Ask someone to name the quintessential casino game and the chances are that the answer will be roulette.
After all, we’ve seen it being played in countless movies, whether it’s by James Bond going all in on 17 blacks or the gangsters of Martin Scorsese’s 1995 follow-up to Goodfellas, Casino.
But while most of us are familiar with the game and its rules, even if we’ve never played it ourselves, few know very much about its history.
As you might expect of a game that is now firmly established in popular culture, its origins go back a long way. And, as we shall see, it was really the development of the appropriate technology that gave rise to the modern roulette wheel.
Appropriately, it’s been the arrival of a new kind of technology, the internet, that has seen a real resurgence in the popularity of roulette with many people heading for the kind of online casino Canada offers to players wanting to discover the game.
But we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves here, so let’s go back to the very beginning.
Pick a Number
For centuries, there have been games in which players have been required to pick a number at random. If that number is then subsequently drawn they win a cash prize. After all, this is the basic premise of the lotteries that continue to be very popular today.
Italy was where many of these kinds of games gained great popularity in the 17th and 18th century and one, in particular, has been cited as a possible predecessor of roulette. It was called Biribi.
It didn’t involve a wheel but a board with 70 numbers on it. Players placed a coin on the one of their choice. If this were the number picked out by the banker running the game they would receive 64 times their stake.
So popular was the game that it was actually banned in 1837.
Roulette Gets Rolling
So, we can fairly confidently surmise that there was a great appetite across Europe for a simple gambling game that also included an element of suspense. The next challenge was going to be devising an exciting delivery method for picking the number.
At the same time, the famous French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal was struggling with a challenge that will probably never be overcome – how to invent a perpetual motion machine.
His attempt was to create a wheel that would, once set in motion, continue to spin forever with no other intervention.
The laws of physics dictate that this is an impossibility. Forces, including friction and gravity, will always come into play in any spinning wheel.
Despite his failure, there was something about the wheel that he had created that captured the attention of gaming houses in France. By dividing the wheel into numbered sections and setting it spinning with a small white ball heading in the opposite direction it would be a dramatic way to select a number.
Add a range of betting options, not just on the number itself, and it would become a very playable and appealing game. Thus, modern roulette was born.
Popularity Spreads
Fairly quickly, news of the new casino game spread not just across France, but throughout Europe. In Germany, spa casino towns like Bad Homburg and Baden Baden adopted the game wholeheartedly.
In Monaco, it became one of the mainstays of the principality’s famous casino, although it was also the game that led to the day when a man called Joseph Jagger broke the bank there. In doing so, he both entered into popular legend and had a song written about the feat.
In the 19th century, as emigration from Europe to America increased, roulette was one of the many imports, just like classic cars and fashion.
Arriving first in the French quarters of New Orleans and Louisiana, the earliest roulette wheels only had 28 numbers and a single zero. Some also featured an eagle symbol on the wheel. It was not just a patriotic gesture but a way to increase the likelihood of the house winning as if the ball landed on it, the banker would declare all bets void and claim the stake money.
As the game gradually became more widespread it evolved into today’s version featuring 36 numbers as well a single and double zero.
The latter is thought to have been introduced by gaming house operators aiming to marginally increase the house edge, just as the eagle had done back in the day, and today, the double zero game is differentiated by calling it American as opposed to European roulette.
Roulette Today
The game continues to be the most popular table game in casinos. It has both its extreme simplicity and its dramatic nature to thank for this.
The anticipation is palpable as that little white ball spins before landing on the random number. And, if it’s one you’ve chosen, then it’s a buzz you’ll never forget!
Given the diverse regulations governing gambling establishments globally, adhering to local laws is imperative when indulging in the thrill of gambling.
