American Roulette: A History

American Roulette is an adaptation of an old European casino game. You can always tell an American roulette wheel because of the double zero slot.

What "Roulette" Means

Roulette means "small wheel" and refers to the way winners are determined. A small metal ball is spun around a spinning wheel and eventually comes to rest in a numbered slot that is either colored black or red. (The zero and double zero slots are normally green.) Players can win by betting anything from specific numbers (which pay at 36 to 1) or by betting for groups (even half the board betting black, red, even, or odd.)

A Wheel is Born

The first roulette wheel was built in 17th century France, by the mathematician Blaise Pascal, who was supposedly inspired by his fascination with perpetual motion devices. Pascal believed that an object in motion would stay in motion. While he couldn't prove his theory, when the giant numbered wheel he built for his experiments kept stopping, he realized that he had just invented a new game.

In 1842, François and Louis Blanc added the "0" to the roulette wheel. Now this was really big since suddenly, the "House" had an edge, however slight.

Why A House "Edge" Can Be Good

Don't be surprised when I tell you that all casino games have a slight house edge. Without such an edge, no casino would make money. There would be no casinos anywhere because who would open a business that was destined to lose money. The important thing to remember though is in most cases the house edge is small. In fact, it is so small that an individual player will never be affected. It only became significant for casinos where millions of people play the same games. If your chance of winning is 49%, you will win about half the time. In other words, you really have just as much chance of making money as losing it. But if a Casino wins just one percent more of the time than it loses, and millions play, then it becomes a profitable enterprise. In Roulette, it is the zero that give the house an edge.

The Wheel Rolls Into America

Like a new immigrant crossing the ocean to pursue dreams in America, the roulette wheel rolled across the Atlantic around 1900. To get the casinos interested, the roulette masters proposed adding a new space, a double zero that would slightly increase the house edge. Everyone loved it and soon American Roulette was being played by even more people than the original French game. People love the excitement and chance to win big, and they also seem to appreciate the uniquely American characteristic of American Roulette. Did you know than on some wheels, the double zero slot actually has a picture of an American Bald Eagle. Maybe that explains its current popularity.

Whatever the reasons, if you play online roulette today, there is a good chance you are playing the great game of American Roulette.

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