Roulette History
Like many casino games, Roulette first was played in France during the
1700s. The word “roulette” is actually French for “little wheel.” The
most commonly believed theory regarding the history of roulette gives
credit to the Frenchman Blaise Pascal, a mathematician who studied
probabilities, and who is believed to have invented the roulette wheel
in 1655. While this is a common theory, it is only one idea, and others
disagree on the origination of the device. Pascal, though, made a lot of
contributions to mathematics, developing the Pascal triangle and making
other discoveries in his lifetime, so the story is believable. A unit of
atmospheric pressure is even named after Pascal, as is a popular
computer program language. He actually created the roulette wheel while
trying to invent a perpetual motion apparatus.
The roulette wheel remained unchanged for almost two centuries until
1842 when Francois and Louis Blanc, also Frenchmen, added a “0” to the
roulette wheel, so there were 37 slots in the wheel, numbered 0 through
36 to increase the house’s odds. Legends have been told that these two
men were somehow connected with the devil because if you add up all the
numbers on the Roulette wheel, they equal to “666.” Even though, at this
time, gambling was illegal in France, the game still spread through
Europe. Francois Blanc actually established the first casino in Monte
Carlo. It is here that the game became known as the “King of Casino
Games.”
It was during the 1800s that roulette spread to the US, where a “00”
space was added, making 38 slots on the wheel, to increase house odds
even more because US casinos were not happy with the advantage that the
player had. You may have seen an American Eagle in this spot, as it is
sometimes used to represent the double 0 space.
As the game of roulette became more and more popular, gamblers started
studying the outcomes of the wheel. In 1873, Joseph Jagger, a famous
roulette player, hired six casino clerks to record the results of the
wheels at the Monte Carlo casino, Beaux-Arts Casino. What he found was
that one number did in fact come up more often than other numbers. He
won $450,000 using this strategy before he was caught by management.
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