Where Does Roulette Come From?

Roulette is a casino game where players make bets on what number, section or color of the wheel a ball will land in. Winners are rewarded according to their betting odds.

To maximize your chances of winning, start with outside bets (groupings of numbers) instead of individual digits. Also, avoid using complicated or grandiose strategies — roulette is a game of chance, and no strategy can overcome the built-in house percentage.

Origin

It’s difficult to pin down exactly where roulette originated. There are many different stories, but most agree that the game came from Europe. One popular theory is that it was invented by 17th-century French physicist Blaise Pascal. His attempts to create a wheel that could demonstrate perpetual motion may have inspired the game. Another possible origin is that it came from the English games of portique, hoca, bassette, and roly poly. It’s also been suggested that the game may have come from the Italian board game Biribi, where players placed chips on a layout of numbered squares and then waited to see which was randomly selected.

However, the modern layout and wheel structure of roulette appear to have developed in France during the 18th century.

Variations

Roulette game variations come in many forms and some offer higher payouts while others provide different betting rules. For example, French Roulette follows the European format but adds two extra rules, ‘En prison’ and ‘La Partage’ to reduce the house edge to 2.7%. Another variation is Lighting Roulette from Evolution Gaming, which combines the traditional European format with multipliers of up to 500x your bet. If you’re looking for even larger wins, try Triple Bonus Spin Roulette from IGT, which offers up to 1:12,000 for a straight bonus win. Other variations include Key Bet Roulette, which expands the betting options with a number of novel features that boost winning potential.