Roulette History Through Time

The game we call Roulette is a rather new addition to the world of casino games.  Games that employed the wheel have been around for a very long time (likely invented not long after the roulette wheel was itself developed), however the first game that we would recognize as Roulette wasn’t available at casinos until the 17th century.  The single zero (European) Roulette roulette wheel was invented by Louis and Francois Blanc in 1842.

Since gambling was against the law in France at the time Louis and Francois Blanc (the developers of Roulette) moved to Germany and roulette became popular there.  When Germany followed France and banned gambling Louis Blanc relocated to Monaco to accept an invitation to construct and run a casino there.  The resulting casino was an enormous hit and this success was such that it allowed Monaco to establish the standards for Roulette for all of Europe.

The wheel hasn’t changed much since then.  One of the few changes made to the roulette wheel was the introduction of the green color to the wheel on the zero and double zero spots.  At first the double zero space was black and the zero space was red, however it was found to be confusing to participants so to eliminate this confusion the color green was introduced.

Another change to Roulette in Europe was the introduction of the “En Prison” decision.  Whenever European roulette wheels have zero as the winning number players that have even-money bets have two choices: they can get one half of the original bet returned, or they can leave the wager “En Prison”.  The En Prison option sets the bets aside pending the next spin of the roulette wheel.  If the wager wins the participants get their funds back (without the usual payoff), but if the bet loses the funds are lost.  When the following spin results in zero once more being the winning number, the wagers are once more set aside awaiting the next spin of the wheel.

After the wealthy and well-known people of Europe began to patronize the casino at Monte Carlo the game of Roulette became very glamorous.  With the stylish casino, the rich and famous dressed in smart clothing and all of the players having huge amounts of cash to gamble, the stage was set.  All of this was responsible for the launching of Roulette as the worlds most familiar casino game.

The double zero Roulette wheel has developed into the standard wheel in America.  The name “American wheel” is often used when referring to the double zero Roulette wheel.  The American wheel was popular in the old west of America during the California Gold Rush era.

Roulette is a lot more popular in Europe than in America.  Casinos in Europe obtain 50% of their earnings from Roulette gambling while United States casinos only derive 5% of their revenues from Roulette gaming.  One explanation for this is that European casino’s utilize the single zero roulette wheel and En Prison opportunity and have a house edge of 1.35% but the U.S. casino’s make use of the double zero wheel without the En Prison alternative and have a house edge of 5.26%.