Casino Games – The History of Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after the French word for “little wheel”. In roulette, players choose to place bets on numbers or colours. To determine the winner, the roulette wheel is spun and then a ball is spun in the opposite direction. Eventually, when the ball loses momentum, it settles on a coloured number.
The first known devised game of roulette occurred in the 18th century in France. It is believed to be a combination of English wheel-based games like Roly-Poly, Reiner, Ace of Hearts and EO, as well as Italian board games like Hoca and Biribi. The roulette wheel itself was actually created by mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, who made it by accident in 1655 when attempting to build a wheel that would never lose momentum. Although he failed to build this perpetual motion machine, roulette has become one of the best loved casino games in the world.
Roulette has been being played in its current form for hundreds of years, and is described in detail in a French novel called La Roulette, ou le Jour in 1796. During the 1800s, roulette spread all over Europe and the USA, becoming one of the most popular games played at casinos. Monte Carlo became the centre of elite gambling in Europe, and it was here that the game was refined. For many roulette is known as the best casino game, because of its association with the glamour of the Monte Carlo casinos.
In America gambling and roulette in particular became very popular, with saloons and gambling halls set up for miners and cowboys to try their luck. It was in America that because of cheating by both employees and players, that the roulette wheel was placed on top of a table to prevent devices being hidden in the wheel. Until relatively recently, the only notable casino towns playing roulette were Monte Carlo and Las Vegas, but now casinos can be found all over the world.
Now with the arrival of online casinos, players have the opportunity to experience the highs and lows of a roulette game from the comfort of their own home. Online casino software allows many variations of the game to be played, with the wheel spin and bouncing ball being replaced by clicks of the mouse and amazing computer graphics, as well as powerful software which generates random numbers.
Many say that playing online roulette is equally as thrilling as playing it for real, and you’re much less likely to waste a fortune at the bar and end up tipping the Tadalis SX croupier!
Author Bio: John Mce writes on a number of subjects including roulette, betting and how to play roulette.
Category: Recreation and Leisure/Gambling/Casino
Keywords: roulette, play roulette, betting, sports betting, roulette games