History of Roulette

The game we know as Roulette is a rather new addition as far as casino games go.  Games that employed the wheel have been around for a very long time (likely invented not long after the roulette wheel itself was developed), however the first game that players would recognize as Roulette wasn’t available at casinos until the 17th century.  The European Roulette wheel (the one zero roulette wheel) was developed in 1842 by Francois and Louis Blanc.

In France gambling was unlawful so the developers of Roulette, Louis and Francois Blanc moved to Germany there the game became popular.  As soon as Germany also outlawed gambling Louis Blanc moved to Monaco accepting a request to go there and develop and run a casino.  The casino was such a success that it was powerful enough to establish all of the Roulette standards in Europe.

Roulette wheels haven’t been altered a lot since then.  One change to the roulette wheel was the introduction of the color green to the zero and double zero.  In earlier days the double zero was red and the zero was black, however this often led to confusion so the green color was introduced to get rid of any confusion.

A further modification to roulette was made in Europe when the “En Prison” option was added.  If using the European roulette wheel when a zero is the winning number any player who has wagered even-money can take one of two options; they can get back one half of their wager, or they can choose to apply the “En Prison” choice.  If the En Prison alternative is chosen the wager is set aside and the following spin of the wheel decides the outcome of the bet.  If the wager wins the players get their cash returned to them (without the payoff) if not the funds are lost.  If zero once more wins the funds are once more set aside awaiting the next spin of the roulette wheel.

The game of Roulette grew to become Europe’s most attractive activity once the rich and well-known began to go to Monte Carlo to play.  The casino was stylish, the players dressed in formal attire and large quantities of cash were wagered.  All of this helped to launch Roulette as the worlds most well-known casino game.

The double zero wheel evolved into the standard Roulette wheel in the U.S.  When individuals refer to the “American wheel” they are talking about the double zero roulette wheel.  This wheel was very well-liked during the California gold rush in the United States west.

Roulette is a lot more prevalent in Europe than in the United States.  Roulette in European casinos is the reason for 50% of revenues while in the U.S. it represents only about 5% of earnings.  One reason for this is that European casino’s utilize the single zero wheel and En Prison opportunity and have a house edge of 1.35% but the United States casino’s make use of the American wheel without the En Prison option and have a house edge of 5.26%.