Roulette games have been thrilling casino players since the days of French nobility in the late 1600s. Considered one of the most elegant table games, roulette is one of the few that have remained mostly untouched, which continues to add to its appeal. Even in the advanced technological age and online casinos, the modern-day roulette variants still remain true to the classic roulette games. If you’re learning about roulette for the first time, this guide takes you on a magnificent journey of roulette from the 17th century to old Las Vegas and to the modern-day live dealer experience.
The Dawn of Roulette: The 1650s
While some scholars believe that roulette’s true origins date back to ancient Greece, when they used their shields to spin marbles, the overall consensus about the roulette that we all know and love comes from 17th-century France. Blaise Pascal, one of the most prominent French mathematicians and physicists of his time, is universally credited in history for the concept of the roulette wheel. Supposedly, Pascal’s curiosity about getting machines to become self-running without direct energy led to the development of the “little wheel,” which is the English translation for Roulette.
It didn’t take long for French Roulette, the first and oldest Roulette game to become essentially the French national pastime for the elite and Government officials for that day.
Roulette Fever Spreads: The 1700s
With so much passion about French Roulette among the French nobility, it didn’t take too long for the excitement and passion for roulette to spill to everyday French society. With French Roulette all over France, it inevitably spread to other European countries. This is the rise of the second variant, European Roulette.
With European Roulette, the roulette table is in English as opposed to French. Even though the European version has the same roulette wheel layout and a single zero, it doesn’t offer the La Partage or En Prison rules that the French version does. With these rules, some French Roulette games drop the house edge to a remarkable 1.35%. Still, the house edge for European Roulette is around 2.63%, which made it a smash hit across Europe in the 1700s.
Roulette Comes to America: The 1800s
For roulette enthusiasts, believe it or not, the early versions of French Roulette offered both the single and double zero. It wasn’t until the 1840s that Francois and Louis Blanc revolutionized French Roulette and, ultimately, the European version by removing the double zero from the wheel. However, when French immigrants came to the Americas, especially in southern cities like New Orleans, they brought the concept of roulette with them.
To stand out from the French and European versions, the American Roulette concept was developed with the double zero. Even though the house edge shot up to 5.26%, the additional zero became a major marketing ploy to get American players to begin playing roulette.
Roulette Becomes Legal: The 1930s
In 1932, Nevada made history be legalizing casinos throughout the state. With the pressure of playing roulette in the underground and the back doors at the saloons, legal casinos set the stage for roulette to truly thrive. With casinos now legal in Nevada, Lake Tahoe, Reno, and ultimately Las Vegas became major tourist attractions for locals and tourists to fall in love with American Roulette.
Roulette Goes Digital: The 1990s
With the Internet becoming available in more homes in the 90s, by 1994, the first wave of online casinos went live. Although crude by today’s gaming standards, the dial-up modem gave roulette players their first taste of playing at home.
The Glamour Age of Online Roulette: 2012 and Present Day
With more advanced technological leaps comes a new spin, pun intended, on roulette. With cutting-edge HTML5 graphics, the visual presentation for online roulette continues to get sharper and drop more jaws. Also, with impressive technology by gaming developers Evolution Gaming and Playtech, more online casinos for real money continue to develop more sensational and rewarding online roulette variants.
Of course, most online casino live dealers still feature classics like French, European, and American Roulette, but today’s variants emphasize bonus play. The new classics are Lightning and Platinum Roulette, which offer bonus-winning multipliers on top of the regular roulette bets.
Game Mechanics
The beauty of roulette is that it affords players the chance to make simple and complex bets if they prefer. In its essence, players bet on which color or number the white ball lands on. In fact, the straight-up bet, which is betting on the specific number, is the easiest and most rewarding bet to make. If the white ball lands on the winning number, the payouts are 35:1. However, players can bet on red or black, odds or even, and even a single or double zero. Roulette also supports more complex bets like the dozens, columns, and square bets.
