Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number, various groupings of numbers, the colors red or black, whether the number is odd or even, or if the numbers are high (19–36) or low (1–18).
To determine the winning number and color, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track running around the outer edge of the wheel. The ball eventually loses momentum and falls onto the wheel and into one of 37 (in French/European roulette) or 38 (in American roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel.
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The first form of roulette was devised in 18th century France. A century earlier, Blaise Pascal introduced a primitive form of roulette in the 17th century in his search for a perpetual motion machine.
The game has been played in its present form since as early as 1796 in Paris. An early description of the roulette game in its current form is found in a French novel La Roulette, ou le Jour by Jaques Lablee, which describes a roulette wheel in the Palais Royal in Paris in 1796. The description included details such as:.
There are two spaces containing zero and double zero. In total there are 38 numbers. The croupier throws a small ball into a spinning horizontal wheel divided into 37 sections. The ball finally loses speed and falls into one of these 37 sections. Players bet on which number they think will be selected by the ball.
In some forms of early American roulette wheels – as shown in the 1886 Hoyle gambling books, there were numbers 1 through 28, plus a single zero, a double zero, and an American Eagle. The Eagle slot, which was a symbol of American liberty, was a house slot that brought the casino extra edge.
Soon, the tradition vanished and since then the wheel features only numbered slots.
Some historians believe Blaise Pascal introduced a primitive form of roulette in the 17th century as part of his research into perpetual motion. Pascal was trying to create a perpetual motion machine when he created this game.
There is no record of where and when exactly this happened but it is believed that it took place somewhere between 1655 and 1658. Pascal’s invention was unsuccessful but his idea gave birth to one of most popular casino games in existence today.
In 1843, Louis and Francois Blanc invented the single 0 style roulette wheel because they wanted to offer players better odds than at other casinos where house edge was 5.26%. The Blanc brothers opened their first casino “Le Grand Casino de Bad Homburg” which quickly became known as “The House That Roulette Built” because it made such huge profits off this new game.
Eventually this style of roulette spread worldwide. In America when Thomas Edison invented electric lighting and gambling was outlawed in France around 1830-1840 so many rich people moved to Monte Carlo which quickly became known as “The New Bad Homburg” because it had all these rich people gambling at casinos like Le Grand Casino de Monte Carlo which used Blanc’s single 0 style wheels.
Roulette quickly became one of most popular games at casinos around world because it was easy to learn how to play and offered players fair odds with house edge being only 2.7%.
This low house edge made it possible for players to win money more often than they would playing other casino games where house edge was much higher such as 5% for blackjack or up to 11% for some slot machines. So whether there is magnet inside modern day roulette wheels or not doesn’t really matter because players still have great odds of winning when they play this game either online or at brick-and-mortar casinos.
