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The Comprehensive History of Roulette
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At the centre of
every casino shot is a roulette table, serving as an indication of the
popularity of this casino game. Having been played for roughly just over 300
years, Roulette is a high stakes and glamorous game that every casino fanatic
knows how to play.
The
Origins
The earliest form of what we understand to be roulette we
believe originated in France in the 18th Century as Roulette in French means
"Small Wheel". The roulette wheel is commonly believed to be a fusion of the
British wheel games Roly-Poly, Reiner and Ace of Hearts. As well as the Italian
board games Hoca and Biribi.
Even-Odd, on the other hand, was a largely
British game with a wheel and a ball just like roulette but instead of numbers
there were just 20 sections marked E for Even and 20 marked O for Odd. Instead
of a zero, a portion of the sections were allocated for the house. The game
seems to have become rapidly very popular in the 1770s until it was banned by
statute around 1782. This then is an obvious possible candidate for an ancestor
of the game of roulette. However, there are unfortunately, no references to it
prior to those of Roulette. So the only way that E.O. is the ancestor of
Roulette is if it was went by another name - i.e. Roly Poly....
The
modern day roulette wheel was first spun in 1796 in Paris and was first found
in the French novel, La Roulette, ou le Jour by Jaques Lablee. In his novel,
Lablee describes the roulette wheel;
"There are
exactly two slots reserved for the bank, whence it derives its sole
mathematical advantage." It then goes on to describe the layout with, "...two
betting spaces containing the bank's two numbers, zero and double zero".
The Developments
The earlier roulette wheels used in
Paris during the 1790s had red for the single zero and black for the double
zero. However, to avoid confusion, the colour green was selected for the zeros
in roulette wheels from the 1800s. |
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| Image source -
www.roulette30.com |
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In early American
roulette wheels players could find numbers 1 – 28, plus a single zero, a
double zero and an American Eagle. The American slot was a symbol of American
liberty and a house slot that brought the casino an extra edge. However, soon
after it appeared, the Eagle wheel disappeared leaving the traditional roulette
wheels in existence.
During the 19th century, roulette became renowned
all throughout Europe and the US. It was during this time that roulette became
known as a premium game in casinos. |
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| Image source -
www.mantripping.com |
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| As the game
progressed throughout America, cheating was rife and the wheel was moved to the
top of the table making the roulette table that we know today. With the wheel
at the top of the table hiding devices in the wheel or table was largely
prevented. |
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| Image source –
pinterest.com |
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By 2008 there were
several thousand casinos all around the world holding roulette tables with the
game progressing to online casino vendors such as
Paddy Power.
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