Wheel of Fortune: History of Casino Roulette
The history of the fastest spinning casino game.
'Little wheel' or Roulette as it is known in French, is the world's oldest casino game. It was invented in 1796 by a Frenchman called Blaise Pascal on the principle that players bet on a number, a colour, a range of numbers or a group of numbers, ie, odds and evens. Roulette currently stands as the third most popular casino game worldwide.
A Turning Point
In 1842, the number '0' was added to the roulette wheel by a man called Louis Blanc. This alteration was needed to set a house advantage. King Charles III of Monaco exploited this house advantage to earn some desperately needed capital for his kingdom when he opened up new casinos. This is how Monte Carlo gained its Casino Culture.
Did you know..
All of the numbers on a roulette wheel add up to 666, which is why it is known as 'The Devil's Game'.
It is tradition for the croupier to place the ball on the number of that day's date, for the first spin of the day.
Betting on the five numbers, '00' '0' '1' 2' '3' result in the lowest possible odds in a roulette game.
Poker Legends
The song The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo was about a real man, Charles Jagger. He was an engineer who in 1873, spent days upon days secretly studying the results borne by a roulette wheel at Monte Carlo, only to discover that it was biased. He used this knowledge to his advantage, winning $400,000 in less than a week. Spectacular!
