The History of Roulette

The modern version of Roulette has its origins in France, named after the French for “small wheel”. It is easily one of the most iconic casino games, captivating players for hundreds of years.

But although it was the French invented the game, there has been plenty of debate over where it was originally developed. Some believe that it was brought to Europe by Dominican monks from China in the 13th century, while others say that it dates all the way back to ancient Rome and Greece, when soldiers would tip over their chariots and spin the wheels.

Whatever was the primary inspiration for Roulette, the invention of the modern game has been attributed to the mathematician physicist and philosopher, Blaise Pascal, who also developed the famous Pascal’s triangle and Pascal’s law. Apparently, Pascal stumbled upon the game when trying to develop a perpetual motion machine. Pascal’s Roulette was a combination of various games at the time, including Roly-Poly (a wheel-based game from England), Ace of Hearts, Reiner and two Italian board games, Hoca and Biribi. In fact, Pascal even took the name Roulette from a French board game.

Modern Roulette is believed to have been played by the French since at least 1796. A novel by author Jacques Lablee, titled “La Roulette, ou le Jour” was written at this time, with a passage describing a Roulette wheel at Paris’ Palais Royale. However, in contradiction to this story, regulations for ‘New France’ (once the name for a large area of North America colonized by the French) showed that the game was being played at least as early as 1758, stating that “dice, hoca, faro, and roulette” were banned.

However, the European Roulette we know today was still yet to enter the fray. It wasn’t until 1843 that the famous French politician and historian, Louis Blanc, along with his brother François, came up with the idea of a single ‘0’ wheel. This was a way of attracting new players to a game, as it offered a lower house advantage than the original ‘00’ version.

Gambling was made illegal in France, so the Blanc brothers decided to bring their new game to the German casino town of Homburg, where it became a huge hit. Unfortunately for the pair, the Germans soon followed suit of their neighbors and banned all gambling. This forced them to move to the safe haven of Monte Carlo, where they opened their own casino.

Until 1933, Monte Carlo was the only place in Europe where you could enjoy a game of Roulette. But with the game’s vast popularity, Monaco wanted Blanc to set up a casino in the small principality. It was around this time that the legend of Blanc selling his soul to the devil for the secrets of the roulette wheel started to spread – popularized by the fact that all the numbers and wheel add up to ‘666’, the “Number of the Beast”.

Across the Atlantic, the game was also beginning to make waves in the US, starting in the humble gambling dens of New Orleans. And it was also around this point that the game began to split in to its European and American versions, with the US deciding to hang on to the ‘00’ pocket. In addition, it was decided that the wheel should be raised on to the table, as cheaters would often sabotage the game when it was in easy reach.

In complete contrast to the glamorous casinos of Europe and the French Riviera, the gambling dens in the US offered a more rough-and-ready environment. In turn, the play and pace for American Roulette was much faster, which eventually made it the more popular version. Roulette was mainly confined to the Las Vegas and Monty Carlo casinos up until the early 1970s, but now the game can be found in locations right across the world.

As much as the popularity of Roulette has increased in land-based casinos worldwide, it is undoubtedly the Internet that has led to its mass appeal. Roulette is a game ideally suited for play online and can be found at any reputable online casino.