Roulette History of Roulette The word “Roulette” is obtained from French meaning small wheel. To dig into the history of Roulette leaves allot of guessing but one thing is sure, Roulette is the oldest casino game still around.
There are accounts from ancient Romans that tilted their chariots so they could play it with the wheels of their chariots. Others say it was Dominican monks who traded with the Chinese who introduced it to Europe. It is believed by some that the master mathematician Blaise Pascal, who pioneered the mathematical field of probability, invented the device in 1657 during an experiment.
What we do know for a fact is that in 1720 a game called roly-poly was invented. This game had a horizontal wheel with black and white pockets that also had black and white “BAR” pockets on which the players lost their wager, which gave the house a HUGE mathematical edge on players. This game was banned in 1739 and 1740 together with other games of chance by the new Gaming act that was passed in England. Beau Nash then invented a game to evade these laws with EO (Even Odd) but that too was outlawed in 1745. From 1745 to the late 1700's the game started evolving to the Roulette we know. The Roulette wheel with the numbered pockets 0, 00 and 1 – 36 was seen for the first time in Paris casinos in 1796.
French brothers Francois and Louis Blanc invented the single zero Roulette game in 1842 and changed history by reducing the houses edge to 2,7% apposed to 5.26% before.
Roulette was introduced to the US in the 1800's and became popular in the “Old West” during the California Gold Rush. Introduction to Roulette Roulette is one of the most popular games in modern casinos. It consists out of a roulette wheel that is placed on the end of a table. The wheel has 0 – 36 numbered black and red pockets, American style Roulette also has a 00 pocket. On the same table is a grid representing the numbers and colors of the wheel.
 Objective The objective is to select the correct number, or color that the ball will end up in. Bets can also be placed on even or odd or different number ranges.
A player is able to increase the probability by placing bets on different portions. The better the odds the lower the winnings.
 The Table Layout - The table layout has 36 red and black printed numbers (1 to 36), plus a green 0.
- At the end of each of the three long columns of numbers is a box inscribed with "2 to 1". By placing a wager on one of these boxes, are betting that the ball will end up in one of the numbers in that column.
- There are three boxes reading "1st 12", "2nd 12" and "3rd 12". By placing a wager on one of these boxes you are betting that the ball will land on any one of the first, second or third dozen numbers.
Six boxes show other types of bets: "1 to 18", "19 to 36", "Odd", "Even", "Red" and "Black". These are used to place wagers on ranges of numbers, colors and odd or even |