Roulette is a gambling game in which a ball rolls around a wheel and people place bets on what number it will land on. While there are many different variations of the game, the basic rules remain the same.

The game was invented by 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal. Its current layout and wheel structure came about in the late 18th century.

Origin

While many fanciful stories surround roulette’s origin, it is known that the game emerged in 17th-century France. French mathematician Blaise Pascal is widely credited for creating the game. However, it was derived from older games such as hoca and portique. Later, the Blanc brothers would change the wheel to one without a double zero, making it a more familiar sight in casinos today.

Roulette is also known as roelete, which derives from the Latin word rotella, meaning “little wheel.” While some scholars claim that roulette originated in Rome or Greece, there’s not enough evidence to support this theory. However, the term “roulette” may have been a reference to a gambling game played by Roman soldiers, who used shields with symbols on them to spin and bet on the symbol that would stop closest to an arrow.

Variations

There are many variants of the Roulette game. The most popular one is European Roulette, which has 38 pockets and a single zero. Its house edge is lower than the American version. Another popular variation is French Roulette, which offers additional rules such as ‘En prison’ and ‘La Partage’. It has a unique table layout and French wording, but it’s easy to understand once you start playing. Then there’s Lighting Roulette from Evolution Gaming, which offers payouts of up to 500x your bet, and Triple Bonus Spin Roulette from IGT that pays 1:12,000 for a straight bonus win.