The history of roulette
The origins of roulette trace back to 18th-century France, with many historians crediting Blaise Pascal's pursuit of a perpetual motion machine in the 17th century as its precursor. The game's mechanism evolved from a combination of a gaming wheel from 1720 and the Italian game Biribi. An early version known as 'EO' (Even/Odd) emerged in late 18th-century England, resembling modern roulette.
By 1796, roulette in its familiar form was played in Paris, as depicted in Jaques Lablee's novel "La Roulette, ou le Jour," describing a wheel at Palais Royal with designated house pockets for the bank's advantage. A mention of a similar game dates back to 1758 in regulations for New France (Québec).
Originally, Parisian casino roulette wheels used red for single zero and black for double zero, later transitioning to green for zeros in the 1800s for clarity. François and Louis Blanc introduced the single zero wheel in Bad Homburg, Germany, in 1843 to compete against traditional double zero wheels.
Early American roulette featured numbers 1 to 28, a single zero, double zero, and an American Eagle symbol representing liberty. However, the Eagle slot eventually disappeared, leaving only numbered slots. As per Hoyle, the single and double zeros, along with the Eagle, were never considered bars; when the ball landed on them, the banker collected all bets except those placed on them, paying out at twenty-seven for one odds.
During the 19th century, roulette gained widespread popularity across Europe and the United States, emerging as one of the most renowned and beloved casino games. When the German government banned gambling in the 1860s, the Blanc family relocated to Monte Carlo, home to Europe's last legal casino operation, establishing a gambling haven for Europe's elite. In Monte Carlo, the single zero roulette wheel took precedence, eventually spreading worldwide, except in the United States, where the double zero wheel remained dominant.
In the United States, the French double zero wheel traveled up the Mississippi from New Orleans and then expanded westward. Due to rampant cheating by both operators and players, the wheel was eventually placed atop the table to prevent concealment of devices, leading to a simplification of the betting layout. This evolution gave rise to the American-style roulette game, which emerged in the gambling dens across the burgeoning territories, contrasting with the more refined evolution of the French game in Monte Carlo.
Throughout the early 20th century, notable casino hubs included Monte Carlo with its traditional single zero French wheel and Las Vegas with the American double zero wheel. The 1970s witnessed a global proliferation of casinos, while in 1996, the advent of the first online casino, often attributed to InterCasino, revolutionized the accessibility of roulette, leading to its availability in numerous online establishments by 2008.
The double zero wheel remains prevalent in the United States, Canada, South America, and the Caribbean, while the single zero wheel dominates elsewhere.