Roulette Overview

Roulette is an invention from France. The name roulette is the French for "small wheel". It was invented by Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician. Legend goes to say that Pascal made a deal with the devil so as to come up with the game.

The basis of this legend could be the fact that if you add all the numbers on a roulette wheel it totals to 666, known as the mark of the beast or mark of the devil. Thus the game also had the tag of being the devil's game.

The original roulette wheel invented by Blaise Pascal was in fact a true fair game that doesn't have any house edge as compared to the roulette wheels that we have today. European roulette wheels of today have a green zero on it. This was added to the roulette wheel by Fracois and Louis Blanc in 1842. When this casino game finally reached America, a double green zero was added. By doing this, the house edge on roulette increased.

A European wheel has a house edge of up to 2.63%, but by adding the second green number (i.e. the double zero) the American wheel raises the house edge to 5.26%! That already gives a good house advantage for the casino.

Today, we now have three kinds of roulette games. The first type is the American roulette. This version has 38 numbers on the wheel and on the table layout. The American wheel has the standard numbers one to 36, but has both the single zero and the double zero to add to the house advantage.

The next type of roulette game is the European roulette. This version of roulette has the standard one to 36 numbers, but only has a single green zero. This has somehow become more of a favorite since this version has less house advantage riding on it.

The third roulette version is the French roulette game. This roulette version also has the standard one to 36 numbers in alternating colors of red and black. Like the European roulette wheel, the French roulette wheel also has only one green zero. You can say that the French roulette game is pretty much like the European roulette, only that the French roulette table layout is quite different.

Roulette is one interesting game you'll find in casinos. It's mystical origin and the game play of today has really made roulette quite a popular game that you might like to try out.