Blog Posted on 22/01/2020 | Author: Karen Macarthur

A Brief History of the Roulette Wheels

The Roulette wheel has a rich history where it first came from Europe travelled to Britain, America and the rest of the world. The Roulette wheel has different versions in different parts of the world where there are slight differences in numbers of pocket or in size. We will look at all those different versions of the Roulette wheels below. Let’s turn the pages and see where it all began.

History of the Roulette Wheel

According to European literature, the game of Roulette was first played way back in 1796. It is believed that the Roulette wheel had both 0 and 00 when it was started and that Roulette wheel was derived from another game of chance which was in vogue in the 1600s when a French mathematician called Blaise Pascal created a Roulette wheel. Now it is very interesting that he never intended to invent a whole new game of gambling all he wanted to do was to create the perpetual motion machine which he actually failed to do so. He wanted to make a wheel which could spin on without the need of any external force but all he managed to get was a Roulette wheel which turned into one of the most popular casino games of all time. Monte Carlo casino began to offer a single 0 Roulette wheel, and thus, the European version of Roulette wheel became popular around the world. However American kept the 0 and 00 formats which had a better house advantage than single zero Roulette wheels.

European Roulette wheel and table layout

This is the most well known and probably also the most popular version of Online Roulette game all around the world. The table has numbers, but on the wheel, these numbers are evenly spread all over it, for example, if you pick a number from the first 7 numbers they will not be in sequence. The European version of Roulette starts with a zero and ends on 26, not once you will see 2 numbers in sequence.  These numbers are designed to manipulate the mind of the players, and they are designed to make the numbers fall in order so that numbers are alternately placed in black and red boxes.

American Roulette wheel and table layout

The American version of the Roulette wheel is different from the European Roulette wheel as you already know American version stuck to the 0 and 00 formats. The version has an extra slot of 00 however the payouts remain the same. This table is found in the USA, Canada and in some casinos in London. The Roulette wheels in America have different tables because the numbers are placed completely different from the European table. The number starts at 0 and end at 2 the extra slot of 00 comes in between. The alternate number theory remains the same here with different equations though.

French Roulette wheel and table layout

In this version, the Roulette wheel remains the same as the European Roulette wheel but French table is different from European Table. French table has a simple different layout. In French table, dozens are marked as P12, M12, and D12 rather than 1st 12, 2nd 12, 3rd 12 as we see in European and American table layouts.  The French version of the roulette wheel has two main rules La partage rule and En prison rule.

La partage rule

This French game has advantageous rules. When the 0 hits on losing the bet of red or black and low or high, it paybacks half which means a 10 Euro bet on black would pay back if the 0 hits.

En prison rule

In France, real casinos usually use this rule of play. When the 0 hits are losing bets on red or black, odd or even it is marked as “en prison” where neither win nor lose. Another bet is processed, and the previous bet is treated as any other bet. This En prison rule is unlikely to be seen in online casinos, keep that in mind. 

There are differences in manufacturer and designs of Roulette wheels and tables which put a little effect on how productive a Roulette wheel can become because at the end of the day it is the game of chances. The pockets of the Roulette wheel can differ with each other in terms of design. There are also other minor changes in these three types of Roulette wheels and tables.