The History of Roulette

The game we know as Roulette is a fairly new addition to the world of casino games.  Games that utilized 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 we would identify as Roulette wasn’t available at casinos until the 17th century.  The European Roulette wheel (the one zero roulette wheel) was invented in 1842 by Francois and Louis Blanc.

In France gambling was illegal so the developers of Roulette, Francois and Louis Blanc relocated to Germany there the game grew to become well-liked.  After Germany outlawed gambling Louis Blanc accepted an request to move to Monaco to set up and run a casino.  The ensuing casino turned out so well that it allowed Monaco to set the standards for Roulette for all of Europe.

The wheel hasn’t been altered too much since then.  One of the changes to the wheel was the addition of the green color to the zero and double zero.  In previous times the zero was black and the double zero was red, however this sometimes led to confusion so the color green was introduced to remove any confusion.

In Europe another modification was executed with the introduction of the “En Prison” option.  If using the European wheel when a zero is the winning digit any player who has bet even-money can take one of two choices; the player is able to  take back one half of their bet, or they can choose to apply the “En Prison” choice.  If the En Prison alternative is selected the bet is set aside awaiting the following spin of the wheel.  Should the bet win the players have their cash returned to them (without the payoff) if not the money is lost.  In the event that a zero is the winning number yet again the funds are yet again placed aside awaiting the next spin of the roulette wheel.

Once the rich and famous people of Europe started to patronize the casino at Monte Carlo the game of Roulette became very sophisticated.  With the sophisticated casino, the rich and famous dressed in formal attire and all of them having huge amounts of money to bet, the stage was ready.  All of this was responsible for the launching of Roulette as the worlds most recognized casino game.

The double zero Roulette wheel has grown to become the standard wheel in America.  The term “American wheel” is often used when talking about the double zero Roulette wheel.  The double zero Roulette wheel was popular in The United States old west in the California gold rush.

Roulette is a great deal more popular in Europe than in the United States.  European casinos obtain 50% of their revenues from Roulette gambling while American casinos only derive 5% of their revenues from Roulette gaming.  One reason for this is that European casino’s make use of the single zero wheel and En Prison option and have a house edge of 1.35% while the U.S. casino’s utilize the American wheel with no En Prison alternative that result in a house edge of 5.26%.