History of Roulette - European and American History

April 04, 2009 | Article Category: Roulette

0 Comments European Roulette

Many historians are of the opinion that roulette began in France in 1655 with Blaise Pascal's perpetual-motion wheel, although there are those that believe that a roulette type game was played by French Dominican monks at the end of the 17th century. Roulette only became popular in Paris around 1789 - 1799 towards the end of the French Revolution. Although the exact history of roulette is not entirely clear to historians, it is clear that roulette is so-named as it means "little wheel" in French.

Development of European Roulette

There were a number of games, such as the English wheel game E.O. (Evens, Odds), and the Italian board games, Hoca and Biribi, and "Roulette" (a French board game that was already in existence by the same name), which when fused together seem to form the game roulette.

Pascal, a mathematician, developed the perpetual-motion wheel, which was a primitive form of roulette in 1655. Later, Louis and Francois Blanc adapted the game in the late 1800s. The Blanc's added a zero into the game in order to increase the house edge. In 19th century France, they were not allowed to introduce the game, and therefore took it to Germany with the new wheel (with the zero) to Germany.

Roulette was banished for awhile because there are those who said that the game was created by a deal with the devil. It is said that Francois Blanc had to talk with the devil in order to get the secrets of the roulette wheel. The number of the devil is 666, which is the total that is reached when adding the roulette numbers, 1 - 36 together. Francois Blanc created the first Monte Carlo casino when he brought the game, roulette, with him.

American Roulette

In the early 1800s, roulette was introduced to the US. The game was now extremely popular in both Europe and in America. The second zero was added to the game in the early 1800s.

The game was first introduces in New Orleans. The game reached America during the French Revolution, when French immigrants brought roulette with them to Louisiana. When the game spread around the US, it originally had slightly different rules and design to its French counterpart. The American game had only 28 numbers, and also the 0, 00, and an American Eagle symbol on the layout. The bank won all the bets if the ball stopped on the eagle, or one of the zeros, unless someone had placed a bet on one of those symbols. The available bets were single number bets, red/black bets, and four column bets, which consisted of seven numbers in each column. The house edge was too great, and the game reverted to the more popular European roulette, although it did retain the 00 symbol, and left out one of the European rules.

Online Casino Roulette

As with modern land-based casinos, roulette is considered a standard game in online casinos. Players often have the choice of playing either American or European roulette. Although the land-based casino atmosphere cannot be recreated online, the excitement and fun of playing this game of chance is still very much there!

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