History of Roulette Games

Roulette in the form that we know it is a relatively recent addition to those games offered by casinos.  Games that utilized the roulette wheel have been around for a very long time (likely invented not long after the roulette wheel itself was developed), yet the first game that we would identify as Roulette wasn’t offered at casinos until the 17th century.  The single zero (European) Roulette roulette wheel was developed by Francois and Louis Blanc in 1842.

Since gambling was illegal in France Louis and Francois Blanc (the inventors of Roulette) relocated to Germany, where the game became popular.  After Germany also outlawed gambling Louis Blanc relocated to Monaco accepting a request to go there and construct and manage a casino.  The casino was such a hit that it was powerful enough to set all of the Roulette standards in Europe.

Little has been altered in the wheel since then.  One of the small number of changes made to the roulette wheel was the addition of the color green to the roulette wheel on the double zero and zero spots.  Before this the double zero was black and the zero was red, this resulted in some confusion for the participants so the color was altered to green to eliminate the confusion.

Another change to the game in Europe was the introduction of the “En Prison” decision.  If playing on a European roulette wheel and the winning digit is a zero participants who placed even-money wagers have a choice; they are able to get back one half of the original bet, or else they can leave the bet “En Prison”.  The En Prison choice places the wagers aside until the next spin of the wheel.  If the wager wins the participants get their funds returned (but not the normal payoff), but if the wager loses the money is lost.  If zero wins once more, no resolution is made, the roulette wheel is spun once more.

Roulette turned glamorous once Europe’s wealthy and famous started to go to Monte Carlo to play.  The casino was stylish, the players dressed in formal attire and large amounts of cash were wagered.  These items all joined together to make Roulette the the worlds most well-known casino game.

The double zero Roulette wheel evolved into the standard Roulette wheel in America.  The double zero wheel is often known as the “American wheel”.  The double zero wheel was well-liked in Americas old west particularly during the California gold rush era.

Roulette is much more prevalent in Europe than in America.  In European casinos Roulette is responsible for 50% of earnings while in the United States it accounts for only about 5% of revenues.  The main reason is that European casinos have a house edge of only 1.35% while in the U.S. it is 5.26% (European casinos use a single zero wheel and have the En Prison alternative while in America they use the American wheel wheel and don’t offer the En Prison alternative).