Roulette is synonymous with glitz, glamour, wealth, excitement and beautiful people; roulette tables are central to most physical casinos.
Roulette is an ancient game played for around 300 years in the recognisable form we know today. However, the ancient Greeks and Romans played different forms.
The team at Fruity King NZ created this article to give some information on the entertaining history of roulette, which is associated with not only luxury but also the occult.
Table of Contents
Where it All Began
It is generally agreed that roulette originated in France in the 18th century (the word roulette in French means ‘little (or small) wheel). It is also generally agreed upon that the roulette wheel is a mix of the British wheel game Roly-Poly, Reiner and Ace of Hearts. There is also an Italian influence from the board games Hoca and Biribi.
The game Even-Odd was largely played in Britain, and that game had a wheel and a ball (like roulette), but instead of numbers, there were 20 sections marked E for Evens and O for Odds. The game Even-Odd did not have a zero, so the house edge was created by a portion of the sections allocated for the house.
Even-Odd enjoyed great popularity in the 1770s until it was banned around 1782. However, it could still be considered an ancestor of today’s game enjoyed by millions. Unfortunately, there are only references to Even-Odd before roulette if it went by another name, such as Roly-Poly.
So, back to 18th-century France!
It was a man called Blaise Pascal, a French physicist, inventor and mathematician who was trying to invent the perpetual motion machine that continues to operate without drawing energy from an external source. As it happens, the laws of physics say this is an impossible dream, but Pascal was trying to defy the odds and failed.
However, his failure did give rise to one of the most popular casino games ever.
The Adding of The Zero
The famous zero (0) didn’t exist on the roulette wheel until the mid-19th century, so it remained just as Pascal had invented it for centuries. It was in 1842 when brothers Lois and Francois Blac designed a new wheel incorporating the single zero, specifically for Monaco’s King Charles 111.
Adding the single zero gave the house an edge over all players. When Charles built a casino, he brought the roulette wheel to the masses, which generated a lot of money for the cash-strapped King.
About the same time as the casino at Monte Carlo was built, France had outlawed gambling which added to the pull of the now iconic casino.
Roulette travelled to America in the 1800s. Another double zero (00) was added to the wheel to give the house an even bigger edge. Instead of 37 numbers, the American roulette wheel had 38.
Fact or Fiction?
In some quarters, legend tells that one of the Blanc brothers, Francois, in all his greed and lust for profit and power, sold his soul to the devil to keep the secret of roulette to himself. It is possible that Francois Blanc created the story himself. As the tale broadens, it is said that soon after his deal with the devil, roulette tables with single and double zero pockets began to be seen in European casinos and were a tremendous success.
But the above tale is simply that, as Blanc reduced the double zero wheels to just a single zero, the house edge was far smaller, but players flocked to his casino to try their hand, which made him a very wealthy man.
There could be other reasons that roulette used to be known as the devil’s game, and we shall look at these below.
- Roulette might have been given its unflattering name because it was so addictive for some players who seemed to play as if they were ‘possessed by the devil’.
- There is a legend that the devil challenged a monk (unnamed) centuries ago to a roulette game using a wheel where the numbers added up to 666.
- If you did decide to add up all the numbers on a roulette wheel (0-36), they do add up to 666, which is by many considered ‘the number of the beast’.
Some Interesting Roulette Facts
Whether you are driven to hell playing the devil’s game or enjoy the thrill of roulette, some interesting facts surround this very popular game.
- In California, roulette is played using cards. The game is played with cards to get about the strict gambling laws, and some casinos offer the game in this version to their customers.
- The number 17 is one of the most popular numbers to bet on. This might be because 007, aka Jame Bond’s favourite number, was 17.
- Unlike many other casino games, having a drink with you at a roulette table is considered rude.
- The plastic piece that the croupier uses to mark the winning number is called a ‘dolly’.
- The chance of hitting the same colour ten times in a row is 1-1024. Once at a casino in Bristol, England, red was hit 36 times in a row.
- The known record for a number hitting consecutively happened in Las Vegas, where the number 19 hit seven times in a row. What are the odds of this happening? One in three billion!
In Conclusion
Today, roulette is just as popular as it was, loved by the new casino player or the more experienced. The game appears timeless with its exciting nature online and at physical casinos.
Easy to understand, roulette doesn’t require the new player to study an in-depth roulette guide. Of course, some players enjoy trying strategies, and both can enjoy roulette fully.
And there we have the best reason that roulette has always been and remains such a popular game, with a strong social element attached. Suppose you have ever been to a land-based venue. In that case, you will soon find out where the roulette table is as you can hear the sense of fun and camaraderie between all the people playing. The roulette game does not pit players against each other; quite the opposite, it encourages unity which cannot be said of many other casino games.
