ROULETTE HISTORY
The game of roulette is
a gambling game in which players bet on which red or black numbered compartment
of a revolving wheel a small ball (spun in the opposite direction) will come
to rest within. Bets are placed on a roulette table marked to correspond
with the compartments of the roulette wheel. It is a gambling game universally
played in the gambling casinos of Europe, North and South America, Asia, and
Africa. Roulette is a banking game, and all bets are placed against the
bank--that is the "house" or proprietor of the game. As a big-time betting game,
roulette's popularity has been superseded in the United States and the
Caribbean Islands by others, notably Craps and Blackjack.
Fanciful stories about the invention
of roulette include its invention by the 17th century French mathematician
Blaise Pascal and first played in a casino in Paris, by a French monk to help
break the monotony of monastery life, and by the Chinese, from whom it was transmitted
to France by Dominican monks. Whatever its antecedents and origins, roulette
emerged only in the late 18th century as a glamorous attraction in the casinos
of Europe, where it has long been associated with the gaming rooms at Monte-Carlo.
The roulette wheel layout
used in Europe and in America generally not the same. The roulette wheels
in Europe are numbered 1-36, and have a green zero section. The roulette
wheels in America, however, have a green zero and double zero, giving the American
casinos twice the house edge. Things have improved however, in the mid 1800's,
roulette wheels in Europe had the double zero system, while those in
America had even a triple zero.
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