rest they say is history.
Casino Roulette Game
Roulette did enjoy popularity stateside around the turn of the century up until World War II. As Americans learned to lose less at craps and subsequently became interested in the notion that black jack was beatable, roulette declined in popularity. Roulette is the oldest casino game still in existence.
It is possible with the emergence of more single zero wheels in the United States, and a well informed gambling public, the game may enjoy a resurgence in popularity.
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