Roulette History

Roulette History by Will Win

Did you know that Roulette means 'little wheel' in French? Neither did I, and having been informed of this fact by a friend I decided that maybe the time had come to see what else I could find out about the game; this is what I came up with…

First of all, I was quite surprised to learn that roulette is very much the baby of the casino games: Unlike poker and blackjack which have existed in one form or another for many centuries, the roulette wheel has only been frequenting the casino halls and parlors of the world since the 17th century, and it was really only the Europeans that played it until it made its' way to America in the 19th century.

The legends surrounding the creation of the roulette wheel are numerous and really quite exciting. The wheel itself was apparently created by the French mathematician Blaise Pascal. The legend goes that Pascal was experimenting in the creation of a perpetual motion device; he spent much time trying out different theories and inventions, but finally had to give up his quest. However, what he had created in the process was the roulette wheel. Whether Pascal understood the potential of his invention is unclear. We do know however that this occurred in or about the year 1657, and by the late 1700's the roulette wheel was a regular in the gambling rooms of Paris.

The roulette wheel did not receive it's distinguished red and black alternate markings until the end of the eighteenth century and until the 1840's the roulette wheel had all of the numbers that it now has, but no '0' position; this was not added until 1842. The double '00' position found on modern American Roulette wheels was not added at all to the European versions and therefore only appeared once the game had traversed the Atlantic.

Quite how the game got so popular is a subject of debate, however it is agreed that it's popularization had a lot to do with a particular French family by the name of Blanc. The Blanc brothers, Francois and Louis were there ones who originally added the '0' position making the odds better for the casino and therefore more attractive to the casino owners to feature it in their gaming rooms. It was also the Blancs that opened the first casinos in Monte Carlo where roulette flourished. Possibly because of the Monte Carlo connection roulette has been known as the 'Kings Game', and the success of Roulette in Monte Carlo is rumored to be due to Francois Blanc selling his soul to the devil in exchange for the secrets of roulette - the evidence for this pact is on the wheel itself; if you add together all of the numbers you will come up with the sum 666!

Will Win is a professional gambler, ex casino dealer and author. For the best Online Casino Visit www.casino-magic.org

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