History of Roulette

If you’ve ever played one of the many versions of roulette out there, you may have wondered about the game’s history. How did roulette start? Who invented it? How was it originally played? Live roulette is now a frequently played live casino game, but before that, it was one of the most popular table games in land-based casinos. In fact, the origins of roulette go back to ancient times.

What exactly is roulette?

Roulette is a casino game that involves spinning a wheel with numbered pockets, all of which are either red or black, except for zero, which is green. Some versions of the game have two zeros (we’ll get to why this is later). A small ball spins inside the wheel, and the aim is to predict which pocket the ball will land in when the wheel stops spinning. If you guess right, you win.

You don’t have to pick the exact number that the ball will fall on (though you can certainly try). You can bet on groups of numbers or simply place a bet on red or black. The odds you get will depend on the number of outcomes covered by your bet.

Online roulette works in the same way as traditional roulette, with a few obvious differences. Virtual online roulette games that you might play online, or on a mobile app, use random number generators to ensure that the outcome is just as unpredictable as with a real wheel. Live roulette is also common in online casinos, and this means that there will be a real dealer spinning a real roulette wheel.

Roulette Game History

The origins of the modern-day roulette wheel can be traced back to 1655, when a French physicist and mathematician named Blaise Pascal invented something very similar to the wheel used in roulette games today. As is often the case with inventions, Pascal didn’t intend his wheel to become a casino game. In fact, he was trying to see if he could invent a perpetual motion machine.

Pascal’s experiment failed, as he probably suspected it would. The wheel did indeed stop spinning rather than staying in perpetual motion. It did, however, become the basis for the game of roulette, arguably having a bigger impact on the world over the coming centuries than the inventor could have predicted.

How far back does roulette history go?

While it’s generally agreed that the modern roulette wheel was invented in 17th-century France, there were games that resembled roulette being played much earlier. In fact, games that involved gambling on when a spinning object would stop were going on even in ancient times.

There’s evidence of a game played in ancient Greece where players would draw symbols on a shield, place it on the ground next to an arrow, and spin the shield, placing bets on which symbol the arrow would be pointing to when the shield stopped spinning. Similar games were played by soldiers in ancient Rome using a shield or even a chariot wheel.

History of roulette in France

There is, however, no doubt that modern roulette has its origins in France and in the invention of the modern-day roulette wheel by Blaise Pascal. By the 18th century, Pascal’s failed perpetual motion experiment had resulted in roulette wheels becoming common in French casinos, though early versions of the game differed somewhat from today’s roulette wheels.

For example, the game initially had two zero pockets, but they were red (for the single zero) and black (for the double zero). As in modern games and [roulette rules[(/blog/livecasino/roulette/rules), the zeros were ‘house pockets’ – that is, if a player places a bet on black or red and the ball drops into one of the zero pockets, the bet is lost, and the house wins.

Over time, the zeros were made green to distinguish them from the other red and black pockets, which were all potentially winning pockets for the players. In modern roulette, some versions have a single zero and some have a double, but they are always green.

The game of roulette has had a chequered history in the land of its invention. King Louis XV tried banning the game without success. Napoleon Bonaparte allowed it, but only in casinos of the royal palace. King Louis Phillipe succeeded in effectively banning the game in 1837, when he shut down all the casinos in France, which led to a golden age of gambling in neighbouring Germany. Gambling was slowly legalised and regulated in France again from 1907, and today, roulette is once again a popular casino game in the country of its birth.

Roulette history in Germany

During the time that roulette was banned in France, the game thrived in the casinos of Germany, in towns such as Bad Homburg, Baden-Baden and Wiesbaden. French gambling enthusiast François Blanc and his brother Louis fled France for Germany at this time and set up in the town of Bad Homburg, striking a deal to operate gambling games there for the next 30 years, which resulted in the birth of the famous Spielbank casino in the town.

It was François and Louis Blanc who were responsible for one of the major changes to the game that is now an important feature of European roulette. In order to get an advantage over the competition from other casinos in the area, the Blanc brothers decided to remove the double zero from the roulette wheels in their casino, providing better odds for the players, and more incentive to play. Over time, other European casinos followed suit, and the single zero version of the game became the standard in Europe.

Roulette’s migration to online casinos

The popularity of roulette in land-based casinos means that it is no surprise that it has also become one of the more popular games in online casinos. There are now countless online live casinos and gambling apps that allow you to play live roulette, either as a purely virtual version of the game, or via the live casino lobby, where you’ll interact with a live dealer and play the game pretty much as you would if you were visiting a land-based casino.

American and European roulette wheels

As we’ve already mentioned, European roulette dropped one of the zero pockets, so a European roulette wheel has 37 pockets, including one green zero pocket. American roulette wheels have the two zero pockets, so have a zero and a double zero. Remember, the zeros are ‘house pockets’ – what this means in practical terms is that the house edge is lower when playing European roulette, so it’s generally the better choice when both versions are available.

Modern-day roulette

Live roulette continues to be a hugely popular casino game in both online and land-based casinos. Most online versions are now played in the live casino lobby, with the action streamed live from a central venue.