The Origin of Roulette

"Roulette", meaning little wheel in French, can be a very easy and exciting game. There are two wheels, one European and the other American. Containing numbers one to thirty-six plus one or two "0's". The European wheel has one "0" while the American counterpart has the "0" plus the "00". The wheel is spun and the ball is rolled and when the ball falls into one numbered spaces this is the number that wins.

Thought to have been founded in France by the 17th century mathematician, Blaise Pascal. Other sources claim that the Chinese invented the spinning wheel and that it was brought to Europe by monks who were trading in China.

The roulette wheel as we know it did not come about until around 1842, when it was devised by the Frenchmen Francois and Louis Blanc, from Pascals' original mathematical formulas. And shortly thereafter arrived in the casinos in America.

With the introduction of the game in Europe, the Prince of Monaco, brought roulette to his small island and there some say opened the first "casino" based upon the roulette wheel.

The invention of the single "0" roulette wheel by the Blanc brothers defined the game and made it appealing to bet on. When roulette arrived in American casinos, the wheel had added to it an extra space for the "00". In some distant casinos in the Old West, the roulette wheel contained an American eagle instead of the "00". Once again raising the odds for the house. In the mid-1800's, with roulettes' introduction in America, the wheel became hugely popular in American casinos during the Great California Gold Rush.

In America and Europe today, the game is still a very popular in casinos and gambling halls. In most cases, casinos in Europe use the American layout for roulette, but use the European wheel.