Roulette History

Roulette, translated as "small wheel" is the most popular casino game in Europe. A primitive version of roulette was introduced in the 1600's by French scientist, Blaise Pascal.

It is said that this was a by-product of his perpetual motion devices. Frenchmen Francois and Louis Blanc invented the single "0" roulette game in 1842. Because gambling was illegal in France during this time, the game was introduced in Hamburg, Germany where it became very popular and replaced an earlier, lower odds version. Later, Francois and his son were responsible for bringing the game of roulette back to southern France for the Prince of Monaco, Charles III. As a result, the lavish, world-famous resort of Monte Carlo was developed. When roulette came to the U.S. in the early 1800s, the improvements were deleted, and a double "00" returned. The game became popular in the old west of America during the California Gold Rush.

American Roulette
In American Roulette, the roulette wheel consists of 38 identical slots, numbered from 0, 00, 1 through 36. In total, 38 numbers are represented on the betting layout. On the standard roulette wheel the numbers are not arranged consecutively. By design, they alternate between red and black and exactly opposite each other number is the corresponding higher and lower number. Look straight across one side of the wheel to the other and you will see that the 0 is opposite the 00, 1 is opposite the 2, and so on up to the 35 being directly opposite the 36. All red numbers are opposite the black numbers.

The roulette wheel is kept spinning all the time and sped up once a game is about to begin. The croupier rolls a little ivory ball along the inner edge of the wheel in the opposite direction of its spin. As the wheel turns, the ball loses momentum and it bounces among the slots and finally falls into one of the numbered slots. Bettors can place their bets right up until the time the wheel slows down and the ball drops into place. The number that the ball rests on is declared as the winning number for that game.

Europian Roulette
The European roulette wheel with its single 0 has a house edge of only 2.70%. The player has a 1 in 37 chance of winning and still gets paid 35 to 1.

The procedures at the European table are slightly different than the American game. While American dealers sweep the layout with their hands and arms, European croupiers use a long stick known as the rake to sweep in all bets. In Europe, roulette games do not use the non-value chips. All players use the standard casino chips, which can cause great confusion when there are a multitude of bets on the layout. If you're playing in Europe, you have to be wary of exactly what you have bet.