Roulette History

The game of Roulette in its present-day appearance is a fairly recent casino pastime.  Although games using wheels have been around since soon after the wheel was invented the game we know as Roulette was initially presented to casinos in the seventeenth century.  Francois and Louis Blanc designed the European Roulette roulette wheel (the one zero wheel) in 1842.

Because gambling was unlawful in France at the time Francois and Louis Blanc (the inventors of Roulette) relocated to Germany and roulette became well-liked there.  Once Germany followed France and banned gambling Louis Blanc moved to Monaco to accept a request to develop and operate a casino there.  This casino turned out so well that it enabled Monaco to establish the rules for Roulette for all of Europe.

The roulette wheel hasn’t changed a lot since its introduction.  One change has been the introduction of the green color to the double zero and zero.  Before this the zero was red and the double zero was black, this resulted in some confusion for the participants so the color was changed to green to eliminate this confusion.

In Europe another modification was executed with the addition of the “En Prison” choice.  When playing on a European roulette wheel and a zero is the winning number players who bet on even-money have two alternatives: they can get back one half of the original bet, or they are able to take the “En Prison” option.  If the En Prison option is selected the wager is set aside and the following spin of the roulette wheel determines what happens to the wager.  In the event that the wager wins the participants have their cash returned (less the normal payoff) if not the funds are lost.  If zero once more wins the funds are once more placed aside until the next spin of the wheel.

The game of Roulette grew to become Europe’s most sophisticated pastime after the rich and famous started to go to Monte Carlo to play.  The casino was stylish, the players attired in formal clothing and large amounts of money were bet.  These items all joined together to establish Roulette as the worlds most well-known casino game.

In the United States the double zero Roulette wheel became the standard.  The term “American wheel” is often used when referring to the double zero Roulette wheel.  The double zero Roulette wheel was popular in Americas old west in the California gold rush.

Roulette gaming in Europe is a lot more popular than in America.  American casinos just earn 5% of their revenues from the game of roulette while casinos in Europe make 50% of their earnings from Roulette.  The difference between the popularity of roulette in the U.S. and European casinos is that in Europe they use a single zero wheel and offer the En Prison choice while in the United States they use a double zero wheel and don’t offer the En Prison option (the house edge is 1.35% in European casinos but 5.26% in America).